THE 3 REASONS YOU WANT GOD TO EXIST
Today we’re going to talk about John Lennon and Bill Maher and where they all got the “God-thing” all wrong.
My goal today is not to convince you or them that God does exist, but to convince you that you WANT God to exist.
It all started this past week when Mike Johnson, the new Speaker of the House, said “Pick up a Bible off the shelf. That’s my worldview.” Wow! Did he create a huge backlash with those words!
Talk show host, Bill Maher, who is an atheist, implied Speaker Johnson is mentally ill, comparing him to the recent mass shooter in Lewiston, Maine who gunned down 18 people. Simply because he said his worldview comes from the Bible.
MSNBC host, Jan Psaki chimed in, “You heard that right. The Bible doesn’t just inform his worldview, it is his worldview.” I don’t know if Jan Psaki is an atheist, but Bill Maher certainly is.
There are THREE reasons why I believe Bill Maher WANTS God to exist. He just doesn’t know it — yet. And by “God,” I don’t mean some fairytale God you make up in order to make yourself feel better.
I mean the God of Abraham, Issac, and Jacob.
I mean the God who said, “Love your neighbor.”
I mean the God who died on a cross and came back to life again to prove his deity.
I mean the God of the Bible that Speaker Johnson referred to.
So, why does Bill Maher want God to exist? Better yet, why do YOU want God to exist? There are many reasons, but let me give you THREE.
THE FIRST REASON YOU WANT GOD TO EXIST IS BECAUSE HIS FOLLOWERS HAVE CHANGED YOUR LIFE FOR THE BETTER.
Now that the Beatles are back in the news with their latest release, “Now and Then,” I want to start by quoting John Lennon from his song, “IMAGINE,” the one we hear every New Year’s Eve. Then I want to ask YOU to imagine what life would really look like if John Lennon got his wish.
IMAGINE, by John Lennon
“Imagine there’s no heaven. It’s easy if you try. No hell below us, Above us, only sky. “Imagine no religion.”
Let’s imagine for the next few minutes there is no heaven, no hell, no religion, and by implication, no God, No CHRISTIANS. What would that look like?
Imagine there was no Mother Theresa (the Catholic nun who cared for the dying poor on the streets of Calcutta)
No Rev. Nelson Mandela (who led the movement opposing apartheid in South Africa)
No Rev. Martin Luther King (who pricked the conscience of America)
No William Wilberforce (who led the movement to outlaw the slave trade in the British Empire).
No Abolitionist movement in the United States (It was led by God-fearing men and women)
No United States of America (George Whitefield, Johnathan Edwards, Charles Wesley)
But let’s keep going.
Imagine there is no Baptist hospitals. Presbyterian hospitals. Adventist Hospitals. Methodist hospitals. Shriner’s Hospital. Cedars-Sinai hospital, St. Anthony’s hospital.
Imagine there is no Samaritan’s Purse, World Vision, Compassion International — Catholic Charities who try to help the poor and those in greatest need around the world.
Imagine there are no medical mission boats on the Amazon tending the needs of indigenous peoples.
Imagine there is no YMCA. No Salvation Army.
Imagine there is no Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Oxford or Cambridge — all schools founded by the Church.
Imagine there was no Michelangelo, Bach, Beethoven, Handel. No John Newton who wrote the song Amazing Grace.
Imagine there was no Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Herman Melville, Tolstoy, Dickens, Dostoyevsky, or Tolkien,
Imagine there was no Galileo, Sir Issac Newton, Kepler, Copernicus, Robert Boyle, Sir Francis Bacon.
Imagine there was never a Scientific Revolution, which came exclusively out of the Christian Worldview. You would have no electricity, cars, iPhones, internet, planes, televisions, computers, refrigerators… And for those of you in Florida—Air Conditioners.
Imagine a world without all those things, And those people.
The world would look very different.
NOW I WANT YOU TO IMAGINE ANOTHER WORLD.
I want you to flip John Lennon’s world And IMAGINE a WORLD without ATHEISTS:
No Karl Marx. No Vladimir Lenin. No Joseph Stalin (who slaughtered millions of his own people).
No Chairman Mao (who slaughtered millions of his own people)
No Pol Pot (who slaughtered millions of his own people)
No Kim Jong Un.
That’s the dark side of John Lennon’s dream that no one talks about.
So imagine with me:
Imagine there’s no Heaven. No Hell. No Religion. No God. No Christians. Are you sure that’s really what you want?
Because of devout Christians, your life is far better than it would have been without them.
THE SECOND REASON YOU WANT GOD TO EXIST IS BECAUSE IF HE DOESN'T THEN "SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST" IS THE ONLY REMAINING BASIS FOR MORALITY.
How do you get from “Survival of the Fittest” to “Love your neighbor?” How do you get from “Survival of the Fittest” (where the fit survive and the weak die) to “Be Kind?”
If Survival of the Fittest is the basis of morality, then Stalin, Pol Pot, Mao, Hitler and even the Inquisition did nothing wrong. In fact, they advanced the Evolutionary struggle, and therefore what they did was Good.
If Survival of the Fittest is the basis of morality, then how do you condemn Ted Bundy and Charles Manson After all it is “Survival of the Fittest.” The fittest survive; the weak die. That’s Evolution.
If Survival of the Fittest is the basis of morality, then isn’t the current war between Hamas and Israel a good thing? The fittest will survive. The weakest will die. Evolution will advance.
If Survival of the Fittest is the basis of morality, what’s wrong with racism? The fittest RACE SHOULD dominate and survive. That’s how Evolution works. All the other races SHOULD die in order to advance Evolution.
Survival of the Fittest has no place for COMPASSION. The Fit survive. The weak die in order to advance the race. In fact, according to Evolution the weak practically have a moral obligation to die.
If there is no God, then Don Henley was right when he sang: “There are no wrongs, there are no rights. Only people selling t-shirts.” e.g. Morality is nothing more than slogans printed on t-shirts.
If you don’t like that, (and I don’t), then you better hope there is a REAL God out there. Not just some “feel good” God created by your imagination.
THE THIRD REASON YOU WANT GOD TO EXIST IS BECAUSE IF HE DOESN'T THEN MORALITY IS A FAIRYTALE JUST LIKE SANTA CLAUS AND THE EASTER BUNNY.
If God does not exist, there is NO RATIONAL SOURCE for MORAL OBLIGATION. Sure, you can make up a system of morality that works for you.
The problem is, why am I REQUIRED to embrace YOUR morality?
What in the universe OBLIGATES me to abide by a system that you and your friends make up?
Why am I obligated to be KIND?
Why am I required to VALUE every RACE equally?
Why am I morally COMPELLED to care for the POOR?
What in the universe REQUIRES me to even care?
Do you realize that in First Century Roman culture, COMPASSION was considered a MORAL WEAKNESS. Why were they wrong? That was their culture.
It was only because of Christianity that COMPASSION came to be viewed as a MORAL STRENGTH in the Roman Empire.
How do you even know which system is the correct system?
Communism says, the State determines your morality.
Capitalism in its worst form says, “Greed it good.”
Socialism says, you can’t even own your own home.
Jesus said, “Love your enemies.”
Mohammed said, “Kill the infidel.”
Who’s right? Who’s wrong?
Most importantly, WHY?
STORY: Corey Washington
UW – debate on moral relativism. Atheist philosophy professor. It’s an intellectually bankrupt theory. That’s the philosophy of the masses. No philosophy prof in the U.S. believes in moral relativism. Go to the Lit department. That’s where all the wackos are.
“Moral absolutes are self-evident. The only problem is….”
That’s the problem for every atheist. That’s the problem for John Lennon. That’s the problem for Bill Maher.
They may believe in moral absolutes, like “Be Kind.” or, “Love your neighbor.” but they have no basis for MORAL OBLIGATION.
If God does not exist, what is the difference between morality and a fairytale? I’m not OBLIGATED to believe either one.
If God does not exist:
How do you tell Adolph Hitler he was ABSOLUTELY wrong?
How do you tell Stalin or Pol Pot they were ABSOLUTELY wrong?
How do you tell terrorists they are ABSOLUTLELY wrong for decapitating babies?
How do you tell mass shooters they are ABSOLUTELY wrong for shooting innocent school children?
I understand you don’t like it. I don’t either. But that’s not my question. If God does not exist, then WHY are they ABSOLUTELY WRONG?
You can say it’s “self-evident,” but that’s simply Your Truth. Your opinion.
The UNIVERSE really doesn’t care about Your Truth. You may have already figured that out for yourself.
If God does not exist, then moral obligation cannot exist either. The only remaining alternative is that we must make up morality, just like we do fairytales.
And that is a HUGE problem, Because now you can only compel people to act in a specified manner through FORCE; through violence or the threat of violence.
Is that the world you want to live in?
You may not have known it until today. But you want God to exist. You may not believe God exists, But you want Him to.
So to John Lennon and Bill Maher let me say:
- You want God to exist because his followers have changed your life for the better.
- You want God to exist because if He doesn’t “Survival of the Fittest” is the only remaining basis for morality.
- You want God to exist because if He doesn’t morality is a fairytale, just like Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny.
God IS the issue in every issue — especially morality.
This is Brad Bright and the God is the Issue Podcast. If you found this podcast helpful, don’t forget to LIKE and SUBSCRIBE.
