God is the moral lawgiver and has declared there is a moral order that governs life. It is revealed in His Word to us – the Bible. He created us, so He has the authority to tell us how life should be lived. Moreover, He created us in His image to be in a love relationship with us. Consequently, He gave us free will to choose, to trust Him or reject Him. Sadly, our progenitors disobeyed Him resulting in a world separated from its Creator. Demonstrating the extent of His love for us, our Heavenly Father sent His Son, Jesus, to become one of us so that He could provide a way for us to get back into a right relationship with Him. Jesus made it possible for our Heavenly Father to send the Holy Spirit to indwell all believers so they can follow the road map (Bible) God provided so we don’t get lost.

However, it must be remembered, all have a conscience, a moral compass which ultimately keeps us from destroying ourselves.

“No society has ever survived or will ever survive without morality, and no morality has ever survived without a transcendent source.” C.S. Lewis, Six Essays on the Abolition of Man

Dr. George Mavrodes taught philosophy at the University of Michigan for thirty-three years. He said that though the reality of moral obligations might not be proof for the existence of God, it is very strong evidence for it. He said that if anyone believes in absolute moral obligations, this only makes sense in a world where God exists. He makes it clear that this is the only way to account for one of the most significant aspects of human life. He encourages people who might not believe in God to be open to the possibility that the theistic view of life is truer to reality.

“Most of the skeptics I have seen move toward faith later told me that it was around this issue of moral obligation that they first began to wonder whether their views really fit the actual world they lived in.” Dr Tim Keller, Making Sense of God

Friedrich Nietzsche, the philosopher who coined the phrase “God is dead,” clearly recognized the hypocrisy that existed among those who claimed to be atheists. He had great contempt for those who didn’t believe in God and yet still clung to a belief in truth, morality, love, and human dignity. Nietzsche attempted to practice atheism until the day he died. As Jean-Paul Sartre said, such a life is “a cruel and long-range affair,” a life where love, beauty, and meaning could not exist. Nietzsche eventually went insane, suffering from the horrors of syphilis and spending the balance of his rapidly declining life in an asylum.

If you have an atheistic worldview and you logically think through its implications, you cannot help but experience despair when you consider that life is purposeless. We are here by chance, and when we die we go into everlasting nothingness. This generally culminates in a life of emptiness.

Diverting the mind is much easier for us today, because of the breakneck, vastly accelerated speed of daily life. The frenzy of digital life allows so little time for introspection and reflection. We find we are subtly, insidiously encouraged to ignore the significant issues of life, particularly the issue of “meaning.” Without realizing it, we seek to divert our minds with work and pleasure, to keep us from having to think about the emptiness of life, knowing that one day this is all going to end.

Without God, life ultimately is absurd.