Much confusion abounds with regards to what is generally discussed via the question, “Can someone be good without God.” Part of the confusion is due to the fact that people often charge into arguments without first defining terms.
In this case, one must define what is meant by “good” and by “without” and by “God.” This article’s focus is not these issues although we will offer, in passing, that for some “good” can mean that which assists Darwinian survival, to others it is that which pleases God, to others it is that which benefits them, etc.
To some “without,” as in “without God” means that God does not exist, to others it means that God may or may not exist but they will live as if God does not exist, to others it means that God exists but we do not need God’s laws, commandment, etc. in order to be “good,” etc.
And, of course, to some “God” means a personal being, to others “God” is an energy-like life-force, a concept, a delusion, etc.
In his book The City of God, Book XXI, Chapter 27 which is titled, “Against the Belief of Those Who Think that the Sins Which Have Been Accompanied with Almsgiving Will Do Them No Harm,” Augustine of Hippo ponders the interaction between almsgiving and forgiveness and whilst not speaking specifically of Atheists, his points are quite relevant.
He notes that it is “right to inculcate the giving of aims proportioned to past sins” and explains this claim by noting that, “if they said that any kind of alms could obtain the divine pardon of great sins committed daily and with habitual enormity, if they said that such sins could thus be daily remitted, they would see that their doctrine was absurd and ridiculous.”
So the elucidation is that some think that via almsgiving, they can “obtain the divine pardon of great sins” that they still are “committed daily and with habitual enormity” but think that they could have those “daily remitted” by almsgiving and not, by implication, repenting and thus, changing their course or, as Augustine puts it, “if they for one crime have distributed all their goods to Christ’s needy members, that could profit them nothing unless they desisted from all similar actions.”
Augustine of Hippo goes on to say that if money equaled forgiveness then it would be possible for “a very wealthy man to buy absolution from murders, adulteries, and all manner of wickedness, by paying a daily alms of ten paltry coins” and that “they suppose that by giving to the poor a small fraction of the wealth they acquire by extortion and spoliation they can propitiate Christ, so that they may with impunity commit the most damnable sins, in the persuasion that they have bought from Him a license to transgress, or rather do buy a daily indulgence.”
However, of course, that would be “most absurd and insane”
Augustine then refers to what the Bible tells us about Jesus who will “impute to those on His right hand the almsdeeds they have done, and charge those on His left with omitting the same.”
Now comes the key point about Atheists who claim that they are doing “good” and doing so “without” or regardless of “God.”
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Relevant articles:
Do Any Atheists Have Pure Motives?
Does Atheism Provide Ethical Grounding?
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Augustine notes that “such persons, indeed, as decline to abandon their evil habits of life for a better course cannot be said to do charitable deeds.”
Matthew 25 states:
31 “But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. 32 All the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats; 33 and He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on the left.
34 “Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 35 For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; 36 naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.’ 37 Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink? 38 And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? 39 When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ 40 The King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.’
41 “Then He will also say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels; 42 for I was hungry, and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink; 43 I was a stranger, and you did not invite Me in; naked, and you did not clothe Me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me.’ 44 Then they themselves also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not [e]take care of You?’ 45 Then He will answer them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’ 46 These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
This is because Ephesians 5 states “by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.”
James 2 states, “someone may well say, ‘You have faith and I have works; show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works.’ You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder. But are you willing to recognize, you foolish fellow, that faith without works is useless?…For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.”
Thus, we are saved by grace through faith and this is to be an active faith that should show evidence in our actions.
Augustine elucidates this by pointing out that “the purport of the saying [by Jesus], ‘Inasmuch as you did it not to one of the least of these, you did it not to me.’ Matthew 25:45 He shows them that they do not perform charitable actions even when they think they are doing so.”
This is because “if they gave bread to a hungering Christian because he is a Christian, assuredly they would not deny to themselves the bread of righteousness, that is, Christ Himself; for God considers not the person to whom the gift is made, but the spirit in which it is made. He therefore who loves Christ in a Christian extends alms to him in the same spirit in which he draws near to Christ, not in that spirit which would abandon Christ if it could do so with impunity.”
As should be clear, Augustine refers to good works being done to or for Christians because Jesus referenced “these brothers of Mine.” So now, Augustine notes that “he who extends charity to a Christian does not extend it to a Christian if he does not love Christ in him. Now he does not love Christ who refuses to be justified in Him.”
In other words, such good works, be they almsgiving, feeding, clothing, etc. are done to and for Jesus through it being done to and for his brothers. Yet, Atheists do not seek to do anything to and for Jesus that is, in His name, according to His will, due to His giving example. Rather, Atheists generally argue for “morality” having come about due to Darwinian group survival mechanisms or, as Richard Dawkins put it when referring to altruism, “misfirings, Darwinian mistakes: blessed, precious mistakes” as he could only think that it was generic mistakes that would lead one organism to benefit another (for details see Altruism or Allfalseism, the citation is Richard Dawkins, The God Delusion, Boston & New York: Houghton Mifflin Co., 2006 AD, p. 221).
In that, Atheist, case, we are no longer dealing with morality but rather with merely survival mechanism (and, of course, one could survive by loving their neighbor or by eating them. Also, note that there is a difference between morals and ethics, see here).
Overall, when Atheists do “good for goodness’ sake” alone and claim to be doing so with utterly pure and selfless motives they are actually betraying that God given impulse towards love, charity and giving and are thus, condemning themselves by denying that which impels, or He who impels them, them in the first place and take credit for themselves.
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