"agnosticism And Religious Apathy"

[grapeonthevine]

The following is a recent post by a calvinist christian I know from college. He posted this note publicly on Facebook. Why? I really don't know except to get into a debate and make a non-christian feel like an idiot for not believing in God. He both mocks and appeals to reason, as you will see. These posts are not infrequent for him, and I'm considering deleting him as a friend because of his arrogant condemnation of so, so many people (even other christians who just happen to disagree with his denominational biases).

 

So, if you have a response and want to discuss any of his points, by all means. Perhaps if anyone has anything good I'll send it back his way. Though, honestly I think it would fall on deaf ears. I'm more posting this to share how backwards and narrow minded this kind of thinking can be. I know we all know how bad it is, but I guess, just add this to the large body of evidence against the good sense of christian thinking.

 

Despite the actually relatively low numbers of atheists and agnostics in the States, notice how paranoid and threatened he is by world views opposed to his. This "apathism" he mentions, I believe, is the "death of God" that Nietzsche observed.

 

 

Agnosticism and Religious Apathy

 

 

A growing amount of people today are not Christian, and generally not religious. The apparent reason why this is the case is not because all these people have, through a great intellectual exercise, found the evidence for Christianity lacking, but because of some general lack of concern to find out the answer. (Some non-religious people have looked into the evidence more than others, but nonetheless, their seeking is hardly exhaustive, and it is clear that most do not.) The reason for such a lack of concern varies from person to person, obviously, but there are evidently a few reasons which prevail more than others.

 

People disinterested in religion might hold that certain religious notions just seem out of accord with reality. The notion of God Incarnate, or maybe the notion that one must convert to a specific and exclusive religion in order to avoid eternal damnation, seems farfetched on the face of it. Moreover, given the vast sea of various theological doctrines, denominations, and religions—many of which brand almost everyone else as heretics—the effort to discern which is the correct religion (if there is one) appears a totally futile task. Worse, even if they do not declare definitive religious answers to be unknowable or unknown, they often think that the answers, if true, are pretty much irrelevant. They might say something like, “So justification is either by faith plus works or by faith alone. And Jesus had two natures and two wills, but was still one person. And other religions are grave and gross idolatries. Who cares? Just live your life; just be a good person.”

 

Although those who claim that the search for the right religion is futile would definitely be labeled agnostics, I did not know of a specific term for those disinterested in the search. I thought that apathist would be a fitting term, and when I searched to see if the term had been used before, I came across a rather interesting blog entry. The website The Jesus Myth has an entry entitled Apathism Is the New Atheism, in which a girl, after asking her boyfriend why he is atheist, received this response:

 

It’s not really that I believe or don’t believe I just don’t care. I have more important things to worry about, like finding a job and paying for gas.

 

This is exactly what we see rampant today: apathism, as termed by the author of the post. People not only do not believe in God or religion; they do not care to find anything out about it. They are generally unconcerned with eternity, viewing a focus on it to be unhealthily detached from this world. Hanging out with friends, playing video games, watching sports, pursuing hobbies, etc. are preferred. In doing these things, most people do not think of themselves as partaking in some particularly grievous sin. They are just getting along in life—and being a good person—after all. They are just having a good time, not hurting anybody. Is this really that bad? “Live laugh love,” right?

 

According to the Bible, yes, it is that bad. This apathism is no new spiritual problem, and it is condemned in Scripture. Paul says, “And do not become idolaters as were some of them. As it is written, ‘The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play’” (1 Corinthians 10:7, citing Exodus 32:6). The life of many people today consists of enjoying the pleasures of life, working for the sake of playing (although some gain joy immediately through their work), trying to be a good person, and then dying. But again, it might be asked, what is wrong with this? There are two looming problems.

 

First, it is notoriously dishonest and inconsistent. The actions of apathists and agnostics do not align with what they profess to believe. The reason for this inconsistency shows itself when we understand that this world is obviously a creation of God. There is an incredibly clear structure to this universe which points to Him. Agnostics and apathists will go about their lives, employing logic to understand certain things (perhaps as simple as deciding what they want to buy for lunch), and resolving to follow the moral dictates of their conscience (perhaps as simple as deciding not to murder someone). Yet, a rational and moral order to the universe is inconceivable apart from a rational and moral Mind which imbues the world with such characteristics. If no God existed, the most we would be is a complex hodgepodge of atoms which bounce around in a certain way to produce different “thoughts” and “feelings” in us—but if these supposedly rational thoughts and supposedly moral feelings in us are nothing but random and chaotic movements of atoms, then the very basis for understanding truth to be connected to reality, and for morality to be connected to some genuine standard, is now undercut. In short, if God does not exist, then reason and morality are obliterated.

 

But the very fact that this is true—and obviously true—goes to show that those agnostics and apathists who keep using their God-given tools are resisting truth. They are warring against reality. Paul describes such people as ones “who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them” (Romans 1:18b-19). Agnostics, in asserting that they do not really know if God exists, must actively deny that reason and morality unambiguously point to God; and apathists are simply too lazy to act off of this plain truth, preferring to expend their efforts on mundane affairs. But if they truly believed that the existence of God was either unknown or not worth looking into, then they should be consistent and pretend to live in a world of chaos. Their constant utilization of an orderly world evidences that they want God’s gifts while rejecting God Himself. They thus behave dishonestly and inconsistently when they employ reason and morality, all the while denying the very obvious Giver of such tools. They profess with their mouths that He is unknown or irrelevant, but they profess with their actions that He is very known and very relevant.

 

Second, the entire enterprise of agnosticism/apathism presupposes the insignificance of human sin. Agnostics and apathists will sometimes acknowledge the sinfulness of humanity, but they will do it in such a way that actually denies their sinfulness—usually by attributing some sinless “imperfection” or “finiteness” to humanity rather than that ugly word sin. This is foolish. A God who has given humans a clear moral law in their consciences (Romans 2:15) cannot and will not be mocked (Galatians 6:7). An offense against this God, this perfect and holy Lawgiver and Judge, is no small thing. The smallest sin actually warrants an infinite penalty. As the American Puritan Jonathan Edwards said:

 

Our obligation to love, honour, and obey any being, is in proportion to his loveliness, honourableness, and authority; for that is the very meaning of the words. . . . But God is a being infinitely lovely, because he hath infinite excellency and beauty. . . . His authority over us is infinite; and the ground of his right to our obedience is infinitely strong; for he is infinitely worthy to be obeyed himself, and we have an absolute, universal, and infinite dependence upon him. So that sin against God, being a violation of infinite obligations, must be a crime infinitely heinous, and so deserving of infinite punishment.

 

It should be obvious that offenses committed against an infinitely perfect and infinitely authoritative God should make us tremble, yet far too many people are prone to treat sins as minor.

 

Interestingly, one of the dangerous ways in which sins can be treated too lightly is actually by elevating morals to too high a priority. Agnostics and apathists, as mentioned above, are quick to stress that “being a good person” is of monumental importance, more so than any doctrinal or theological disputes. And, there is a sense in which they are right, for one should not sinfully break God’s law for the sake of theological disputes, should the choice arise. Yet, in the sense that they intend, this is simply false. Striving to be a good person, even if (especially if) it is made the foremost goal in their life, is a futile and foolhardy endeavor, for three reasons:

 

First, the Bible and common sense both plainly teach that no one is a good person. If a moral infraction against the one true God should make us tremble, then even our least infractions should make us abandon any hopes of being deemed a “good person.” We cannot go on living as if human goodness is the solution to the world's problems when human sinfulness is the unadorned problem. Second, the same people who stress the importance of being a good person tend to obliviously indulge in some particular sin. For instance, a man may talk about how much he respects women and would never “take advantage” of one, while he simultaneously has no problem with lustfully looking at or thinking about particularly beautiful ones. Or, two people might be discussing how they love to do what is right, contrary to some third person whose name they sinfully and shamelessly bring into disrepute. (These sins essentially act as release valves.) Worse, the very reason that such people do not treat their behavior as sinful shows that their standard for proper ethical behavior is whatever their own mind feels is okay to do—which is no genuine ethical authority at all. All this shows that striving to be a good person first and foremost leads to ruinous failure. On the contrary, those who seek God first will genuinely progress towards being more ethical (Matthew 6:33; Romans 6:6; Galatians 5:24). Third, saying that “being a good person” is the most important thing in life—and therefore that God is unnecessary or irrelevant—is exceedingly arrogant. It is an attempt to construct a Tower of Babel apart from God’s gracious assistance; it is a wicked attempt to state the non-necessity of God, all for the glory of man.

 

The antidote to this problem, especially as asserted in the third reason above, is to humbly accept that no sinner can be declared righteous in the sight of God. Agnostics and apathists are fools when they claim that God is unknown or irrelevant, and the only hope for them is found in Jesus Christ’s work on the cross. He lived a sinless life and died in the stead of sinners, that sinners would be treated as sinless themselves and absolved of all their own sins. The only good news for humanity—the Gospel—is that by believing on Jesus Christ, one may be saved from the penalty, power, and presence of sin, to the glory of God in His abundant and everlasting mercy.

 

And he brought them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”

So they said, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.”

Acts 16:30-31

[Shyone]

 

And he brought them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”

So they said, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.”

Acts 16:30-31

A lot of people are apathetic, and this verse seems to support their apathy. If all you have to do is believe, then fuck the church, tithing, worshipping, etc.

 

His dismissal of those who have investigated religion and found it lacking is ironic since an exhaustive review of religions is in fact what convinces many people that no one religion is correct, and they are all incorrect in some respect - or entirely incorrect.

 

"It’s not really that I believe or don’t believe I just don’t care. I have more important things to worry about, like finding a job and paying for gas."

 

Then that's close enough.

[florduh]

...when we understand that this world is obviously a creation of God.

How does one argue with that?

 

I say it's your god, your religion, so you get excited about it and forgive me if I'm a little apathetic about your superstition.