The Atheist's New Year's Resolution

 I just came across this on my Twitter newsfeed:

Characteristically excellent advice from @MickNugent: https://t.co/s6mHoPl75D New Year resolution to follow it.

— Richard Dawkins (@RichardDawkins) January 2, 2016

Just so I won't be accused of having not read the article, let me read it now ... ok done.

My initial thought when I saw the tweet was, Why? Why, from the atheistic worldview, should this even be your new year's resolution? Why is it even excellent from your perspective?

Incase the reader doesn't know, this is the atheistic worldview as I understand it to be:

We are an accident. Evolution brought us here. The world has no purpose. We are only matter. Our mind is simply caused by chemical reactions. 

There are a lot of things I like about the article and think is good. For example, challenge #2 "Promote robust civil dialogue not Internet rage" is good because then it will allow people to better understand each other as we dialogue. The Christian worldview believes everyone deserves respect because we are made in the image of God, we are morally obligated to treat each other with respect. But, when it comes to the atheistic worldview: Why? If ultimately we are matter and chemicals, we die and we are gone, then why civility?

Let me just take 3 examples (I arbitrarily chose the number 3, I'm pretty sure there were more things I noticed as I was reading the article):

• Challenge #1 summary talks about giving Muslim respect by opposing Islamophobia, and criticizing abuses on Muslims by Islamism.  From the atheistic worldview: Why is respect important? Why address abuses?
• Challenge #3 summary says "do constructive things, and be seen to do constructive things, while explicitly self-identifying as an atheist." Why must we do constructive things?
• Challenge #4 is to promote fundamental human rights. Why must we do that?

Ok, I definitely think I there are more, but I think the reader gets the point. There are many ways to approach dialogue with an atheist, but the foundational question that keeps coming back is this:

"On what basis does an atheist have to do what s/he is doing? Why must the atheist do 'this' and not 'that'?" This goes back to Pastor Jeff Durbin asking, "So What?" (there are 3 links there). It seems with the atheistic worldview, there is really no basis to keep any of the resolutions in general, let alone keeping 5 challenges of the article as resolutions.

Praising God for His Impassibility

I just finished an article by Kevin DeYoung on the Impassibility of God. That is, God's attribute that affirms His inability to suffer involuntarily or be acted upon externally. The article was written for the breakout session that he spoke at Together for the Gospel 2010. The fifth point in the article makes me want to break out and worship God. It's amazing! Here are two paragraphs:

Listen to Hebrews 2:9: ―But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone. This is a purpose statement. The Son of God had to be made for a little while lower than the angels so that he might taste death. Apart from the incarnation, the Son could not die, because God by definition is immortal.

and

Do you see the connection in all of this with the doctrine of impassibility? If God as God can suffer then the incarnation is robbed of its glorious condescension. There‘s no mystery and no majesty in the incarnation apart from impassibility. Why become a man if God is capable of experiencing all that needs to be experienced in order to save men?

I hope you see the wisdom, mercy, and love of God in the incarnation of Christ. Look at that, just in time for Christmas.

Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!

“For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?”
“Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?” 

For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.

Romans 11:33-36