"If there is no God, everything is permissible."

-- Fyodor Dostoyevsky, The Brothers Karamazov

This statement is overlooked by most of today's atheists. Those who would have us believe that God is no more than a bedtime story; some one who is no more real that Santa Clause. But most of these people also wish us to be moral and noble in our actions, to have honor and good hearts. The best way to describe what these people want is, as C.S. Lewis puts in his lecture The Abolition of Man, to remove the organ and demand the function, to cut off the geldings and bid them bare fruit. God is the source of such moral actions and truths, to remove God from the picture would be to deny these things even exist.

Just think about it for a moment, what could be called "right" or "true" without God? The atheist would have us believe that what ever the majority or the powerful says is "right" for any particular society would be the correct answer. If this were true then Friedrich Nietzsche's idea of a "trans valuation of values" would not be so radical and ridiculous. The simple fact is that every society that has sustained itself has had similar rules and laws that govern it, and when the leaders of past societies fail to abide by these rules and laws long enough their people revolt against them in the name of justice and morals. Moreover, these rebels are "right", not because they are a majority and now have enough power to combat the unjust ruler, but because there is an absolute moral truth that judges right and wrong not just as ideas, but as truths. And these truths are rooted in God.

Lord, help our atheist brothers and sisters come to know You who love them even though they do not love You back directly. Help them to see You through us, help us to believe in You for their sake, help us to have faith in You for them that they may be converted and transformed with through and in You. We ask this in the name of Jesus Christ, through the Holy Spirit, in the glory of God the Father, Amen.

God Love You.

PS.
Last night I completed The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky and I couldn't be more impressed by his work. I strongly recommend reading this novel. I have heard it called "the greatest Christian novel ever written". But do beware, if you are feeble in your faith, do not read this novel, because one of the brilliant aspects of the novels is the flip side that Dosoyevsky presents in his characters, these sympathetic characters can shake the foundations of faith. I found myself challenged by the novel and its characters, but I made it through and I feel better for having read it.