We’re All Slaves
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Christians are sometimes characterized as people who believe in an afterlife because they cant cope with the thought of there being no point to life and nothing to look forward to after death besides rotting in the ground. They are also sometimes characterized as deeply troubled people, who only do good on this earth because they fear that if they don’t they won’t see heaven. This characterization is often intended to make the Christian appear to be cowardly and fearful, reacting out of that fear in his
belief in Christ and an afterlife. One will often hear, if my experiences are any indication, an atheist tout with great pride his fearlessness, how the thought of death dœsn’t phase him, and how he dœs good things of his own will without counting on rewards in the afterlife — a much superior motive for doing good.
The Christian’s motive is, I believe, mischaracterized. The atheist overlooks another possibility to the Christian’s beliefs and actions — namely, that the Christian just honestly believes that the gospel of Christ and his promise of an afterlife is true as naturally as he believes that gravity works. The evidence of Christ, like the evidence of gravity, is apparent to the Christian, so to believe any other way is simply impossible if he is to remain honest. Fear, therefore, plays no role in the Christian’s belief, but fear and respect for God comes into play after the Christian knows God and better understands why God is to be feared.
In fact, I think it is much easier to not believe. I can only use myself to exemplify this, but as a human I don’t believe my perceptions are that far off from most. Being a Christian is hard. I don’t mean hard in a “living in poverty with ringworms and being hungry every day” sort of way — don’t misunderstand me. We’re talking about what Christians and atheists whose day-to-day necessities are taken for granted, which is the state of most people in the developed world who have the luxury of thinking about whether to be Christian or atheist. So within that context, and presented with the daily troubles and frustrations of a first-world life, I sometimes envy the atheist because being a Christian is hard.
The reason it is hard is because it demands so much. It demands; 1) Faith in an invisible God whom I only know through a Book; 2) The sacrifice of my own will and desires to God so that I can desire what God desires; 3) Perfection. “Be perfect like my Father in heaven is perfect” said Jesus, and that is, obviously, an impossible request. So yeah, being a Christian is hard, and part of me envies the atheist whose only god is himself.
If I woke up every morning knowing that I had the freedom to indulge myself in any sort of thing I wanted without guilt (for as an atheist, the only guilt one would have is that which comes from breaking the atheist‘s own personal morals or rules) I think I’d rather like it. Because even though I am a Christian, I am still a man — that frightful animal — and I have all the desires, passions and rebellion of a man. Being a Christian and denying my own desires while serving the will of God is not a natural state for me. I, like all humans, love rebellion. I want to fight against the Man, Machine, Authority and whatever else have you. I want to do my own thing, eat what I want, say what I want, believe what I want. Being a Christian dœs not suddenly grant me with the super-human power of being meek, submissive, humble and one who delights in daily trying to master my own thoughts. On the contrary, being a Christian and trying to be perfect (while failing daily) gives me a keener sense of how evil I really am, just like how a smoker dœsn’t know how addicted he is until he tries to stop smoking. Being a Christian is hard because it is unnatural.
And yet, as I go on through life, presented with innumerable temptations and daily choices, choosing wrong at times, failing at times and every now and then, doing something partway right, I have discovered that I can’t help being a Christian because I just flat-out believe it. I have, somehow, even though I never sought to, already achieved number one in our previous list — Faith in an invisible God whom I only know through a Book. How did I get there? Was it the way I was raised? No. I was raised well, but I have few pleasant experiences with Christianity during my childhood. In fact, the Christians I knew at my church and school during childhood disgusted me. I have a natural aversion to “fakery” and this was all I saw as a child, aside from the Christians in my own family. The natural, expected path for me to have taken on becoming an adult was to rebel, blame Christianity and the Church for all the troubles of the world and become my own god, as so many who have been raised in Christian homes have done. I didn’t, however, and the only reason I can think of is that God wouldn’t let me.
This concept isn’t that strange. Like Paul, Lewis and countless Christians before me, I am compelled towards Christ often against my own will — dragged to Christ kicking and screaming, as Lewis once put it. My animal self dœs not want to be one. I have, by all appearances (and God will forgive me for being presumptuous) been elected in a very Romans 9 sort of way, against my own will, and compelled to chose Life. My soul clings to Christ while my body clings to the earth — being a Christian is bloitting hard.
So up till now, you probably have the impression that I think being an atheist, with myself as my own god, is a much better life. Ultimately, no, I don’t. Yes, if you live your life doing what you want to do then life is much easier; none of that bothersome repenting business. However, that dœsn’t make it better. If God is not in the picture, then you are ultimately responsible for your own life. This isn’t as nice as it sounds. I’ll use an extreme form of sexual depravity as an example, so forgive me ahead of time, but I think it is the best way to push my point (and it is also something I think this culture is obsessed with. Sex has become, for some reason, the greatest desire and ultimate goal of humanity, as proven by the types of advertisements that best appeal to people of both sexes. I’m still trying to figure out why).
If, as a Christian, I do not go to the crazy sex orgy because I love God, I know it is wrong and I want to do his will (and supposing I am into that sort of thing) then I will be bummed and frustrated at missing it. Ultimately though, because my faith — my principles — have kept me from the crazy sex orgy, I will feel relieved and satisfied for sticking with them through my human animal desires. I would only find shame by indulging them. If, however, I am an atheist who likes that sort of thing, but I do not go to the crazy sex orgy because I wasn’t invited, I’m not attractive and no one wants me.… well then who have I to blame? My shame, then, would come by not being able to indulge. Being a virgin because you have a principled faith is far better than being a virgin because you just can’t get some.
Just because you now have the personal moral freedom to do something that you couldn’t if you were a Christian, dœsn’t mean you’ll actually be able to, which will lead to frustration and depression if you have only yourself to blame. I just used the word “freedom”, but really, the things which we have been discussing (“sin”, I suppose) is really more like slavery than freedom. And here is where the real tragedy comes in — yes, as a Christian I am urged to sacrifice my own will and desires to Christ. The Bible often describes this as being a servant or slave to Christ. It makes no apology for this language. However, even if I am in a state of rebellion, am an atheist and embrace myself as my own god, I’m still a slave, only this time to my animal self. The man who has anger issues and can’t help but explode in a bout of anger, who can’t stop watching pornography, who can’t stop committing adultery, who can’t stop eating, drinking, and smoking whatever he wants — on and on. Is the atheist who indulges his own passions less of a slave than the Christian who sacrifices those passions to God? No matter who we are or what we believe, we are all slaves to something. There is always something we wish we didn’t desire. Have you ever been in love with someone and wish that you weren’t? Have you ever wished that you didn’t like chocolate so much? Or that you didn’t envy your sister, co-worker or whatever?
As much as we want to, we can’t control our lives. We may pretend to be our own god, but we never can be.
This is why I think being a Christian is best. From the very beginning, Christians know that they are flawed and imperfect, who don’t have ultimate control or freedom over their own lives. They don’t have to (but often do) discover this the hard way, through experience. Yes, the Christian life is harder, in some ways, than the atheist life, for the satisfaction of our desires is often out of sight, but it is a better life.
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About OxhornI’m an author, songwriter and movie-maker who lives in Seattle, WA. I earned my BA in history from the University of Washington and have been interested in arguments, reasoning, research, writing and history ever since. I’m best known for my animated comedy machinima movies and music which you can find at oxhorn.com. Visit brandonMdennis.com for more about me, and be sure to subscribe, follow me on Twitter and Facebook. Watch my weekly live show, Scotch & Smoke Rings, at 7:00 PM Pacific for more classiness. |
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2 Responses to We’re All Slaves
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Your view of atheists is flawed. We do not, as you suggest, believe that without a God we alone determine what is right and wrong, and do whatever we feel. Instead, we know that one can determine morality through logical and empathy, and through that adhere to morals that we know intellectually are proper, even if it isn’t something we want.
Avi(Quote)
I love what you have written, but, somehow, I feel certain points were not addressed. A man’s animal instincts are essentially his own will. The fact that you repress these through faith means that you go against your will as the slave of god, yet one indulging his desires is merely conflicted between two wants: his desire for the act itself, and his desire for a different outcome through not committing the act. I would not say this man is a slave; rather, he weighs his desires and chooses which he feels is the best course of action, while the Christian has a preset belief of which option is best for what, he believes, serves a greater good. I do admire your tenacity for writing the ninth and tenth paragraphs, considering certain people could misinterpret them by saying you use Christianity to deny your own inability to satisfy these desires. I also feel you have not addressed why Christians choose to do what they do. The way you have left it, you have glorified Christians for following God, yet you retain your original thesis of them doing deeds only to satisfy God’s will and in the hope they will be rewarded with Heaven. By this definition, atheist‘s self-sacrificing deeds will still be considered nobler than Christian’s. With experience in many religions, and the lack of religion, I am currently proclaiming myself an agnostic. Atheism has traded the physically challenging and taxing works of religion for the mental distraught and despair of all meaning of life being erased through death. Many atheists wish to find some sort of faith to cling to, yet cannot believe without evidence. Christians are simply more successful at believing in a god than atheists, but it dœs not mean that atheists do not dread believing what they do. I look for faith wherever I can; I question preachers in the hope they could convince me, and I search for intelligent believers online and through society who could give me a true belief in the “invisible god.” I’ve personally showed your video “The Invisible Pink Unicorn” to, at least, a dozen other people, and advertised it to even more. The video addresses some very conflicted points that haven’t been thoroughly meditated by society. It dœs state that the “engineers” believe in things as ridiculous, if not more, as the Pink Unicorn follower, and proves the existence of the unicorn through it’s viewing. The Cook Book fills the void for the unknown, but there is no proof of whether or not it is correct until the Unicorn shows himself. In reality, God dœs not show himself, and the Bible merely fills a void without proving the validity of it’s writings. I believe one should live his life how he feels is morally correct, whether he follows a religion or his own practice, and that each one of us shall view the true answer once we pass on. If there is truth to atheistic views, then there is no point to anything, and thus there is no point in assulting a man for his belief. If a god is the ruling power of the universe, then he should understand man’s actions, and at the very least give him a chance at redemption for his inability to choose the correct belief out of the hundreds of thousands existing in the world. Let us say that Christianity is the only true and correct religion to follow. Could you, then, blame a Muslim, who has been raised around others of his faith from childhood, and who has never been wronged by his loved ones in his childhood, for preferring his own religion over one he has never been exposed to in life? If God exists in the manner most Christians claim he dœs, then most of Earth, including those of us who would be considered herœs of men, would be damned to Hell. I do not believe, with a truly omnipotent God, that a place such as Hell could exist. There can be no black and white judgment for man when each person is so utterly unique. If our God is omnipotent, then his actions could be considered the cruel works of a bored and evil deity who has no ultimate goal but to entertain himself through the creation of man. Personally, however, I feel that the lack of an afterlife has no comparison, and the fires of Hell are a welcome sight to one fearful of losing every essence of his self through death.
I find it much simpler and easier to avoid the subject entirely, and go on about my days without the need for a firm belief or understanding of the meaning of life or the possibility of an afterlife, and merely say that it is best to leave the contemplation of this matter, which no proof for any person’s understanding could exist, to a time in which we would have the answer without any need for meditation: after death.
Thank you for taking the time to read this; I know I wrote a lot, but I felt I needed to say this to someone. I am a great fan of all your works, and I hope I can now reach a better understanding of your faith. If you publish your philosophy, I will undertake a great attempt at ensuring people will buy your book, whether I agree with your views or not. Your videos have given me something to do, as I am a great fan with all of your works, and I can only hope that a solid faith can be instilled in me as it has been somehow instilled in you. I would live a much easier life if I had assurance that life continued after death. Thank you for sharing your views!
Lonomi(Quote)