The Knowledge of God

Wow! This is a rough one. Tim Keller argues that we all know that God does indeed exist if for no other reason than Human Rights and morality. You see, in the past our morality was based upon our religious beliefs. The Ten Commandments for example come directly from God. Jesus embellished upon them in the Sermon on the Mount. God said “Thou shalt not kill.” Jesus said if you hate your brother, you have already killed him. And so Christians recognize that murder is evil. Why? God said so.

Atheists can be moral beings as well. They can fight just as strongly for Human Rights as a believer would. But what are their morals based upon? They cannot say they are from God, but they also cannot say they are from evolution and natural selection. Humans are the only “animal” who believes in the rights of the weak. In the animal world, the strong live off of the weak. Killing is not only acceptable, but it is necessary to survival.

So if there is no God, who has the say on what is good and what is evil? The majority? What if the Nazis are the majority? The author points out that if one person must be chosen to make such weighty decisions, everyone else would be quick to object. We would only be placing another person in God’s Judgment Seat. Or another government, country. Wouldn’t it be better just to let God make the rules?

Without God there are no rules. There is no right or wrong. There is no good or evil. And life has no meaning. So why would we continue as if there is? If there is no life after death, why bother about morals, human dignity and rights? We just live for ourselves and our own pleasures while we can.

But we don’t. Why? Because there is a God.

If we do allow that there is a God and that he has given us superiority over the animals and He takes care of us, His precious children, we do have a purpose and meaning in our lives. And there is a promise for after this life. And we would have every reason to help the poor, protect the weak, sacrifice our time for others even when they are of no relation to us. Because He commanded it. And we obey.

The author calls it “dishonest” to live as though there are rules, but ignore the one who made them.

Some wonder how humans will continue to believe in Human Rights and live morally without a God to back their beliefs. That we’ll begin to live immorally without a firm foundation for our “up in the air” morals. That it has already happened.

We can agree that it is wrong to napalm babies. But we disagree on whether it is right or wrong to abort them…

And so our morals are another indicator that there is a God and we are His special creation made in His image and not an accident.