While difficult to catch in a
blog entry, I want to explain the rioting in Baltimore, Maryland and the FIFA
bribery scandal with one verse from the Bible: Genesis 1:1. How?
Genesis 1:1 tells us that God was
there “in the beginning” and “created the heavens and the earth.” This means several things. First, God existed before time and
space. Second, since he created all that
we know, he is in control of it. Third,
it means that he is the ultimate power in or out of the universe. Finally, it means he has the right to
exercise whatever authority he chooses over his creation in whatever manner he
chooses.
If there is no God, then time and
space are eternal. No one and no thing
is in control of anything. There is no
ultimate power in the universe.
Therefore, there is no authority over creation except that which we
create on our own.
So people are rioting in
Baltimore and other cities in the United States because they claim there is
injustice. Upon what possible theory can
they claim to even understand the idea of injustice? Injustice presupposes justice exists. Justice, at least so far as my own puny mind
can comprehend it, requires an authority to dispense it. The authority must come from somewhere. From whence does the authority come for the
people who rioted in Baltimore to claim they are experiencing injustice? It cannot come from a cold, heartless,
non-thinking, non-rational, non-living, non-being universe. Some might argue justice arises from our
laws. Maybe, but, if there is no God, our
laws are mere whims of men, put into place by mortal and finite human beings
whose understanding of the totality of our universe doesn’t even begin to fill
a thimble. Justice/injustice, good/bad,
right/wrong: these concepts have no
meaning in a universe that merely exists.
Thus, rioters in Baltimore can act without remorse, without thought,
without concern, without fear of consequence because in such a world nothing
matters anyway. No one is in control,
there is no ultimate power, and there is no ultimate authority. Consequently, everyone and no one is in
control, everyone has ultimate power and no one has any power, and everyone has ultimate authority and no authority, all at the same time. Riot or not.
Who cares? The universe takes no
notice.
The FIFA bribery scandal arises
from the same worldview. Bribe, don’t
bribe. Does it really matter? Qatar gets a World Cup, Qatar doesn’t get a
World Cup, who cares? Sepp Blatter and
his minions are doing what natural people ought to do when faced with a
Godless, mindless, cold, non-living, universe – whatever they can. The same motives that compel the Baltimore
rioters compel the FIFA bureaucrats.
Blatter’s acceptance speech for his presidency was rife with the notion
that since there is no transcendent authority, he is the authority. He makes the rules, then decides who has to
follow them and when they must follow those rules. Seth Blatter was FIFA's God.
You see, in both instances, these
folks are doing precisely what comes from a Godless reality in which there is
no ultimate authority. When human beings
are the ultimate authority, then each one of us has every right to proclaim ourselves
king of however much of this puny planet we can control. That might mean a few square feet of the City
of Baltimore, or it might mean a multi-billion dollar enterprise like
FIFA. In this world, Hillary Clinton’s
refrain “what difference does it make” is true.
Of course, the irony is that even
those who hold to the view that the universe is all there ever was, is and ever
will be still want there to be morals.
Atheists routinely claim they can behave in morally good ways. But what do morals mean? Is Bruce/Caitlyn Jenner acting morally in
changing his outer body from a man to a woman?
Is the baker who won’t make a wedding cake to celebrate a gay wedding
acting morally? Why does society seem
accepting of Jenner but not the baker?
How does one make such distinctions with any rationality without a transcendent
authority?
I once had a friend tell me that
I was the most rational person he knew EXCEPT when it came to my Christian
belief. Well, my friend was wrong. The opposite is clearly true. It’s irrational to claim Jenner is okay but
the baker is wrong when you can’t point to anything other than human ordained
rules as your authority, since there is no rational basis for claiming any one
human authority should be followed rather than another. This is mere preference, and is precisely
identical to whether I prefer chocolate or vanilla ice cream (vanilla, by the
way).
If, however, there is a
transcendent authority to whom we all owe allegiance, then that’s a game
changer. Then, suddenly, morals make
sense. Suddenly one can see the riots in
Baltimore as a symptom of problems in the world due to man-made systems which
consistently and routinely fail those intended to benefit from those
systems. The riots are immoral because
it’s wrong to harm others just because you have been harmed, not because human
beings have decided this is true, but because the transcendent creator of the
universe says so. It is wrong for FIFA
officials to engage in underhanded bribery not because we have laws that say
so, but because fraud is lying and the transcendent creator of the universe
demands that we not lie.
I am regularly stunned by the
complete lack of rationality by those who say they hold it dear. Atheists of the world: you are irrational if
you ever claim any human authority should be followed over any other human
authority – you have no rational or even reasonable basis for making this claim
other than your own self-proclaimed love of reason, which is, itself, based on nothing more than your mere preference. The only rational basis for arguing there is
any order to be followed in this chaotic world is to return to Genesis 1:1 and
recognize that “In the beginning, God . . .” and acknowledge the transcendent
creator of this world has both the right and authority to tell us how to
operate it. Until you do, we’ll continue
to have riots and bribes.
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