A World Without God Essay

Submitted By Rose-Hanson
Words: 1523
Pages: 7
Open Document
2. Jean-Paul Sartre argues that there is still meaning in a world without God—it is just different. Work through Sartre’s argument on human nature and existentialism in a world without God and argue for or against it. Make sure and address in counter-arguments.

A World Without God Many theists believe that a world without God is a world without meaning, and gives humans the excuse to ignore any moral values. Jean-Paul Sartre argues there is still meaning in a world without God, and that it is merely different. He theorizes that there are no superimposed values on us from outside forces. We must create values of our own, and decide alone how we should act be able to recognize that there are consequences to those actions to ourselves and those around us. He tells us that we must despair in light of this responsibility and knowledge that we cannot know the outcome of our actions with any certainty. Yet, Sartre also tells us that we cannot justify our behavior based on personal values alone. In this essay I will show my support for Sartre’s argument, but maintain that people are better off having a religion to follow than to live their lives with the burden of being solely responsible for everyone in addition to themselves. We learn “there is no human nature, since there is no God to conceive it.” (Sartre, 622) Man1 is only what he conceives himself to be, and “nothing else but what he makes of himself.” (Sartre, 622). Sartre believes this to be the first principle of existentialism. Rather than man being what he has been planned to be, or even what wants to be, he follows his “will” in a conscious decision. Man must be responsible for himself, in that he must responsible for his own individuality and that of all men. By choosing an act for yourself, you choose at the same time how you want everyone else to act, creating “an image of man as we think he ought to be” (Sartre, 623). And by choosing any one thing, we may affirm that what we have chosen must have value, and cannot be evil. If whatever we choose is good for us, then it must follow that it is good for all. Being responsible for yourself and everyone else, by choosing any one thing, you choose to create a particular image of man, based on your own values. Existentialists as a whole say that “man is anguish” (Sartre, 623). What is meant here is that man has no escape from feeling the weight of responsibility that comes with choosing laws for mankind. One must always ask themselves if something is morally right by asking themselves, “What if everyone acted this way?”. To excuse yourself for stealing based on the fact that not everyone does it, is to invite others to follow similar laws, eventually escalating to something akin to allowing a person to murder because only a few people are doing so. Making excuses for yourself alone, is irresponsible and leads to an uneasy conscience, no matter the severity of the consequences. Sartre speaks of forlornness in the context that “God does not exist and that we have to face all the consequences of this.” (Sartre, 624). From an existentialist point of view, we would like to “abolish God with the least possible expense” (Sartre, 624). Even by imagining that God were to cease existing, we would continue to behave in the same manner as we were when he did exist. Norms of honesty, progress, and humanism would remain the same, and only our ideas of Heaven and Hell would become obsolete. And so we must question, if there is no possibility of divine punishment for doing something morally wrong, why not do it anyways? As Dostoyevksy said, “If God didn’t exist, everything would be possible.” As a result of this possibility, man must be forlorn because he thus cannot make excuses for himself as he is not to be held responsible by either inside or outside forces. No action we take, whether good conduct or bad can be legitimized by God. In such a case, man is alone in his freedom of action. When speaking of despair in terms of
Show More

Related Documents: A World Without God Essay

Biblical World View Essay

BIBLICAL WORLD VIEW ESSAY BIBL 110 In The Essence of the New Testament: A Survey, Towns and Gutierrez, the authors concur with other Biblical scholars understanding that “the teaching of Romans is not only crucial for Christian theology, but the greatest revivals and reformations throughout the history of Christianity have resulted from an increased understanding and application of the teaching of this epistle” This essay will attempt to summarize how the first 8 chapters of this amazingly…

Words 964 - Pages 4

The Relationship Of Philosophical And Theological Truths

the relationship man has with God, and His world that we are living in. Throughout time man has pitted these two forces against each other, however without one the other has no purpose to man, and would be lost in the depths of history. Scripture, faith, and religion has brought mankind forward in a way that is completely irreplaceable, and without it we would still be in a time where intelligent people would be debating on the concept of right and wrong. Without God’s word to guide us we are left…

Words 1603 - Pages 7

Research: Auschwitz Concentration Camp and Elie Wiesel Essay

Steven Spielberg’s “Schindler’s List” one can observe many symbols and themes used to portray the activities that occur during their time. Whether symbols are used to show the dehumanization of the German Nazi’s or to allude to the idea that a world without God is present, symbols are used throughout both works. Elie Wiesel’s “Night” and Steven Spielberg’s “Schindler’s List” have very similar themes and the symbols used support this assertion. Fire appears throughout the book “Night” as a cruel abuse…

Words 351 - Pages 2

Analysis Of Stephen Crane's 'God Fashioned The Ship Of The World'

The poem “God Fashioned the Ship of the World” written by Stephen Crane is a metaphor about Christianity’s view of the world. Crane discusses the creation of the earth and the relationship between God and the world. The poem starts off in the beginning as in the creation of the world. However, in this poem the world is a ship and God is the captain and maker of the grand vessel. The author describes the maker’s skill as infinite and of an All-Master. This is in reference to the great power, knowledge…

Words 536 - Pages 3

Essay On Christian Worldview

largest religious group in the world, making up nearly 31% of Earth's population (Hackett & McClendon, 2017). Christianity is under the theistic umbrella of worldviews which means it believes in the existence of one divine being. As many other religions, Christianity has a core values that encompass the entire worldview. Some of the essentials that make up Christianity are God, the nature of Humanity, the importance of Jesus, how grace can restore human's relationship with God, the influence of the worldview…

Words 1478 - Pages 6

The God-Is-Dead Theology Essay

LIBERTY UNIVERSITY THE GOD-IS-DEAD THEOLOGY A RESEARCH PAPER SUBMITTED TO DOCTOR RICHARD ELLIGSON PROFESSOR OF THEOLOGY IN CANDIDACY FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF CHURCH MINISTRY BY EL-FATIH J. AJALA (25927535) THEO 510 LUO LYNCHBURG, VIRGINIA JULY 21, 2013 Introduction Paul Enns in his book The Moody Handbook of Theology states of theologians who profess this…

Words 3457 - Pages 14

Theology: Christianity As a Religion Essay

a human, flesh and blood, while still being God. Other religious founders could have had their message told by someone else, but without Jesus, the God-Man, and the salvation through His atoning death and resurrection, there is no Christianity (1 Corinthians 15:14, 17). Second, humanity is not merely beings who do wrong occasionally, as in other religions, but are spiritually dead. They cannot fix themselves. Third, connected with the last point, God is absolutely holy and cannot tolerate sinners…

Words 924 - Pages 4

Philosophy: Existence and Cosmological Argument Essay

existence of God through the order of the world helps to further explain my definition of philosophy. I overall agree with Aquinas reasons on the belief of God due to the order set around us and compare the points of my definition to his. Aquinas believes that his cosmological argument is epistemic rationality, rationality that comes from the concerns evidence for the truth of a proposition. Aquinas states that the world exhibits order L (logos), if so then God Exists, therefore God Exist. He uses…

Words 667 - Pages 3

The Cosmological Argument Essay

Cosmological Argument simply proposes the argument, that God is the creator of the universe and without God there would be nothing. This argument is the simplest of all arguments as it begins with the simple fact that there is a universe. With this provided it means there are various different strengths and weaknesses put forward for this argument leading on to a final conclusion to the end to decide if this argument successfully proves the existence of God. The Cosmological Argument proposed by Aquinas…

Words 957 - Pages 4

everything in the universe is physical-RP Essay

only in a computer program while the real world rots from within. How are we to know that the world which we live in is the real world? The underlying question here is what is real, which I am going to discuss in the paragraphs below. [C1]A materialist would argue that the universe is physical and therefore real.[P1] The problem of evil states that if god existed, he would not allow such disasters and destruction to be caused on earth, therefore there is no god. So all things that occur on Earth are…

Words 518 - Pages 3