Generosity: Antidote to Nihilistic Naturalism

Have you thought about the fact that many people subconsciously live outside of their worldviews? Think about how often you've heard--or spoken--the words "Nothing really matters here, anyway. We live, we die, we turn to dust. This world is all there is." Such statements are woven from naturalistic DNA that presupposes that this world is all there is. Spirituality is locked out of it. No logical foundation for magnanimity or grace exists. No greater good can logically be ascertained. The naturalistic worldview is by nature precommitted to, well, nothingness. We're here in the form of specialized atoms and arms, we think thoughts, do actions, and die. Any thirst for something greater is false. Such is the stuff of naturalism.

How interesting, then, that 99.9% of humans don't live this way. Those who say that we are simply programmed matter without first cause or higher motive themselves disobey their precepts. They seek a better world, try to protect the environment, and fall deeply in love. Though they claim naturalism in theory, they deny it in practice. We also see this trend in the impulse to generosity so much of the 99.9% possess. If there is nothing higher, nothing better, nothing that possesses meaning, why do people strive to help one another? If naturalism is truly true, there ought not to be any drive to go out of one's way to help one another. If naturalism is true, in fact, there ought to be no impulse toward generosity. We ought to be naturally geared, and only geared, to self-sustenance.

But this is not so, and any attempt to explain the world in naturalistic terms is false. We were imbued with purpose, with philanthropic instincts, and these things cannot be explained away. Naturalism, not God, is dead. Its proponents make great claims that they do not live by, because they cannot live by them. It is natural for humans to love, to strive, to want something greater. Of course, naturalism is right in that without God in the picture, hopelessness and purposelessness reigns. With Him reigning and ruling, however, all is well. Live is worth living. Gifts are worth giving. Love is worth having. This, not nihilism, moves our hearts, motivates our deeds, and composes our DNA. Don't let anyone tell you differently.