John Piper - Atheist and Christian world-views

"In Him Was Life"
John 1:1-13
October 05, 2008

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[sweetsweatyfeet]

There is no singular atheist "world view". A--theism describes a position of no belief in gods. It doesn't begin to suggest what beliefs an atheist might have. An atheist is not defined by what they lack belief in. Atheism is not a world view just as not believing in space aliens or fairies is not a world view.

[wacdaddy22]

"A young man who wishes to remain a sound atheist cannot be too careful of his reading."

— C.S. Lewis

[Casshyr]

I don't care much for Christian or atheist worldview...as long as people remain rational. Using statements like "i believe X is bad because God said so" is irrational. Justification for bad vs good should only be derived from secular reasonings.

[joniosa91]

something here doesn't make sense

[sweetsweatyfeet]

@Asterixarcher Given the Christian propensity for labeling people, I'm not surprised you would feel that way. Atheism addresses only the question of belief in deity(s). What else any given atheist believes is subject to cultural and philosophical influences and personal reflection---and it varies greatly from person to person.

[Asterixarcher]

@sweetsweatyfeet I would argue your point that Atheism doesn't begin to suggest beliefs an atheist might have. Certainly it can't precisely define their beliefs, just as christians do not believe the same way about everything. If someone is an atheist however i would expect them to be pro gay marriage, pro abortion, ect. Why would they have reasons not to be? certainly not any religious ones.

[TheJohnVandivier]

@sweetsweatyfeet Dude I don't care if you believe that it's ok to jump of a 50 foot cliff headfirst without a helmet - believe what you want, reality will filter out your idiocy. I'm trying to do you a favor.

Even numbers are an infinite set, does that mean we can't clump them together and distinguish them from odd numbers? Come on bud, get real.

[sweetsweatyfeet]

@TheJohnVandivier The dismissal of god theories (atheism) leaves open every other possible theory---a virtually unlimited number of explanations without deities. The range and scope of explanations are so vast, they cannot be clumped together as a "world view". The term "world view" is vague and nebulous, I will not use it.

One can even believe in the supernatural and still be called an atheist. A Buddhist has no god belief but does believe in the supernatural. He's technically an atheist.

[TheJohnVandivier]

@sweetsweatyfeet Lack of a belief affects the way you view the world. If I don't believe in economic reform I have a view distinct from those who do believe in economic reform. You are correct that atheism is not a particular belief set, but it is a particular range of beliefs, namely, all belief systems which lack belief in God may be considered atheist worldviews or belief systems. This subset is distinct from the whole set of all belief systems and worldviews. Also consider norms. Unique.

[tHeEtHmAn18]

I guess I don't understand how there can be more than one athiestic worldview. If you don't believe in God, then you obviously can't use God as an explanation for how the world and everything in it came to exist; therefore, you have to put your faith in things like evolution and the big bang, which is what Piper is getting at here. Please, correct me if I'm wrong. I'm not trying to start a debate, I'm just putting my opinion out there.

[justicecallicles]

@desasterz "Atheism is that there was no God and that everything we see started out of matter and inanimate objects"

No. First of all, atheism means not having a belief that there is a God. There's a difference. Second, ideas about what everything we see is and where it came from aren't part of atheism. While everyone has a duty to try to account for the world, atheism isn't a package deal where those answers are included for you. One could be an atheist an have different beliefs about that.