Thinking Out Loud with Alan Shlemon - Atheism’s Empty Soul

Episode Date: December 8, 2020

A worldview that denies God and embraces naturalism has serious repercussions, the most egregious being a logical slide to nihilism. Alan unpacks three reasons why nihilism flows logically from naturalism.

Welcome to the podcast, Thinking Out Loud with Alan Schliemann. I'm Alan, and today I want to share with you my thoughts about what I call atheism's empty soul. Now, the reason I say that is because I don't think atheists have a livable worldview. Now, I don't say that to gloat, but I will tell you that several atheists who have been candid with me have told me that life is ultimately empty and devoid of meaning. Now, that doesn't mean they can't feel happy or follow a set of morals or believe that their life is significant in some way. But what I am trying to suggest is that their denial of God has serious repercussions. And the reason is, is because if you don't believe in a cosmic creator,

well, you tend to deny the existence of anything supernatural. Okay, so there's no angels, there's no demons, there's no souls. And this worldview, which is called naturalism, basically says that the natural world described by physics and chemistry is all that exists. Okay. Now, a belief in this worldview in naturalism is, I would argue, neither neutral nor insignificant. Okay. And perhaps the most egregious consequence of naturalism is nihilism. Now, this word nihilism is just a fancy word from Latin, which means, from the Latin word nihil, which means nothing. But let me give you a definition of nihilism from James Sire, who is a worldview expert. And in his book, A Universe Next Door, this is how he defines nihilism.

He says, it is a, quote, a denial of the possibility of knowledge, a denial that anything is valuable. It is the negation of everything, knowledge, ethics, beauty, reality. In nihilism, no statement has validity, nothing has meaning, everything is gratuitous, detroit, that is just there, end quote. Okay. So nihilism is truly a depressing state. But what I want to argue is that it flows logically from the worldview of naturalism for three reasons. Okay. So here's the first reason. Naturalism leads to nihilism because humans don't have free will. leads to nihilism because humans don't have free will. That is, they don't have free will on the naturalistic account of reality. So remember, the atheist worldview denies the existence of spiritual or non-physical entities. So if only physical things exist in the universe,

then everything is subject to a cause and effect system that operates according to the laws of physics and chemistry. And since human beings are also merely physical machines, I would say then they are also subject to the same forces of cause and effect. And so it's impossible to make a decision that is unencumbered by the laws of physics and chemistry on our brain. And so we just simply do what we're determined to do. We are cogs in a cosmic machine. The French philosopher Pierre-Jean-Georges Cabanis bluntly puts it this way. He says, quote, the brain secretes thought as the liver secretes bile, end quote.

So basically, we're just meat machines without the capacity for free will. And freedom, though, is, I think, a key component to a meaningful life. Because if we can't act freely, we can't make our lives what we will, right? There is no I to decide and determine my own you know reality my own destiny right our decisions you know and i'm putting decisions in square quotes here are not significant because they are not our decisions rather our future is determined by blind physical forces and we're just basically along for the ride all right so that's my first reason why I think naturalism leads to nihilism. But here's a second one. Okay. I think naturalism leads to nihilism because

knowledge is unattainable. Okay. Again, on the naturalist account of reality. All right. So knowledge is simply justified true belief. So suppose you believe the Liberty Bell is three feet tall. Okay. And suppose also that it's true that the Liberty Bell is three feet tall. Okay. Well, you at this point hold a true belief. But suppose that you came to believe that the Liberty Bell is three feet tall because you rolled a pair of dice and the sum was three. Now, you would not have a justified true belief because a chance dice roll isn't proper justification. Therefore, you have a true belief, but you wouldn't have knowledge. You wouldn't have a justified true belief. And so the problem for the atheist arises from the fact that their worldview of naturalism views

the brain as a wholly material object, which is subject to the environmental forces of physics and chemistry, like I said in the previous point. But such forces have no interest in producing reliable cognitive faculties. Physical forces on a physical object like the brain won't necessarily produce a trustworthy system of independent thought, reason, and logical deduction. And since we can't be confident in our ability to attain justified true beliefs, then we can't have knowledge. Naturalist J.B.S. Haldane concedes, quote, if my mental processes are determined wholly by the motions of atoms in my brain, I have no reason for supposing that my beliefs are true. They may be sound chemically, but that does not make them sound logically. So basically, end quote, by the way, basically,

our brains are subject entirely to environmental forces, thereby calling into question whether our cognitive faculties are reliable. And so without the confidence of justified true belief, we're left basically with a life devoid of knowledge and of course, without knowledge, bereft of meaning. And that's what I mean by nihilism, okay? And so the third reason why naturalism leads to nihilism is because on the, again, the naturalist account of reality, morality does not exist. So the world, according to naturalism, is just there, okay? And people just do things, right? Students cheat in school,

lions eat zebras, Men rape women, right? Whatever, right? Life just happens. And there's no way the world is supposed to be because, as my boss, Greg Kokel, often says, there's no supposer, right? God doesn't exist as our objective moral standard, right? So there's no fixed set of morals that exists outside of ourselves and each person acts however they like and so without morality there's no possibility to do what is good or

noble right there's no virtue or vice you can't better yourself since there's no ideal to pursue life is just a trek with no moral compass and in fact, no destination. But it's actually worse than that because despite the absence of morality, there is no shortage of guilt, right? People have an intuitive sense that they have done wrong. But of course, in a world without God, there's also no forgiveness. And so we're just left in a state of guilt without any hope of redemption. And that's what I mean by nihilism, or in this case, ethical nihilism. And so notice then that the atheist worldview of naturalism leads to a world that is devoid of free will, devoid of knowledge, and devoid of morality. It leads to nihilism.

Now, the Christian worldview, by example, by contrast, I mean, which again, I haven't argued for this, but I would state and claim that the Christian worldview can justify free will. It can explain how we can have knowledge, meaning justify true belief, and it can also explain and define right from wrong. And more importantly, I would argue also that the Christian worldview provides a solution to our moral crimes and frees us from our guilt. And that's why I think Christianity makes the best sense of reality. So that is all I have for you today. If you enjoy my thoughts on these topics, it'd be great if you would rate or review this podcast on iTunes or whatever podcast you listen to this on. And anyways, I hope you enjoy the show

in future segments. So that's it. Thanks. And I'll talk to you guys next time.