Rejecting Responsibility
An argument that I hear a lot from Fundamentalist Christians is that atheists reject God because we love sin and don’t want the responsibility of living a “Godly Life.” Of course this is a ridiculous argument because it assumes that atheists really do believe in the Christian God, but just don’t want to admit it because admitting it means that we have to live by the Biblical moral code which is so strict that no human could ever live up to it.
But the ridiculousness doesn’t end there. As it turns out, living the “Godly Life” doesn’t mean responsibility at all. It avoids responsibility. In other words, the very thing that these Christians are accusing atheists of avoiding is the very thing they themselves are avoiding. The thing about the “Godly Life” is that all is forgiven by virtue of belief. The idea is the notorious John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” It doesn’t matter how much a Christian sins or acts immorally because Jesus died for them. They have the golden ticket to Heaven and while the Bible says that they should live for God, there is no punishment for slip ups because by grace they are saved.
No responsibility! Once one has accepted Jesus Christ as their lord and savior, they could do anything they want without having to worry about responsibilities. Although, like I said, Christians aren’t supposed to run around doing anything they want, they are supposed to try to be “Christ-like.” The key word though is “try.” As a mere human, a Christian is filled with sin and is saved… “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost.” – Titus 3:5
And then there is that little matter of figuring out what “Christ” is like. The Bible is so filled with differing examples of what Jesus was like that one could do almost any behavior and justify it with scripture.
Some Christians will claim to be responsible to a “higher authority,” but this excuse is usually used to justify a Christian being irresponsible to the authorities here on Earth. The law is “Man’s Law” and a Christian could justify ignoring man’s flawed law if he or she chooses. This claim of holy responsibility is simply a way of avoiding real Earthly responsibilities.
Filed under: morality, Religion, responsibility