Atheism’s Dilemmas

Instinct or Invention: Atheism’s morality either comes from instinct and, or invention. Atheism’s dilemma is choosing to serve instinct, invention, or both. For moral instincts, morality must come from survival instincts without free-will or a choice. Serving such instincts includes serving desires, comforts, ego, and even addictions. Other than instinct, atheism’s morality would be the result of man’s invention for survival. Invented morality places the value of the majority’s morality over minorities. Serving an invented moral system removes the purpose of a meaningful life away from loving others and doing good, because people are no longer born to love and do good, but rather follow a morality that best suits them. In the end, the virtue of love is considered either a survival instinct, an invention, or both. Without love, life is ultimately meaningless.

Epicurean or Stoic: With invented or instinctive morality, atheism leaves each person with the choice of when a behavior or thought is right, wrong, or neither. As a result, atheism chooses either a split or blend of two ancient Greek philosophies: Stoicism or Epicureanism. In atheism, a person either serves virtues, pleasures, or both. Likewise, Stoicism taught the worship of virtues, and Epicureanism taught pleasure as the greatest good. While Epicureanism taught modest living within the limits of one’s desires, that thinking means serving fleshly desires while controlling fears. This philosophy makes every friend an object of pleasure. Separate from Epicureanism, Stoicism simply leads a person back to serving virtues invented by oneself or others. By this reasoning, morality becomes subjective to the common reasoning of the majority leaving no standard for moral absolutes.

Ignorance or Silence: With atheism’s apparent dilemma, atheism must inevitably conclude to display its ignorance (en agnoia) or remain silent for its fatalistic weaknesses. The conclusion of atheism urges people to choose between slavery to carnal instinct or slavery to unnatural invention, and to decide between worshiping the resulting morality or selfishly worshiping pleasure. The answer to atheism’s slavery is not a choice to become deists, because even simple theism assumes Epicurean and, or Stoic philosophies. Atheism has no moral standard by which to judge Christ’s morality and His Apostles’ doctrine. Atheism’s only option is to remain ignorant and disregard Christ’s virtues and the apostolic definition of love (1 Cor 13:1–8; Gal 5:22–23). Atheism disregards the ability to receive and know spiritual truth. It rejects that each person is made in God’s image and the self-evident truth that each person is endowed by His Creator with certain unalienable rights (Gen 1:27). Atheism is ignorant of human rights.

Faith in Jesus Christ: Faith in Christ stands in contrast where goodness is neither a survival instinct nor a human invention. Goodness neither preexists God nor was invented by God. Goodness is complete in God, because God is love (1 John 4:8, 16). Love cannot exist without personality, and that Person is God. Therefore, God being love is eternal, and so love is eternal. Therefore, virtue cannot exist without God. While God is an unknown God to many, the Christian Scriptures teach that God made from one blood every nation to dwell on earth having determined their times and boundaries, so that every nation can seek, find, and reach the Lord, who is not far from anyone of us (Acts 17:23, 26-27). God commands everyone to repent, because a day is appointed when He will judge the world in righteousness by a Man, who is God being love come in the flesh. God assured humanity of this judgment by resurrecting Him bodily from the dead as seen testified and recorded by eyewitnesses in the Christian Scriptures (Acts 17:30–31; 1 Cor 15:1–11).