Aim at heaven, and you will get earth thrown in;
aim at earth, and you will get neither
-C. S. Lewis
I do believe that I have finally come to understand why we cannot remember the earliest years of our lives. Having observed my children; it is simply astonishing to note that they are on an emotional rollercoaster all day long. Laughing, crying, laughing, crying, crying, laughing, laughing, crying, etc., etc., etc. and etc.
An adult could not survive such a state of emotions-we would at least have a nervous-mental breakdown.
Life in general can be somewhat of a rollercoaster ride-up, down and all around. As, let us use the generic term, worldviews I believe that atheism is on a constant downhill slide while Christianity is on an uphill ride.
The Christian life is an uphill movement to eternal life in heaven and the atheistic is a downhill movement to where they chose to reside. Yet, there are speed bumps in the path of both.Keep in mind that all metaphors eventually break down because they are after all just that, metaphors. Therefore, let us tamper with the metaphor in order to more clearly illustrate the point.
What I mean by uphill drive is not that once we get to the top we will reach the other side of the mountain and then begin our downhill drop. Rather, I mean a hill that is moving ever upwards, or perhaps a hill of which the top leads us to take off into the air flying ever upwards.
As for the downhill drive I do not envision driving down a hill where at the bottom we find a nice gentle slope onto a flat road where we go on our merry way. Rather, I mean a drop that ends in a crash with the bottom, more akin to driving off of a precipice.
Allow me to illustrate why we are making a point about up and down hills and speed bumps.For the Christian; the speed bumps on the uphill drive are temporary setbacks, they slow us down a bit every now and then, yet we keep moving up. They are little setbacks in an uphill movement only temporarily slowing us down until we press the gas pedal again.
But for the atheist, who is ever so quickly traveling downhill, the speed bumps are little exiting events that make life appear somewhat meaningful, tiny doses of adrenalin in an otherwise hopeless and meaningless downhill crash course (consider purpose vs. meaning). Imagine driving downhill and hitting a speed bump, you may catch a little air that would give you that little roller coaster feeling in your stomach but you would come bouncing down and may even increase your downhill speed (one of atheism’s many consoling delusions in the delusion of subjective meaning in an objectively meaningless existence).
Atheist’s worldviews are bittersweet since to an atheist everything is temporary. An atheist’s reaction to the world around them, from good food, to art, from social justice, to children, is that since all things are temporary everything is both to be experienced and enjoyed as indulgently as possible while at the same time everything is to be mourned over since everything is on its way to ultimate demise. This worldview is tantamount to flowers in a vase; they are temporarily beautiful and fragrant and yet, we tore them from the plant, sentencing them to an early death and we watch them slowly shrivel and die.
The only joy in an atheist’s life is that which they derive from whatever they find appealing: be it food, travel, money, sex, family, etc. The Christian can also enjoy this life and expects more joy in the life to come-aim at heaven, and you will get earth thrown in…
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