Can't We Just Be Good Without God?

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Worship Night at the Allen’s home!

Celebration Night. We are celebrating our up and coming students, the students who are leaving youth group, and our new small group kick-off. It will be September 13th and we will get you more details soon. Fun night to hangout. Pray over those leaving youth group.

Review

Recap for me what we learned about last week.

Why does it matter if Jesus is a just a good teacher or Lord?

Pray

Intro-Wreck-It-Ralph

In Wreck-It-Ralph, Ralph just wants to be a good guy, but he’s a bad guy. A hilarious part of the movie is when he’s with his support group in the movie and they chant “the bad guy affirmation.”

I’m bad, and that’s good.

I will never be good, and that’s not bad.

There’s no one I’d rather be than me.

This is hilarious first of all. It’s funny because it’s so ridiculous!

But it also raises some good questions if you really think about what’s being said. Yes, I realize how ridiculous this is.

What is good and evil? Who gets to decide? Is there such a thing as good and evil or do we get to decide for ourselves?

We may laugh at some of these questions and say “of course there’s such a thing as good and evil!”

Is racism good or bad? What about bullying? Stealing? Murder? Yeah?

Says who?

Back in Time

I did some studying and during Jesus’ time there were no movie theaters. You’re welcome. Instead, they had these things called amphitheaters.

What was one of the most popular shows that happened at amphitheaters?

Yes. Gladiator games. It’s the ancient football game. Except people were maimed, mauled, slaughtered, and actually died.

How would you feel if you watched a live football game where someone died on the field? How would that make you feel? I would feel pretty horrible. Watching the gladiator games is completely different. People would go to those games expecting and hoping that they would see death. Lives don’t matter in the gladiator games. Life is not precious, and slaves such as the gladiators are property.

People cared about their family and friends, but since these people were not even considered “people,” their lives didn’t matter.

How is the violence in our movies we watch today much different than this? While people aren’t actually dying (hopefully), we still appeal to our bloodlust for violence.

It’s not only that. People saw men as being more valuable than women and children. So much so in fact, that they were also considered property rather than treated as people.

If you had a baby that you didn’t want, it was no big deal. Simply cast your child into the street for them to die. Either they would be found and brought up as a slave, or left to die. There were no laws against this.

And it’s not as if people didn’t believe in good and evil back then. They had moral rules and laws. Honor, bravery in battle and loyalty to Rome were good moral things. But their rules were different than ours. Today, it’s not ok to enjoy watching people get killed. Men and women are equally valuable, and the poor should be cared for.

It’s not ok for someone to leave a baby outside.

Jesus Made All Lives Count

Babies and Children

How often did Jesus speak out against how the people of His time on earth and the way they treated children and babies? With the backdrop in mind, it means more when Jesus tells us to have “faith like a child” doesn’t it? Not only that, but he told us that if someone didn’t have faith like a child, they couldn’t enter God’s kingdom.

Matthew 19:13–15 ESV

13 Then children were brought to him that he might lay his hands on them and pray. The disciples rebuked the people, 14 but Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.” 15 And he laid his hands on them and went away.

Babies and children mattered to Jesus.

Lepers

Those who were contagious with a life threatening disease (of which there was no cure) sought out Jesus, and He healed them. The Romans did nothing for them and hid them away.

Matthew 8:1–4 ESV

1 When he came down from the mountain, great crowds followed him. 2 And behold, a leper came to him and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.” 3 And Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, “I will; be clean.” And immediately his leprosy was cleansed. 4 And Jesus said to him, “See that you say nothing to anyone, but go, show yourself to the priest and offer the gift that Moses commanded, for a proof to them.”

Samaritans

Remember how the Jews and Samaritans were religious enemies?

Jesus, being a Jew, shared a parable where a Samaritan is the moral hero of the story.

Luke 10:25–37 (ESV)

He also befriended a Samaritan woman, where she told all of her friends about him

John 4:1–42 (ESV)

Some results

Jesus spends time with sick people, poor people, rich people, prostitutes, people from different races, women, children, and those who thought themselves too far gone as sinners to be able to be loved by God.

This is why Christians, following the patterns of Jesus,

invented hospitals (where poor people who were sick could be cared for

picking up babies and children others had abandoned and raised them as sons or daughters

looking after those who were poor, but not christians

This caused Julian, a Roman emperor in the 4th century to complain about Christians because it was making Roman gods look bad!

We feel the way we do about killing babies, racism, caring for the poor because of the example set by those before us over these centuries, and ultimately because of Jesus teaching us how to live.

Historians

Historians (such as Tom Holland the British historian) have often talked about the contributions Christians have made to society.

Some others such as Yuval Noah Harari believe that “human rights’ aren’t even a real thing and that “natural rights” are an illusion. We are no different than chimps, spiders, and hyenas.

If Christianity is false, then this historian is correct. We have no basis for our faith and we should toss unwanted babies outside to die. Life is merely a matter of preference. Then again, why is this historian compelled to write this if there is no moral point to informing others about morality?

Are Unborn Babies Human Beings?

Speaking of babies being left to die, how familiar are you all with abortion? What would you say is the main pro-choice argument? What about the main pro-life argument?

I think we should agree that women have the right to make choices about their own bodies and that there are circumstances where having a baby is hard.

But I think we would all agree that there should be limits to our freedom when our choices affect other people. I don’t have the right to punch you. By doing that I am choosing to do something with my body, but harming yours in the process. If you were holding my hands while hanging off of a cliff, I don’t have the right to let go even if my arm was hurting.

Regarding abortion, the question becomes if the unborn baby is a human being or not. Christians would say yes. They are precious, vulnerable, and deserve protection.

Some would say that the early stages are just “a clump of cells.” Why? Isn’t a born child just a bigger clump of cells? Why does the size or age of the baby matter? Why do we draw the line there? With healthcare advancing children can be born younger and younger (premie babies) and still survive.

Some say that a baby counts as a person from the time they are born. Why does being in the womb determine this? Did you know that some people don’t believe that babies are humans until they are 2 or 4 years old?

The point is this, if there is no God making human beings in His image, unborn babies are just balls of cells without infinite value. Anything goes. There is no right or wrong.

Enemies

We spent some time this summer talking about relationships.

I was thinking about it, and there is still one gaping relationship that we missed. Do you guys know what that is?

Enemies!

Jesus has already said some crazy things but here’s what He has to say about enemies:

Matthew 5:43–45 ESV

43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.

It’s easy for us to love our friends.

There’s always “that scene” in movies where the hero in the story tries to save the bad guy from like falling off of a cliff or something and the bad guy either refuses and falls to his death, or puts down his pride and allows himself to be pulled up.

Jesus commands us to love and sacrifice not just for those who are on our team, but for those who hate us. In fact, that’s exactly what He did on the cross!

Romans 5:7–8 ESV

7 For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— 8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

People may say that they don’t believe in God, or in Jesus as the Son of God but they “aren’t His enemy!”

The fact is though that they are.

Romans 5:10 ESV

10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.

But God loves us, and gives us all that we have

Romans 3:10–12 ESV

10 as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; 11 no one understands; no one seeks for God. 12 All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.”

We deserve to die from our own making

The Main Point

Ok, so Jesus has some great ideas about morality. He’s the reason we think it’s not okay to hate people who are different from us. Why does He get to decide what’s wrong and what’s right for everyone? Shouldn’t people from different cultures and religions get to decide for themselves?

September 11th

You are more likely to be struck by lightening than to be on a plane that gets hijacked. On September 11th, four planes were taken over by members of a Muslim terrorist group called Al-Qaeda. They didn’t want money. They wanted to crash planes into important buildings in New York and Washington DC. They wanted people to die, and they wanted to be martyrs for Islam. They knew they would die and bring more death with them.

They did this because they believed that God wanted to, and that they would be rewarded in the afterlife. While many muslims may disagree with this, those who were in Al-Qaeda treated them as heroes.

Was it right for them to do this? Their beliefs were sincere. They were operating out of faith.

If one says tat what’s right and wrong can change depending on religious beliefs, then we can’t say that they did anything wrong! Even though it was absolutely horrendous! Thousands of people were left without loved ones because of their actions.

Does Religion Make Things Worse?

Many people look at that event and think it makes things worse. People everywhere, from all religions including Christianity. have done terrible things in the name of religion. It’s easy to think that religion is causing the problem.

But if we take a closer look, we can see a different story

1948

In 1948 an international committee published the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It’s a kind of moral code that people of all kinds of religions can agree to. But countries that were mostly Muslim could not agree to it and complained that Judeo-Christian values could not be implemented by Muslims.\\

Double Standard

Whenever we are talking about Good and Evil, we fail to see that they are ultimately Christian standards! The atheist still has to use Christian terms and concepts to even discuss morality, yet the call Christianity evil.

The Way Religion Affects How Others Are Treated

Americans who go to religious services every week are less likely to do bad things (commit crime) and more likely to do good things (like give money to charity and volunteer to help others).

The last 100 years

More death and destruction has been done in the last 100 years by those who do not believe in God at all.

Communism, an atheistic belief, has killed millions and millions of people in horrible ways. Communist governments in China and Russia have killed more people than Adolph Hitler, who was responsible for killing 6 million Jews.

In fact, communist governments have killed more people than any religious government in history even though the main drive in communism is to make everyone equal!

And this isn’t just in the past, it’s happening right now!

In China, the government is holding over a million Uigher Muslims in concentration camps just like those that were setup for Jews in Nazi Germany.

Conclusion

If there is no God, we can’t say that killing those people is truly, absolutely, wrong. If there’s no God we are a clump of cells with an expiration date and there is no such thing as right or wrong, but just my opinion verses yours.

But the wonderful thing is if the claims of Jesus are true, then He’s not just a moral guy who lived two thousand years ago. He made you, me, and everything else. Since He is the creator of “right and wrong” then He gets to dictate its definition. God is not changing in His definition of good and evil and righteousness and sin.

This is good news.