Atheists like to say they’re as moral as believers, but without God, what is their basis for saying that?
In the book of Jude, verse 11, we read about those who follow “in the way of Cain.” What is it? The path of selfish choices that lead people to reject God’s mercy and try it on our own. It is the dead-end road of all those who want to pretend being their own God, living for their own desires rather than walking with the Lord. Yale law professor Arthur Allen Leff, an atheist, spoke at Duke University’s School of Law, where he honestly explained the hopelessness of his own position. He acknowledged that he wanted to be free from a Supreme Being, but it left him with a serious dilemma: Who then decides what is right and wrong for a society? When something is declared to be wrong, he said, it all comes down to the schoolyard taunt, “Says who?” He concluded, “All I can say is this: it looks as if we are all we have. Given what we know about ourselves and each other, this is an extraordinarily unappetizing prospect; looking around the world, it appears that, if all men are brothers, the ruling model is Cain and Abel.” Ouch! But it’s true, that if there is no God, we have no absolute moral code, and the fate of the human race is decided by the personal preferences of the powerful. But thankfully that isn’t the only way. The Lord Jesus came into the world and declared an alternative to the self-centered way of Cain. In John 14:6, Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” Millions have found this to be true. What did He mean? The road to God and heaven has been blocked by our sin. But Jesus through His death and resurrection can clear the way, bringing us into a new relationship with God. What is His way? He said, “Repent, and believe in the gospel” (Mk 1:15).