Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Conclusion: The Noble Lie

This series on the absurdity of atheism and the inconsistency of atheists began with:
1. Atheist Lives Have Meaning - Sorta
http://makarios-makarios.blogspot.com/2010/01/atheist-lives-have-meaning-sorta.html
2. When Atheists Ask
http://makarios-makarios.blogspot.com/2010/01/when-atheists-ask.html
3. Atheism and Value
http://makarios-makarios.blogspot.com/2010/01/atheism-and-value.html
4. Atheism and Purpose
http://makarios-makarios.blogspot.com/2010/01/atheism-and-purpose.html

Of course, any person of reasonable intelligence, atheist or otherwise, can logically see that an accidental universe cannot possess meaning or purpose and neither can any observers who have evolved by blind and purposeless natural selection. As I stated several times, this is not a put down. It’s just fact.

The series ended with a couple relevant questions and I’d like to address those now.
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“Are you saying you believe in YHWH out of fear that your life is meaningless?”

No, I believe in God because -
http://makarios-makarios.blogspot.com/2009/09/irrefutable-mmm-maybe-not.html
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“Amazing but true fact, non-christians still feel meaning and purpose and value in their lives.”

We SHOULD feel that our lives have meaning and purpose and value, because we do in fact possess those attributes. We possess those attributes BECAUSE Creator God exists.

This series of posts, however, was highlighting the fact that IF atheism / naturalism / materialism is true, then our lives DO NOT and CANNOT possess inherent meaning, value and purpose. If atheism is true, then in order to lead happy, well adjusted lives, we must PRETEND that our lives have meaning, value and purpose. On atheism, we must PRETEND to have those things because an accidental universe inhabited by accidental beings which came about by a blind, unguided, process of bio chemical mutations, mutations selected only for their ability to produce more of the same, simply and logically cannot possess meaning, value and purpose.
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“Didn't you just finish saying that Christianity doesn't give life value?”

You’re confusing the existence of Creator God with Christianity.

That fact of, or the reality of Creator God’s existence, with His purposeful creation of the universe and purposeful creation of the life of observers within that universe is what gives meaning, context, purpose and value to every bit of life on our planet.

Christianity, on the other hand, is the name given to the “living out” of an intimate, healed and forgiven relationship WITH Creator God, in accordance with the teaching of Jesus the Christ who was and is Creator God the Son.
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. Just as we know, upon being wronged, that objective right and wrong exist, so too do we know, upon being insulted, discriminated against, or kept in some way from participating in a “normal” life, that we in fact DO possess value, and that our lives DO have meaning and purpose.

. Just as we know that without the existence of Creator God, objective right and wrong do not and cannot exist, so too do we know that without the existence of Creator God, lives of inherent meaning, value and purpose do not and cannot exist.

That leads us to the Noble Lie, Dr. Rue, and his address to the American Academy for the Advancement of Science - 1991

In his address, admitting to the plight of modern humans in their attempt to live in a world of selective morality and the ebb and flow of arbitrarily attributed values, Dr. Rue advocated that we (as atheists in fact do), deceive ourselves by means of a “Noble Lie.” He advocated telling ourselves, again in a move that is completely inconsistent with a naturalist world-view (hence the lie), that the universe does have value.
Loyal D. Rue, “The Saving Grace of Noble Lies,” 1991.

“If we are to avoid the madhouse option, where self-fulfilment is pursued regardless of social coherence, and the totalitarian option, where social coherence is imposed at the expense of personal wholeness, then we have no choice but to embrace some Noble Lie that will inspire us to live beyond selfish interests and to achieve social coherence. A Noble Lie is one that deceives us, tricks us, compels us beyond self-interest, beyond ego, beyond family, nation and race. It is a lie, because it tells us that the universe is infused with value, which is a great fiction, because it makes a claim to universal truth, when there isn’t one, and because it tells me not to live for self-interest, which is evidently false. But without such lies, we cannot live.”

That, ladies and gentlemen is the absurd, incoherent, illogical, inconsistent life that atheists must force themselves to live.

That, ladies and gentlemen, as far as I can tell by the comments of those atheists replying to this blog, is exactly how atheists live out their sorry existence; pretending to have lives of meaning, value and purpose while the world-view they desperately cling to denies them exactly what they long to possess.

Atheism, naturalism, materialism:
No meaning,
No value,
No purpose.

Atheism, naturalim, materialism:
A life of lying to oneself.
A life of inconsistent living and thinking.
A world-view that atheists believe everyone in the world should follow.

5 comments:

Unknown said...

It's funny... the Noble Lie is a concept coined by Plato in "The Republic."

His lie is a religious one, where he says society must be told that all people are divided into groups based on mythological origins.

The lie is your own, Mak. You believe the lie of your faith, and view those of a different group as inherently flawed, inferior, and in need of help.

The lie is that your life has meaning, which it clearly does not if all you spend time doing is criticizing others in order to elevate yourself. I feel sorry for you.

Gorth Satana said...

l'existence précède l'essence

Anonymous said...

So how does this CREATOR GOD make life have meaning, value and purpose? And what Creator God are you talking about?

Yolanda said...

Or to put it another way
If you _really_ don't believe in God then why haven't you killed yourself?

Yolanda said...

Don't kill youself but.
Suicide is worse than murder.
With murder you can be forgiven if you ask God.
With suicide you can not ask for forgivness so you go to hell.