The series of 4 posts culminating in this one have been fascinating, Richard. Will there be more in the series? Also, does "The Shape of Joy" get into where we can find values that are based in something like objectivity?
It seems that values that would encourage these virtues are extremely difficult to find... missing often in education, often in churches, and certainly in our economic system. If parents are without the values that would drive positive virtues, children grow up without a reason to be good. I believe this missing and critical piece has led to hedonism as well as loneliness... and many other things including the inequality, and the political situation we find ourselves that lacks empathy.....destroying dedication to the wellbeing of others. The wellness and even "spirituality" movement seems to be primarily self-centered and I have wondered how we got here. To be extreme, who is to say that human life is even worth saving? Why is murder wrong, why is stealing wrong? All becomes a matter of opinion... and that is scary and not a society I am interested in embracing.
This has always been my thought about atheism - properly understood, a life without God has no intrinsic meaning. The atheists who argue that you can be good without God are actually drawing on God for goodness. And true atheism leads only to “might makes right.” There is no virtue without the why behind it, as your posts make clear.
Without the Resurrection… trying to be good seems like a pitiful way to live. Why bother? With the Resurrection there’s no split in Fact/Value? And now we can ‘rejoice in hope, endure afflictions, and persist in prayer’.
The series of 4 posts culminating in this one have been fascinating, Richard. Will there be more in the series? Also, does "The Shape of Joy" get into where we can find values that are based in something like objectivity?
It seems that values that would encourage these virtues are extremely difficult to find... missing often in education, often in churches, and certainly in our economic system. If parents are without the values that would drive positive virtues, children grow up without a reason to be good. I believe this missing and critical piece has led to hedonism as well as loneliness... and many other things including the inequality, and the political situation we find ourselves that lacks empathy.....destroying dedication to the wellbeing of others. The wellness and even "spirituality" movement seems to be primarily self-centered and I have wondered how we got here. To be extreme, who is to say that human life is even worth saving? Why is murder wrong, why is stealing wrong? All becomes a matter of opinion... and that is scary and not a society I am interested in embracing.
This has always been my thought about atheism - properly understood, a life without God has no intrinsic meaning. The atheists who argue that you can be good without God are actually drawing on God for goodness. And true atheism leads only to “might makes right.” There is no virtue without the why behind it, as your posts make clear.
Without the Resurrection… trying to be good seems like a pitiful way to live. Why bother? With the Resurrection there’s no split in Fact/Value? And now we can ‘rejoice in hope, endure afflictions, and persist in prayer’.