Why you don't need God

[Loki]

Why you don't need God

(CNN) It was January 2014 and I was sitting on the beach in Malibu looking out at the seemingly endless Pacific Ocean, ebbing and flowing. I had just begun a personal project of challenging my lifelong assumption that God exists.


Ryan Bell

You see, I had been a Seventh-day Adventist pastor for 19 years. I resigned from my pastoral position the year before, but now I stepped away from my faith altogether. It was a gut-wrenching decision but I couldn't see any other way to find peace and clarity. I encountered major theological differences with my denomination and evangelical Christianity in general, including the way it marginalizes women and LGBT people.

I questioned the problem of evils and God's general silence and inactivity. I sought out more liberal theologies and found them to be the slow death of God. Now I had to face the very real possibility that God does not exist.

Would I discover that God was present and involved, or would I discover that the whole web of theological claims I had embraced and helped develop were false?

I was feeling small against the beautiful and terrifyingly indifferent sea before me. Then I started to feel grateful. "What are the chances that I would be sitting on this beach right now, looking at this remarkable scene of beauty?" I thought. I was struck again by how unlikely my existence is.

One question I've been repeatedly asked is how my life has any meaning without God. While I had heard dozens of Christian apologists claim that meaning cannot be found without God, I had a curious experience. My appreciation for life and its potential increased when I stepped away from my faith.

Atheists are often accused of being nihilists or absurdists. Absurdism is a school of thought arguing that humanity's effort to find inherent meaning in life is futile. Nihilism goes further and in doing so becomes a mood or a disposition as well as a philosophical frame of mind. Nihilism says that nothing matters at all.

"If there is no God, then man and the universe are doomed. Like prisoners condemned to death, we await our unavoidable execution. There is no God, and there is no immortality. And what is the consequence of this? It means that life itself is absurd. It means that the life we have is without ultimate significance, value, or purpose," writes William Lane Craig, a Christian apologist.

But my experience is that acknowledging the absence of God has helped me refocus on the wonderful and unlikely life I do have. This realization has increased my appreciation for beauty and given me a sense of immediacy about my life. As I come to terms with the fact that this life is the only one I get, I am more motivated than ever to make it count.

I want to experience as much happiness and pleasure as I can while helping others to attain their happiness. I construct meaning in my life from many sources, including love, family, friendships, service, learning and so on.

Popular Christian theology, on the other hand, renders this life less meaningful by anchoring all notions of value and purpose to a paradise somewhere in the future, in a place other than where we are right now. Ironically, my Christian upbringing taught me that ultimately this life doesn't matter, which tends to make believers apathetic about suffering and think that things will only get worse before God suddenly solves everything on the last day.

It struck me this year that nihilism is a disease born of theism. Some people have been taught to expect meaning outside of this world beyond our earthly experiences. When they come upon the many absurdities of life and see that it's "not as advertised," an existential despair can take hold.

The problem is not solved by inventing a God in which to place all our hopes, but rather, to face life honestly and create beauty from the absurd.

Without dependency on a cosmic savior who is coming to rescue us, we are free to recognize that we are the ones we're waiting for. If we don't make the world a fair and habitable place, no one else is going to do it for us. Our lives matter because our choices affect others and our children's future.

Life does not need a divine source in order to be meaningful. Anyone who has seen a breathtaking sunset or fallen in love with another human being knows that we make meaning from the experiences of our lives; we construct it the way we construct any social narrative.

Free from false expectations we are free to create purpose, share love, and enjoy the endless beauty of our world. We are the fortunate ones. There is no need for fear to have the last word.

[TommyT]

Humanism is much more moral than many religious books. In fact modern Christianity and reform Judaism is for more a humanist product than a theistic one.

[Loki]

Humanism is much more moral than many religious books.

Totally agreed.

[TommyT]

Totally agreed.

Most muslims are still more influenced by literalism but humanism is very present in many of them as well I hope it continues that way.

[albosomething]

this is as much bullshit as the other stories that are made by the other side

[TommyT]

this is as much bullshit as the other stories that are made by the other side

explain.

[Unome]

After engaging philosophy & religious debates for over a decade now, there are two sides of the story to a/theism (I mean either, atheism or theism). Atheists deny supernatural existence of deities (gods) while Theists affirm them. There are many dis/advantages to either side. And I've not yet formed conclusion about whether theistic, atheistic, or deistic predisposition is true. In other words, are people born into their belief system? I doubt this; because I have seen unbelievers become believers and believers become unbelievers. Thus Theism probably represents freedom, free choice, and free will.

In fact I'd assert that free will is the crux of the dispute between theism and atheism. Theists tend to deny free will in exchange for determinism (fates are directed by gods/divinity/deities). Atheists tend to affirm free will (choice is a derivative of human willpower alone).

However these topics, ideas, and concepts are very-very-very big. And a person could talk, write, and postulate about them for an entire lifetime. That actually is what devout, fundamentalist religious leaders do ~ only focus on these types of ideas and neglect all other aspects of life.


One of the biggest immediate problems discussing a/theism is defining gods or supernatural entities. Without such definitions, premises cannot be realized and discovered. Yet people have them. This causes me to contradict myself about free will and the choice to believe in deities or not. There are indications of tendencies for some people to dis/believe in gods.

Yet none of this really becomes understood until definitions of god are put forward. And this offering of definitions represents Authoritarianism and ideas of creation…


For example,
Do gods create humans, or humans create god?

This is the best, simplest, easiest question to really kick off a discussion (with non-philosophers) about a/theism.

[TommyT]

After engaging philosophy & religious debates for over a decade now, there are two sides of the story to a/theism (I mean either, atheism or theism). Atheists deny supernatural existence of deities (gods) while Theists affirm them. There are many dis/advantages to either side. And I've not yet formed conclusion about whether theistic, atheistic, or deistic predisposition is true. In other words, are people born into their belief system? I doubt this; because I have seen unbelievers become believers and believers become unbelievers. Thus Theism probably represents freedom, free choice, and free will.

In fact I'd assert that free will is the crux of the dispute between theism and atheism. Theists tend to deny free will in exchange for determinism (fates are directed by gods/divinity/deities). Atheists tend to affirm free will (choice is a derivative of human willpower alone).

However these topics, ideas, and concepts are very-very-very big. And a person could talk, write, and postulate about them for an entire lifetime. That actually is what devout, fundamentalist religious leaders do ~ only focus on these types of ideas and neglect all other aspects of life.


One of the biggest immediate problems discussing a/theism is defining gods or supernatural entities. Without such definitions, premises cannot be realized and discovered. Yet people have them. This causes me to contradict myself about free will and the choice to believe in deities or not. There are indications of tendencies for some people to dis/believe in gods.

Yet none of this really becomes understood until definitions of god are put forward. And this offering of definitions represents Authoritarianism and ideas of creation…


For example,
Do gods create humans, or humans create god?

This is the best, simplest, easiest question to really kick off a discussion (with non-philosophers) about a/theism.

Doubt is an integral part of faith. Conviction in the non existence, or in the existence of a god is extremism.

[albosomething]

explain.

u know the stories of those that converted to a certain religion and now talk about their past life and how they are more motivated now.

people are not like laws of physics where what is true for one object, is true for all. One can be more productive while being of a certain religion, while the other is better of being atheist, explaining your own experience doesn't say shit.

[TommyT]

u know the stories of those that converted to a certain religion and now talk about their past life and how they are more motivated now.

people are not like laws of physics where what is true for one object, is true for all. One can be more productive while being of a certain religion, while the other is better of being atheist, explaining your own experience doesn't say shit.

I can certainly see your point.