Sushi, Pizza, and the Existence of God

God exists, and His existence is of infinite importance

So Fallible Father and I have agreed to a letter exchange. It started when he posted a post entitled ‘Religion’ and specifically comes from this line: “Arguing over religion strikes me as the same as arguing over whether sushi or pizza is better.” Regardless of how you feel about Sushi or Pizza (I happen to like both, although I’m not sure I would like a sushi pizza, and I’m not sure what a pizza sushi would even be) I am prepared to argue… at length… that the ‘religion’ argument, and the grounds of that discussion, are of infinite importance. That one’s view of, and reaction to, God will be of eternal importance and is of infinite importance even in this life.

Fallible Father, for example, has written his stack as “One father bumping his way through the world, hoping to help guide his children through this crazy little thing called life.”  I would argue that the importance of that very task would depend on his view of God.

You doubt me? The Romans and Greeks were known for exposing any children that they thought were less than perfect. The Christians were known for rescuing those children. And the Romans themselves went to war with a culture that believed in burning their children to death. How we treat children depends entirely upon our underlying beliefs.

Today, for example, we routinely murder our children because they are inconvenient. Because they get in the way of our careers or education.

What we believe matters. It matters a lot. And no belief is more fundamental than the basic belief in God and the religious view that flows out of that.

My Position

I will not be arguing in favour of ‘religion’ in general. I will be arguing specifically in favour of the Christian religion, specifically from the viewpoint of a Reformed Baptist with specific viewpoints.  Religion, in general, makes a difference, but specific religions make specific differences, and I will be arguing from that particular viewpoint.

The depth of the issue

It is common when you listen to an atheist discuss the issue of God, for them to discount the importance of the issue. ‘I can live my life perfectly well,’ they say, ‘without believing in God’. There are at least two problems with that theory. First of all, do they really not believe in God? CS Lewis is reported to have said, “Before I was a Christian, I didn’t believe in God, and I hated Him.”

Pretty much everyone understands that though modern Americans live in a ‘post-Christian’ era, we still swim in the sea of Christian culture. So the atheist bost to ‘live without believing in God’ may be shallower than he thinks. Much of what he says and does on a daily basis may, in fact, be grounded in our faith.

But it is also important to speak of what he means by ‘live’. He may, indeed, not ‘die’ if he doesn’t believe in Christianity. But will he ‘live’? Doesn’t that depend on what is meant by ‘live’? By what is important about life… and death, and beyond?

Creation

A lot of ink has been spilt on the issue of creation vs evolution, and I have spilt some of it. But for the purposes of this discussion, I will first point out that… it makes a difference. If we are created beings, then our Creator is the One who determines what right and wrong is. If nothing else, he created those senses in us.

And if we are created beings, then our abilities and limitations have the bounds set by our creator. We exist because of Him, in relationship with Him, and dependent on Him.

If, on the other hand, all we are is random atoms… then a lot flows from that. We owe our existence to no one, we are in a relationship with no one, and we are dependent upon no one.

Relationships

Random atoms owe no one anything. Random atoms cannot be in a relationship. The very word ‘father’ has no meaning, at least the kind of meaning that we give it, if we are just random atoms.

A created being, on the other hand, is in relationship. All of the variety of relationships are defined by our creation.

We are all born with the knowledge and capacity not only to form relationships, but to realise their importance. I am not saying that this doesn’t exist in atheists, I am saying that it is incompatible with their view that all we are is random atoms in motion. God exists, and because of Him we understand and live in relationships. Atheists and Christians alike. But that fact is in contradiction to the foundations of atheism.

Epistimology

Random atoms do not arrive at truth. If all man is is the end result of random atoms, then man can make no claim to truth.

Whereas since we are created by an all-knowing God, the search for truth is meaningful. We are the sons of the father of all truth!

We are all born with the knowledge and capacity not only to seek after truth, but to realise its importance. I am not saying that this doesn’t exist in Atheists, I am saying that it is incompatible with their view that all we are is random atoms in motion. God exists, and because of Him we seek for truth. Atheists and Christians alike. But that fact is in contradiction to the foundations of atheism.

Salvation

Every good Christian is eager to talk about salvation. Or, as we tend to put it, ‘The Gospel’. We seen the entire world as sinners in need of a savior. That there exists a life beyond this one, and that it is more important than this one.

And this belief follows from our belief in an all-powerful God who is Lord over both time and death. One who is able to remove the effects of both of those and give us eternal life.

That belief flows naturally from a certain kind of belief in God, and is antithetical to other beliefs. If all of nature is God, then some vague form of reincarnation is possible, but heaven is nonsense. If all that exists is atoms and energy, then eternal life is nonsense.

Sin

One important difference that belief in God makes is our view of ‘sin’. Of ‘justice’. Of ‘right and wrong’.

First of all, if God doesn’t exist, then there is no such thing as sin. (Note I did not say if you don’t believe in Him. I said if He doesn’t exist). If God doesn’t exist, barring some replacement I have never seen, then there can be no objective standard of right and wrong that applies to all of us. All their can be is our individual likes and dislikes. You like murdering children, I don’t, well, to each their own.

And depending on if you believe He exists, and what you believe about Him (or your replacement), you will have different beliefs about what is right and wrong. 

Here is where we get back to Sushi. And Pizza. Now, first of all, a dietician might not like this example. They might have something to say about the value of sushi vs pizza. But let us ignore them. Let us assume that our preference for sushi over pizza, or one kind of pizza over another (barring pineapple, which is clearly blasphemous) is just… meaningless preference. (Is there such thing as pineapple sushi?)

Are we really willing to say the same about all of the things that are affected by our belief in God? Religions historically have lots of things to say (they often even write them in a book) about what is good, what is bad, what is righteous, and what is sin.

Let me give a non-trivial but non-common example: marriage. A good number of religions, including Christianity and Judaism, but by no means limited to them, have taught of marriage as a positive good, and generally looked on being unmarried as an evil. Or usually an evil. An evil for most people in most places at most times.

So, when we read the New  Testament, we see Paul telling people to get married. Not presenting it as one of the possible choices but as the best choice. He gives exceptions, but his general point is ‘get married’. And we see  God, in the Garden of Eden, also saying ‘get married’.

And by ‘married’, there is meant a very specific definition: a  man and a woman, having sex and having children.  They promoted that both socially and by the laws that they would pass.

But other societies and ours seems like the chief,  don’t hold being unmarried as being a sin. Not generally, and not specifically.  So we see a rampant decline in the number of marriages and the prevalence of divorce. In both our culture and laws, we see this being supported.

My point is not to say that being unmarried is a sin (although I am willing to make that case) but that religion makes a difference.

Conclusion

Now I want to underline that all of the above post is talking about the relationship between the existence of God and our beliefs and understanding of Him. These are two separate things. A child asking his sister, “Where did that come from?” may be quite content with the answer ‘Daddy bought it.” His wife may wish to know where he bought it, if it was on sale, and how much it cost. An economist might wish to know what the inflation rate was and whether the item would hold its value. The shopkeeper might wish to know who sold it to him in order to give the proper commission. The manufacturer might wish to know where the goods used to produce it came from…

And while all of that is important to the people concerned, they are utterly irrelevant to the existence of the thing. They are downstream of the existence of the thing.  They are judged by the thing, not the thing by them.

Some people make it sound like God exists or not, depending on whether you believe in Him or not. Indeed, some statements make it sound as if God exists ‘for believers’ and doesn’t for non-believers. This is quite literally insane. It cannot be that there both is and isn’t an all-powerful, all-knowing, all-beneficent deity that created and sustained the Heavens and Earth and everything them… and there isn’t.

So my argument is that God exists and that you should believe in Him. In that order. He doesn’t exist because I believe in Him or because I want Him to. He existed and caused me to believe in Him.

Intro

So who am I? I am the husband of one, father of six, father-in-law of six, grandfather of 25, 23 of whom have been born. I am a former missionary to Africa. I currently preach in my church. I hold to the London Baptist Confession. Baptised when I was eight years old, I have been in the church my whole life.

I am also a writer, and enjoy writing science fiction, fantasy, politics, and theology. All of which is grounded on not in some vague belief in God, but in a very specific set of beliefs in God. And in the results that that belief has.

Join in!

Feel free to join in the discussion! Make sure you leave a link in the comments and notes if you write something in response and I will do my best to reply to you. I’m looking forward to a profitable exchange. Please post your comments also to notes so we can get the widest possible exchange.

Links

Why settle for only pizza, or sushi, when it is possible to take the good from each and enjoy the richness of life?

Religion

I would recommend that readers read or listen to (I definitely recommend listening to) the ‘Great Debate’ between Greg Bahnsen and Gordon Stein.