[atlaw]

“So why shouldn’t I steal?” asked the boy at athiest Sunday school.

“Because you may be punished if you are caught,” answered the athiest teacher.

“And if I am sure that I won’t be caught?”

“Then you don’t steal because you will hurt someone else.”

“And if I don’t feel bad about that?”

How do you suppose this colloquy went with little Jim Bakker? Or Kent Hovind? Or Benny Hinn? Or Richard Roberts? Or perhaps these miscreants?

[Greg F]

I don’t know some of the men you list there but calling yourself a Christian doesn’t make you one and being a Christian doesn’t erase your desires or preclude your sin. If the standard is perfection we all fall short. That is why Christ went to the cross. The standard is perfection and we do all fall short. Christ in dying for our sins paid the price for them in order to allow for our relationship with God in full, again.

My point in the little dialog with the atheist Sunday school teacher was that there is no premise that is consonant with human experience and human nature that will allow a rational argument for doing right in all cases when self-sacrifice is sometimes required.