Recently, I read an article by a Russian theologian named Alexey Osipov. Here I will share a brief excerpt from his article. In this selection, Osipov contrasts Atheism (which he essentially calls a "faith of despair") with belief in God, which offers hope for those lost in a confusing world.
(I have modified very few parts of the excerpt just slightly to account for some grammatical or formatting issues.)
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Thus, the first problem is "Religion or atheism." At different conferences, even at high-level ones, I meet well-educated, erudite people, not smatterers, who always ask me the same questions: Who is God? Does He exist? And even: Why should I need Him? Or, if God exists, why does not He make a speech at a UN session and declare His existence? People say even such things. What should I answer?
In my opinion, we can answer this question using the central idea of modern philosophy, which is best of all expressed in the concept of existentiality. What is the objective of human existence, what is the sense of human life? Certainly, first of all, there is life itself. What else can it be? What sense do I strive for when I sleep? This sense of life can only be in comprehension, "enjoying" the fruit of one’s life and activity. And no one ever claimed or believed and will do in future, that the ultimate sense of human life may be death. This is where the impassable divide between religion and atheism lies. Christianity states: for human this earthly life is only the beginning, the precondition and the means to prepare oneself for eternity: Get ready, eternal life is waiting for you. Christianity says: to enter it you have to do this and be like this. And what is the idea of atheism? There is no God, no soul, no eternity, so believe, human, eternal death is waiting for you! Don’t you feel terror, pessimism and despair at such words? It makes one’s blood creep: Man, eternal death is waiting for you. Not to mention strange argumentation, to put it mildly, to substantiate this idea. Just this phrase makes human soul shudder. No way; I cannot accept such faith.
If one has lost his way in the woods and is looking for the way home and having found somebody asks him: "Is there a way out here?" And the other one answers: "No and don’t look for it, settle in here as you can" Would one believe him? I doubt it. Would he not search further? And finding another man, who would say: "Yes, there is a way out, I’ll tell you the signs and marks how you can get home" Would not one believe him? The same happens, when one chooses his views between religion and atheism. As long as a person retains a spark of searching for the truth, for the sense of life, he cannot accept the concept, that at the end he as a personality and accordingly all other people will find eternal death, and on the way to it we should prepare better economical, social, political, cultural medium. And afterwards everything will be O.K. - tomorrow you will die and we will bury you at the cemetery. Wonderful!
I have showed you just one side - psychologically a very important one - which I believe is enough for each person with a soul that is still alive, to understand that only this religious view of the world allows us to tackle the sense of life, when we accept for our foundation the One, Whom we call God.
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If you would like to study more about this "Foundation, the One, Whom we call God," how about joining our Campus Bible Talk discussions at the University of Alberta? During the school year (September through April), we meet at the Heritage Lounge in Athabasca Hall on Mondays at 6 PM. We are of course on our summer break, but we should be starting up again in early September. Our discussions are very informal, and after a quick lesson and discussion, we conclude with snacks and conversation. We would love to see you there!
(I have modified very few parts of the excerpt just slightly to account for some grammatical or formatting issues.)
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Thus, the first problem is "Religion or atheism." At different conferences, even at high-level ones, I meet well-educated, erudite people, not smatterers, who always ask me the same questions: Who is God? Does He exist? And even: Why should I need Him? Or, if God exists, why does not He make a speech at a UN session and declare His existence? People say even such things. What should I answer?
In my opinion, we can answer this question using the central idea of modern philosophy, which is best of all expressed in the concept of existentiality. What is the objective of human existence, what is the sense of human life? Certainly, first of all, there is life itself. What else can it be? What sense do I strive for when I sleep? This sense of life can only be in comprehension, "enjoying" the fruit of one’s life and activity. And no one ever claimed or believed and will do in future, that the ultimate sense of human life may be death. This is where the impassable divide between religion and atheism lies. Christianity states: for human this earthly life is only the beginning, the precondition and the means to prepare oneself for eternity: Get ready, eternal life is waiting for you. Christianity says: to enter it you have to do this and be like this. And what is the idea of atheism? There is no God, no soul, no eternity, so believe, human, eternal death is waiting for you! Don’t you feel terror, pessimism and despair at such words? It makes one’s blood creep: Man, eternal death is waiting for you. Not to mention strange argumentation, to put it mildly, to substantiate this idea. Just this phrase makes human soul shudder. No way; I cannot accept such faith.
If one has lost his way in the woods and is looking for the way home and having found somebody asks him: "Is there a way out here?" And the other one answers: "No and don’t look for it, settle in here as you can" Would one believe him? I doubt it. Would he not search further? And finding another man, who would say: "Yes, there is a way out, I’ll tell you the signs and marks how you can get home" Would not one believe him? The same happens, when one chooses his views between religion and atheism. As long as a person retains a spark of searching for the truth, for the sense of life, he cannot accept the concept, that at the end he as a personality and accordingly all other people will find eternal death, and on the way to it we should prepare better economical, social, political, cultural medium. And afterwards everything will be O.K. - tomorrow you will die and we will bury you at the cemetery. Wonderful!
I have showed you just one side - psychologically a very important one - which I believe is enough for each person with a soul that is still alive, to understand that only this religious view of the world allows us to tackle the sense of life, when we accept for our foundation the One, Whom we call God.
~ Alexey Osipov, submitted by Christian Basar
If you would like to study more about this "Foundation, the One, Whom we call God," how about joining our Campus Bible Talk discussions at the University of Alberta? During the school year (September through April), we meet at the Heritage Lounge in Athabasca Hall on Mondays at 6 PM. We are of course on our summer break, but we should be starting up again in early September. Our discussions are very informal, and after a quick lesson and discussion, we conclude with snacks and conversation. We would love to see you there!
I can’t tell if that was badly written, poorly translated or translated too well. Either way, it boils down to “Reality sucks and I think my feelings make any difference whatsoever, so Christianiy must be real”.
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