Before I continue, I'd just like to make something clear. I hope that from these somewhat philosophical/existential blog posts that I offer this information with gentleness and respect. I hope that it serves as a basis for some critical thinking on your own time. My goal is not to sound pessimistic or judgmental, but my hope is that, whatever your world view, this would point directly to a need for God. And, ultimately, that you might embrace Him if you have not. For believers, I hope this is an encouragement to you--that you would be overwhelmed with joy that life has meaning and to focus on things that are eternal and not things that will fade away.
So from the first post, we've concluded that without God, an eternal-life-giver, this physical life including the universe, is all that we can know and experience for an extremely small amount of time. Without God as our Creator, we are just "star stuff" as some philosophers (i.e. Carl Sagan) have put it.
So from this premise, we can also objectively state that without God, life has no value.
2. There is no value.
Value has to do with right and wrong, good and evil. If your life is going to end soon and you are just a speck of dust in an immensely vast, accidental, and complicated universe, then it really doesn't matter how you choose to live. If you want, you can live exactly like the terrorists in ISIS or like the pope. There is no objective (based on fact) truth about morality that applies to every human. There's only subjective (based on opinion, personally relative) judgments. So, there is no way to determine what is good or what is evil. And if that's true, then you have no right to judge Adolf Hitler.
Why? Because murdering millions of a race of people may be wrong for you, but it wasn't wrong for him. You also don't have permission to look down on a child abuser or a serial killer. Also, you can't say that Mother Teresa was good. What does that even mean? Is taking care of dying people a good thing? I don't know... it depends. It's true for her but not true for someone else. Is there something wrong with rape? We can't say that there is... but most people prefer not to be raped.
If there's no way to differentiate right and wrong, then the next time I'm waiting for an old lady to walk across the parking lot at Kroger, I might as well just run her over with my car because I'm feeling a little impatient. She's probably going to die soon anyway. I could argue that I'm doing her a favor by ending her meaningless life. Who said that was wrong? What right do they have to say that? How do they have that authority? No one does because, basically, we're all just beings made from the same material as cattle.
BUT if there's a God, then there is right and wrong and there is a universal standard of morality that's true for every human. Rape is wrong in all places, at all times, for all people. Treating others with respect is right in every society, in every time period, and for every person. Compassion and brotherhood makes sense to everyone. We don't have to create our own values based on our own culture and ideas, but we have something reliable that comes from a perfect Being who is Love himself.
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