Q: Why can't good and bad exist without the necessity of God?
A: This is a question slightly reworked from a blog comment on another post. It cuts to the core of why I believe atheism leads to nihilism. I will now endeavor to answer it.
There are good and bad atheists just as there are good and bad Christians. When a Christians is bad, he or she is going against their professed belief. Conversely, when an atheist is good, he or she is going against his or her professed belief. The bad Christian and the good atheist are both hypocrites. Atheism is inherently evil. Here's why.
The atheist ethicist will argue that all morality stems from a principle of reciprocity. We do good in the hope that good will be done in return to us. You scratch my back, and I will scratch your back. This is not ethics or morality. This is merely game theory. Jesus turns this thinking on its head in Matthew 5:43-48:
Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same? And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so? Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.
Doing good solely for the sake of a favor done in reciprocity is not moral. Even evil people manage to do good by this definition. Love those who love you, and hate those who hate you. This is atheist ethics completely. As a former atheist, I know it because I lived it. The residue still clings to me.
The true morality Jesus defines here is far different than anything you will find in the game theory ethics of the atheist. Jesus is telling us explicitly to be good to those who cannot benefit us in any way. He goes even further to tell us to be good to those who are evil to us. This is not game theory or the product of Richard Dawkins's evolutionary theories. This teaching of Jesus is pure madness. It is insanity. What makes it sane is that God exists. If there is no God, being good to those who can do you no good or who do you evil is just stupid.
Atheist reciprocity leads to inevitable chaos, darkness, and nihilism. This is because civilization depends upon charity. Why should an atheist care for anyone but himself or herself? Why should anyone refrain from stealing or killing when they can get away with it? And most especially, why should anyone refrain from doing evil to those who are evil?
When an atheist shows kindness and mercy to those who can do him or her no good, he or she is not living by the atheist ethic. This atheist is living by the Christian ethic. This is hypocritical. Acts of unilateral charity are nonsense in a world without God. This selflessness is self negating. Yet, this selflessness is what Jesus was all about. His example is the superior one. No one in history is like Jesus. Anyone who comes close does so purely in imitation of Him.
Atheists attempt to recreate this Christian ethic on some secular foundation. They fail. The best an atheist can do is exactly what Jesus says that all sinners do. Do good to the good, and do bad to the bad. Either you have the selflessness of Christ, or you have the so-called enlightened self-interest of the secularist which is indistinguishable from the mafia goon. This is why all evildoers justify all their sins and crimes by claiming victimhood and a demand for justice. And genocide is justified for the sake of some greater good.
God lets His sun shine on both the just and the unjust. We are to do the same. We are not to treat people as they deserve to be treated. We are to treat people in spite of how they deserve to be treated. This is why in Christian countries atheists can spout their beliefs while in officially atheistic countries you will end up in a gulag or in front of a firing squad. It is the Christian ethic that teaches tolerance, forbearance, and charity.
I tried for ten years to come up with a secular substitute for the Christian ethic. In the end, in a world without God, it is might that makes right. The only crime the Nazis committed was in losing the war, and anything you wish to do is permitted as long as you win. In a world without God, the only real sin is weakness.
Atheists will take me to task on my turn to God. But I now put the question to you. Why should I be good to you? Tell me why. Why should I give a shit about you? Can you do anything for me? Can you do anything to me? If nothing bad can happen to me, why should I endeavor to do good for you?
The atheist will counter that the Christian merely does good because he or she engages in the same sort of self-serving game theory ethics with God. But this shows the ignorance of theology on the part of these people. God can never be in anyone's debt. Good works cannot buy you Heaven, and bad works can certainly be forgiven. This is the second part of Jesus's teaching. God extends to us the same unilateral goodness that we should extend to each other. God gives us nothing that we deserve. This is because none of us is deserving of His goodness. We are deserving of His wrath. In short, God loves His enemies. And he vanquishes them with His love.
The Christian ethic is the superior one. No secular ethic can come close.
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