I have always tended to read science fiction. I used to think it balanced my view of the world and enabled me to empathise with non Christian people. One thing that it did give me an understanding of was how atheists think as many science fiction writers are atheists.
It intrigues me that older science fiction novels were very reflective of the times in which they are written. For instance in the fifties the writing was often quite conservative with little time devoted to profanity or the bedroom. An example would be “The Day the Earth Stood Still” by Harry Bates which was a short story and led to two films in 1951 and 2008. Even the later version has no bedroom scenes and is highly moral with a definite tilt toward man destroying the planet and being held to account by a greater power.
Whereas, today scifi novels are largely a lot more violent and the bedroom scenes leave nothing to the imagination and reflect the society of the post modern era. Neal Asher’s novels would be a good example of the contemporary type of science fiction. Another example of a contemporary author would be Peter F Hamilton whose novels are more moral and although they contain some hard reading episodes they are fairly sane.
To those of us who remember the decades of the fifties and sixties with some fondness. We can say they were simpler times and the people were gentler and more caring and definitely more Christian. Both in attitude and in reality. This impacted on the world around them with even the unbelievers being much more gentle and caring people. This was certainly the case in New Zealand in any case
As the years have gone by and Christianity has waned the Western World has gradually adopted the atheist style of the old Soviet Union. Based around a philosophy that proclaims a brand of evolutionary science that rejects any form of morality, sin or accountability for actions.
This has led to some of the most terrible atrocities in modern history with Stalin and Mao Zedong responsible for the deaths of millions during their respective reigns. It has changed the attitude of people in the Western societies to one where there is more complacency. A mantra of “Mind Your Own Business” is prevalent so that even when there is violence at the bus stop others who could help ignore the situation. Neighbors do not know their neighbors and the children of the street do not play together.
With the advent of smartphones people do not talk to each other. There is a growing sense of isolation in the community where people live lives that are separated and introverted. This begs the question as to whether this makes people more controllable because sensible conversation with neighbors does not happen. Decisions are made for the individual by the state as a proxy. This is accomplished by indoctrination through school and social media. It is assumed that the authorities are completely trustworthy and therefore unimpeachable so that every word that comes from the state must be truth and must be believed.
In sharp contrast to this is the group of folk born in the 1930’s who are in their nineties now and grew up in a society which was the complete opposite of the secular socialism that we see today. They walked, they talked, they worked with their hands, they danced and socialised. They knew all of their neighbors for miles around and if they were not bible believing Christians they upheld Christian values. They also gardened and shared the produce of their gardens with their neighbors. They were fair minded, generous and honest to the point that most didn’t lock their doors when they left the house and neither did they lock their cars. They taught their children to live their lives the same way.
Which they did but they didn’t do as well at transmitting their Christianity or their Christian values to the next generations which has seen a steady decline in Protestant Christianity and Christian values through the end of the twentieth and the beginning of the twenty first centuries in the West. Many churches closed because all of the congregants passed away and the next generation did not adopt the Christian beliefs of their parents. Thus we live in the society today that is rapidly becoming similar to that which the people of the Soviet era had to endure in the member countries of the Soviet Union.
The impacts of evolutionary atheism or secular socialism are as religiously based as is Christianity. “No!” I hear you cry. I am afraid the answer is still “Yes.” It takes a great deal of faith to believe that everything came from nothing. Particularly, if you look at the complexity of life and the structure of the Cosmos. It all comes together very well if you add a Creator God called Jehovah. It is a monumental stretch of the imagination to state that all of the universe is just a curious happenstance. Even the most ardent skeptic hopes that a race of ancient aliens is responsible for the order and complexity that exists around us. They just do not want to accept that Jehovah is the creator. Anything but that and I believe that as the Messiah, Christ Jesus, said. This is because they are the children of the devil (John 8:44).
So, Satan touts his only commandment “Do what you will.” And the world full of the wicked Sons of Men rush to take advantage of this simple command that fits so snugly with the desires of the flesh that rage in their bodies and minds. Dragging them down into the marsh of despair and despondency. Ultimately leading to great sadness or to personal destruction and eventually to emotional breakdown or else consequences of criminal activity to offset addiction leading to incarceration.
Then there are the youth of today, who are increasingly financially poor, educationally poor and socially poor. Who struggle to collaborate, co-operate or to even like each other. Only too prepared to hang each other out to dry on social media or by rendering violence at a bus stop so that they can stream it all to the Internet. To whom the commandment “Love your neighbor as you love yourself is meaningless and incomprehensible. So through Godlessness are consigned to being cannon fodder or the human basis of a coming revolution based on their discontent with a world that has no love, no mercy, and in their belief of the secular narrative, no Savior to rescue them from their sins.
So what can be concluded? Well those who believe in the Creator do so believing that “Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” They have faith in God and the Savior Jesus Christ and the work of the Holy Spirit who indwells them (Hebrews 11:1). Those who believe in Atheism or Godless Evolutionary Science believe there is no God based on secular science as an explanation of the world around them. Which makes the point that Atheism, secular science, evolution or evolutionary science, whatever you choose to call it. Belief that something comes from nothing, that life simply happened by chance, and continues to develop in the face of the entropy which degrades the building blocks of the subatomic realm. That is not achieved by evidence based science. It is the product of faith making Atheism and Evolutionary Science just as much a religion as Buddhism, Shintoism, Satanism or Hinduism.
Romans 1:20-23 “For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man—and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things.
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