God is Still Relevant
Just finished God is Relevant by Luis Palau. Palau contends with the founding fathers of atheism and suggests that Christianity is the better way.
Luis Palau shares that:
Atheism initially claimed to be the better way in that religion had caused so many wars and pain in the world. He differentiates between "killings done in the name of Christ" and "Christian," pointing out that Jesus on the cross asked for the mercy of his executioners. "Classic Christianity" cannot be linked with these atrocities. No matter if they were done in the Name of Christ, they cannot be seen in light of Christ's life as true believers.
We do not cast out freedom, speech, media because they are abused by some. Rather, we call out the abuse and continue in these liberties. Same must take place with our faith in God.
Secondly, atheism, although claiming religion had caused death and pain, over the past century has been inextricably linked to the murder of millions of innocent lives in the communist regime, naziism and other heartless "intellectual and scientific" forms of government. The classic works of the founding fathers of atheism were these dictators "Bibles" as they destroyed societies.
When looking at the lives of these founding fathers of atheism (Feuerbach, Schopenhauer, Marx, Nietzsche, Freud, Sartre, Russell, Huxley and Darwin among others) we see that many had difficult childhoods, terrible parents, oppressive religious atmospheres, etc. as well as "messy" adult lives including great arrogance, self centeredness, extreme sexual immorality as well as other forms of immorality, multiple health troubles: violent headaches, severe abdominal complaints, chest injuries, insomnia, continual vomiting, prolonged severe depression between them, even so far as Nietzsche going insane for the nearly last decade of his life.
It is important to establish that most of them even became atheists as young adults while only establishing the "science" of it all decades after their decision to do so.
The best thing any atheist could do to prove a point would be to attempt to live as morally as a Christian to prove they are not simply trying to attain license to sin, in order to prove their atheism is an intellectual pursuit and not chiefly other means.
Huxley himself openly admitted to this end: "I had motives for not wanting the world to have a meaning ... for myself as, no doubt, for most of my contemporaries, the philosophy of meaninglessness was essentially an instrument of liberation ... from a certain system of morality. We objected to morality because it interfered with our sexual freedom."
Palau also shares that when considering one of the most difficult concepts to ever face the question of God, which is the problem of evil and pain in the world (which the Bible in no way avoids), we must also ask ourselves and consider "Why is the world also full of good?" and "why do we feel good when we give ourselves over to such causes as kindness, compassion, service and love?"
