How do you reconcile the reality (read: tangible fact) of death, evil, and suffering
with the notion (read: abstract, unproven assertion) that our lives as human creatures actually matter?

What is Truth, anyway? Who wants to know.

Hell, maybe human beings aren’t the most valuable thing.
At least, not all of them. Maybe we’re not all equal.

Or maybe there’s a way I can strive
day in and day out
to make myself and others more valuable to this world,
even if I can’t bring myself to believe they are valuable or equal
in truth.

I think it’s why so many non-theists are so devoted to pouring into things like…
philosophy.
political systems.
stewardship.
the economy.
business.
science.*

It’s more bearable to place value in something that can’t die
than to place value in something so precious
that is lost so senselessly.

It’s better to hope for some kind of justification for a lost life
in this world
than to remember that all lives
in this world
have the exact same fate.

But perhaps it would be better to believe death, evil, murder, and suffering do not
actually
exist.

Because it hurts, and I can’t function unless I’m numb

Some of my favorite authors have some of the most godless worldviews. I love them. Investigating their art has helped me form and strengthen my Christian beliefs. (Without even trying, their art inadvertently points me closer to the artist who invented Art.)

And the way many atheists have contributed to ecological preservation and improvement is inspiring. It sometimes makes me wonder why Christians aren’t leaders in this, since they believe in Adam and Eve and the garden, and humans’ God-given responsibility to take care of the planet (God’s heirloom to humanity). On the other hand, I suppose Christians are pretty familiar with the fact that they’re depraved. Their Scriptures tell them that they as humans are not good (like atheists believe all people are), but evil and selfish and rebellious against God at their very core.

There are some amazing atheists out there. But their only chance of hope, by definition, is something in this world.

And things in this world are so easily lost.

*The examples of these accomplished, intelligent people are not intended to antagonize atheists. (I am not too fond of the whole ad hominem thing.) I chose these examples to illustrate the most core beliefs that spurred the greatest achievements of some of history’s most devout atheists. And my intent is to highlight the logical implications of the atheistic belief system, as lived out by people who seem to live in accordance with the principles of said belief system. These examples also, I hope, illustrate that the hope of the atheist is in this world, and that the ultimate enemy of the atheist is suffering and death. (Yet why should human suffering matter if human beings themselves do not matter?)