01.09.08
A Perfect Example - blog author Margaret Johnston
Yesterday I posted an article about how when someone is considered bad because they don’t believe in God, there is a fatal flaw in the argument. If someone calls themselves an atheist they most likely are a member of what I am calling here the “Rational” group - the Stage Threes. They have reasoned themselves out of belief in a supernatural supreme being, but that does not leave them at risk for wanton, unprincipled behavior. The Rational group for the most part have internalized rules governing their behavior so they have no need of the type of rules and structure an organized religion provides. (This is not to say that the Rational may not belong to any church, just that they don’t need this type of thing to give substance to their life.)
If you have someone who does not believe in God and their life is in chaos or internally they have poor morals (all their behavior is self-serving and manipulative) they are more likely a member of the Lawless group. These are the Stage Ones to use the terminology from when I began this blog. These people have not yet gone through the stage where they have submitted themselves to the rules of an organized religion, or society or whatever. They are at risk for extremely unprinicpled behavior and what most would consider poor morals. The only thing governing these people is their own will.
Today I am presenting a story I found online that I believe is a near perfect case of someone describing a time when he belonged to the Lawless group by has now found religion. The trouble is, he has entitled the story “Why I Left Atheism.” He seems to be deliberately trying to fool us into believing that all atheists are guilty of the inwardly Lawless existence he describes from before his conversion to organized religion. This is the flaw in the logic I was talking about yesterday! The man who wrote “Why I Left Atheism” is assuming that everyone who does not know his particular God is Lawless like he was before he found God. So in this story, this man claims he was brought up not to believe in religion - in fact he was encouraged to scorn religious belief as silly. So, where he claims his early life was spent in atheism, it was not something he reasoned out for himself. He did not leave religion in a position of strength. He just never had one.
So the man who “left atheism” goes on and on describing a very chaotic existence through many paragraphs: “ I ran away from home. I was rebellious and antagonistic.” “Indianapolis was known as the party town, and if I wanted to go to Indianapolis, I went. When my mother said she did not want me to go, I disconnected the speedometer and went. I did anything and everything I wanted to do. After all, there was no God.” ”I tried every conceivable thing you can think of. I tried all kinds of things–things that were immoral, that were wrong, that hurt other people, and things that I would not even want to describe. I did those things because I was trying to find pleasure and happiness.”
At some point he then apparently “found God” though a woman who later became his wife. Here is what he says then: “all I have to do is to look back at how miserable life was without Christ and I can realize that life, as it is now with Jesus, is beautiful in comparison.” “I do not believe we can have law and order when we remove the source of the authority to that law and order. “
So this man assumes, as do many members of the group I am calling the “Faithful,” that without God - their particular God in fact - there is no order in the world, no happiness, nothing of value. Is it any wonder that the Faithful are so inclined to convert others? They want to save people from the horrid existence they themselves experienced before their conversion! ”You do not find happiness living your own system, but only in living God’s way and in being a part of God’s system.”
If only they could realize it is futile trying to convert the Rational or the Mystic group!
The whole text of the story “How I Left Atheism” by someone named J. Clayton can be found at: http://www.doesgodexist.org/AboutClayton/PastLife.html