Ken Ham’s latest posting (12th Sept) is one in which he plays the, “Without God you have no meaning” card, and apparently his heart breaks because there are people out there who do not align their thinking with his.
He also plays this card as well …
The Bible makes it clear that everyone knows that God exists. Because of this, those who rebel against God (like these atheists) actually suppress the truth, as explained in Romans 1.
In other words, the bible tells him that we all really secretly believe and are simply pretending that we don’t.
OK, so essentially “meaning” for Ken consists of running a creation museum to scam rather a lot of gullible people with absurdly ridiculous ideas, spending millions building a huge life-size replica of Noah’s Ark, and generally promoting myths as facts and claims that evidence-based facts are myths.
I’m really not kidding …
- The Creation Museum is quite real … basically millions of dollars have been spent to promote the religious belief that the entire universe is only 6,000 years old.
- The Life-size replica of Noah’s Ark is also quite real … and the cost will be $172 million.
- And least you wonder, yes the ideas they promote are so absurd and extreme that other creationists label Ken as deluded.
To nail that last point, did you know that AiG promote the idea that fire-breathing flying dragons are quite real, and so also are unicorns.
So yes, the “meaning” that Ken offers is pure fantasy and is indeed well and truly anchored in Narnia.
Where do people who do not believe find meaning?
With a hat tip to Ken for pointing it out in his blog post, Tom Chivers spent time asking Athesists the following question, “If there’s no afterlife or reason for the universe, how do you make your life matter?”, and then wrote up the results. Here are a few of the answers …
“The way I find meaning is the way that most people find meaning, even religious ones, which is to get pleasure and significance from your job, from your loved ones, from your avocation, art, literature, music. People like me don’t worry about what it’s all about in a cosmic sense, because we know it isn’t about anything. It’s what we make of this transitory existence that matters. – Jerry Coyne
“The pointlessness of life is not a thing to be overcome. It’s something to be celebrated now, because that’s all there is.” – Susan Blackmore
“A meaningless universe does not mean we live our lives without purpose. I’m an atheist (inasmuch as that word means I don’t see evidence or the need for supernature), but I try to live my life replete with purpose. Be kind; learn and discover as much as you can; share that knowledge; relieve suffering when you can; have tonnes of fun. That’s why it’s not pointless. We have the power to create life, and to show those lives wonder. – Adam Rutherford
“the true meaning of life is what I make with the people around me – my family, friends, colleagues, and strangers. People tell religious fairy stories to create meaning, but I’d rather face up to what all the evidence suggests is the scientific truth – all we really have is our own humanity. So let’s be gentle to each other and share the joy of simply being alive, here and now. Let’s give it our best shot. – Kat Arney
“I choose to live, laugh, love, travel, create, help others, and learn. And I’m going to do as much of this as I can manage, because the clock is ticking. We create our own meaning, and there’s more than enough to be had. Seize it where you can.” – Stephen Knight
“If I ask myself ‘What is life for?’ I have to answer: ‘Wrong question.’ You don’t ask how your foot knows to push the blood in your toes back up to your heart. It happens, but your foot doesn’t know how it knows to do it. Life isn’t for anything, but it does matter. We are a witness to the universe. We are the witnesses to each other. We believe each other into being. We generate things and people that matter to us and to others. Human life is such a bizarre, endlessly complex riot of emotions and processes; it is amazing to be one.” – Jennifer Michael Hecht
When time permits, give yourself a real treat and go read the full article.
https://youtu.be/CZplzRg6ZP4
What Ken was getting at was objective meaning rather than subjective. He’s right- if man wasn’t made there is no objective meaning, and to “create your own” covers up the fact that the universe has no meaning for you.
Deism actually is one of the only roads to an objective meaning.