Bible Verses That Atheists Love

Original article: Bible Verses That Atheists Love

Hat tip: Atheists Pick Their Favorite Bible Verses From BibleGateway.com

Interesting selection. As Andy from the BibleGateway Blog notes, a lot of the favorite verses are out of Ecclesiastes. Reasons for specific passages include, "humanist," "a genuine, human cry," and "So miserable in a terrific way!"

The latter comment refers to the famous "Vanity, vanity..." passage, from a version that translate the word as "Meaningless! Meaningless!..." I understand why this appeals to the atheist. Do they?

Life without God, or at least a god, is meaningless. The problem is that all humans are hard-wired to find meaning as part of something larger than the self. People can find meaning with other people with a common world view; think of it as self-identifying as part of a tribe. It may be Christianity or Islam or Judaism. It may be socialism/communism, environmentalism, anarchism, feminism, or most other "isms".

The former group we call faiths; the latter ideologies. Both are belief systems with adherents, heretics, infidels, etc. (I could also include on-line communities; left, right, and other)

The person who loves the "vanity" passage is Pippa Evans, co-founder, Sunday Assembly; "a global network of people..."  A tribe of atheists, in whose company and shared ideas, she finds meaning.

If one does not believe in God, one will find something else to believe in.

[Side note here: a case can  be made that all belief systems are actually a way of finding a "righteousness by faith." That is, if I believe something to be true, that belief can make me be righteous in my own eyes. However, only if my righteousness by faith is rooted in Jesus is this a saving and transforming faith. The others merely result in self-righteousness because they are self, or man-made, beliefs.]