Can’t I Just Be A Good Person?
Sermon Notes
Let’s define some terms…
Who’s asking the question? Three types of people:
Those who don’t believe
Those who are spiritual but not religious
Those who have been hurt by religion (deconstructing their faith)
What is a religion?
Most people would say that a religion is a system of faith in and worship of a supernatural being. In other words, it is the way someone thinks about and relates to God.
That’s a solid, dictionary definition, but there’s an underlying assumption that needs to be examined: “If I don’t believe in God or subscribe to a specific set of practices (Christian, Muslim, Hindu, etc.), then I’m not religious.”
The problem is many people want to distinguish between religion (as a supernatural proposition) and everything else (as natural)
For instance, religion vs. science, faith vs. reason.
But science requires as much faith as religion does.
In this post-enlightenment age, we hold reason up as the supreme force (in college writing classes, we teach students not to say, “I believe” but rather, “I think.”), but we fail to realize the profound amount of faith we are placing in reason, in our own intellect and its ability to perceive and understand reality.
Trust in reason is itself an unprovable proposition. It is a statement of faith, and in my mind even more tenuous than belief in God. It is the mind believing in the mind, which is a pretty circular kind of logic: “I believe in reason because I reason that I should believe in reason.”
Skeptics will often attempt convince religious people to doubt their faith, but religious people could just as easily encourage skeptics to doubt their doubts.
An alternative definition of religion: “a pursuit or interest to which someone ascribes supreme importance” or “our most foundational system of belief.”
With that definition in mind, we all have a religion.
I don’t need a religion means, to many people, I don’t need a belief system. And that’s just not possible.
We all have faith in something, and we all worship something.
So, do you need a religion? Yes. You can’t not have one.
But maybe you think that’s just a slick way around the question, and you want to reframe it as, “Do I need to subscribe to a particular “supernatural” religion, or can I just be a good person? In response, I’d ask a follow up question.
What is good? Where does your standard of goodness come from?
A lot of people who are asking this question, are agnostics or atheists who don’t believe in God, and they run into a major problem: without God, we cannot come up with any sense of moral obligation.
This is not an apologetics course, but three of the best clues for the existence of God are.
The existence of the universe: why there is something instead of nothing.
The fine tuning of the earth
The existence of a moral law
But, without God, the best we can manage is social utility: in other words, things are good because they are useful for building a society.
The problem with this, of course, is it varies from culture to culture and from age to age.
What we consider a flourishing society is different from what someone elsewhere would say, so having an absolute moral standard is impossible (rugged individualism vs. social responsibility).
What we consider good today will be “outdated” within a generation.
Additionally, I wonder if most people who claim goodness without God know where their particular standard of goodness has come from.
For most of the people in the world, particularly those in the West, the answer is Jesus. It is possible to be a moral person without believing in a religious system, but it is also inconsistent. The very roots of the morality you are practicing are deeply Christian. So, you are enjoying the fruit without acknowledging the tree from which it came.
This is the tragedy of a post-Christian culture. Christian values are deeply ingrained but we have forgotten the story that provided us with these values (for instance: humility, human rights, caring for the poor, etc.)
What do you mean by “enough”?
An atheist, if they are consistent, probably means, “enough to build a good society where people treat one another with dignity.
Can’t we do that without religion?
In fact, isn’t religion one of the primary reasons that we don’t have this?
I’d answer, “Yes” to both questions.
Yes, it is possible for a person not to believe in God.
Because we are all made in the image of God, we all have capacity for goodness.
In fact, I know non-Christians who are better people than a lot of Christians I know.
And, yes, religions are behind many of the conflicts throughout the history of the world.
And our deconstructionist friends have experienced some of this firsthand.
People have been hurt by people in the name of God.
But, I have a follow-up question for people who think the answer is just to be a good person?
Ignoring the fact that it’s incredibly inconsistent to hold a standard of goodness without God…
…can you actually live up to your own standard? (Francis Schaeffer’s tape recorder)
You see, the Bible says that the problem is in the heart (Jeremiah 17:9).
Just as there have been numerous so-called “holy wars” fought in the name of religion (let’s hold up a second here: not really in the name of God)…
…so too have there been countless wars fought by enlightened people who sought to build heaven on earth.
Now, a spiritual person might be using “enough” differently: isn’t being a good person enough to get into heaven? I have three thoughts:
See above: can we actually live up to our own standards? No, all is grace – it is by grace you have been saved through faith (Ephesians 2:8-9)
A bit ago, I mentioned that there are a lot of non-Christians who are better people than a lot of Christians I know.
This is not actually all that surprising. After all, Christianity never demands that we be a good person in order to get in. It’s all about grace.
Now, that doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t grow in goodness.
People who believe in an impersonal god: “I’m spiritual but not religious.”
It’s not that you don’t like religion; it’s that you don’t like authority. Let’s be honest. You don’t like someone telling you what you can or can’t do, so you’ve picked and chosen what parts of each you like. For this position to work, you have to assume a completely disinterested god/gods a cosmic force that is unknowable and really doesn’t care one way or another how we live our lives. If, however, someone claims to know have knowledge of the character of this divine force, that person is now obligated to act in accordance with that knowledge. If God has made Himself known in any way, what He has shown us of Himself is demanding of us.
“In those days, there was no king in Israel, and everyone did what was right in their own eyes.” (Judges 17:6)
The question of heaven and hell needs to be reframed as life with God and life without God.
It’s not about God allowing people in or casting people out. It’s all about trajectory.
C.S. Lewis says there are two kinds of people: “Those who say to God, “Your will be done,” and those to whom God says, “Your will be done.”
People who have been hurt by religion.
Ghandi’s critique of Christians
There’s plenty of grace for people in this position.
But if there is a knowable God who has something to say about the purpose of our lives, we don’t get to opt ourselves out simply because people have hurt us by failing to live up to the standards God has set.
Why do I need this religion (Christianity)?
YHWH – Taste and see (invitation to relationship)
Jesus – Grace
The Holy Spirit – Power