During my debate with Bill Nye “the Science Guy” on February 4, 2014, Bill was asked where matter came from. In his answer he said it was a great mystery, but he loved the “joy of discovery” as he pursued such questions. In my responses to Bill’s answers, I asked him why the joy of discovery mattered to him. I explained that from Bill’s perspective, life is the result of natural processes and there is no biblical God, so when he dies, he won’t even know he ever existed or knew anything. Then, when others who knew him die, they won’t know they ever knew him, either. Eventually, from his perspective of naturalism, the whole universe will die and no one will ever know they ever existed. So what is the purpose of this “joy of discovery”? Really, the naturalistic view of life is ultimately purposeless and meaningless!
Think about the well-known atheist Richard Dawkins. Why does he spend so much time writing and speaking against Someone (God) he doesn’t believe exists? Why is he so aggressive against biblical Christianity? In an ultimately purposeless and meaningless existence, why does it matter to him if people believe in the God of the Bible and the account of creation as outlined in Genesis? Why bother fighting against such people when, from his perspective, eventually no one will even know they ever existed?
They claim that they care about people and argue that believing in creation is harmful to society. But something deeper is going on. They aren’t fighting for the truth, but suppressing it.
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Really then, when Bill Nye, Richard Dawkins, and others so aggressively oppose biblical Christianity, what they are doing is this. They are covering their ears and closing their eyes and saying, “I refuse to submit to the God who created me. I refuse to acknowledge that God is the creator. I refuse to accept that I’m a sinner in need of salvation. I want to write my own rules! Therefore I must oppose anything that pricks my conscience and aggressively suppress the truth to justify my rebellion.”
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So why do these who so aggressively oppose Christianity care? They care because they are desperately trying to justify their rebellion against the truth. They don’t want to admit that they are sinners in need of salvation and thus need to submit to the God who created them and owns them.
— Ken Ham, Answers in Genesis, Why Do Atheists Care?, January 1, 2015
This crap is so tiresome. Bill’s reason was clear: joy. My life might be meaningless to anyone but myself and those who know me, so what? Who the heck else matters?
As for why some atheists are anti-theists, it’s because religion has damaged so many people. It’s made them unable to experience joy for themselves, and limit their lives by destructive rules that don’t do anything at all to help them or others around them. This angers many of us, myself included, and spurs some of us (me not included) to step forwards and speak out.
(I save my own anti-religion efforts for getting it out of the US government, where it doesn’t belong but is pervasive.)
Ham is one of the most dangerous people on this planet. Him and his ilk, like Dr Carl Weiland and Ken Hogarth have poisoned the joy of being a homo sapiens. To believe i swallowed their lives whilst I was a card carrying Calvinist is embarrassing.
So glad am free of xian fundies and can live free of their hocus pocus guilt tripping, sin theology.
Ken Ham, just because someone doesn’t think your definition of purpose and meaning are apt doesn’t negate the purpose and meaning in their lives.
Dawkins and other atheists speak against radical fundamentalist Christianity because of the stranglehold fundamentalism tries to place on the populace. They also speak against other fundamentalists, so you’re not special, Mr. Ham, you’re just among the more vocal in the West. Speaking against fundamentalist doctrine doesn’t mean those ideas are true. Mr Ham, you speak against evolution all the time, does that mean you think it’s true and are actively trying to suppress truth? That’s a faulty argument.
Ken Ham: “They don’t want to admit that they are sinners in need of salvation and thus need to submit to the God who created them and owns them.”
Zoe: I’m not a sinner in need of salvation and neither are you.
Like spending your entire life doing nothing but praying and waiting for Jesus is a “purposeful” life. Tell me, Ken Ham, is it a purposeful life getting rich begging for donations to a ministry? Because that’s what most T.V. preachers do.