Be Good for Goodness Sake?
There is an agnostic or atheist group that has taken out ads on Busses in one of our major cities. The ads say, “ Why believe in God? …. Be good for goodness sake”. If this was not so pathetic it would be humorous. It became more pathetic when one of the organizers of the ads was interviewed and stated that it is a harmless ad that was intended to promote their values. Here is the problem as I see it. First of all, a lack of values is not a value. Having no God would not be a value. Having a no God mind frame would promote a “might makes right” mentality because ultimately we answer to nobody but ourselves. If indeed we answered to nobody but ourselves then we need only justify all and any actions to ourselves. This is quite easy to do. Secondly, it is impossible, without God, to know what good is. Good and bad are comparative words. In other words, they need something to compare to in order to be understood. If I said I had a good steak at the restaurant down the street...