![](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/715\/2.bp.blogspot.com\/-8VYEHoRLTWU\/UltQGcMIR3I\/AAAAAAAAFuA\/wxLTwbuYulw\/s320\/flag-waving-moon-landing_9803_600x450.jpg\")
<\/a><\/div>\nMany moderns are implicit atheists if not explicitly atheistic in their cosmology.\u00a0 It\u2019s true.\u00a0 The illusions of industry, technology and science have made more than one person focus on the here and today, what\u2019s two inches in front of me (or in recent years, on the screen on my mobile device).\u00a0 The hereafter means little.\u00a0 People don\u2019t even think about it.\u00a0 It\u2019s assumed either all the good folks end up in some ethereal afterlife, or there isn\u2019t, or it doesn\u2019t matter.<\/p>\n
Which is why I sometimes think our obsession with space travel is so strong.\u00a0 Paint me a party-pooper, but I\u2019m not overly impressed by our space race.\u00a0 The fact that we ever landed on the moon has not, as far as I can tell, helped the human condition.\u00a0 The hundreds upon hundreds of billions of dollars that could have fed the hungry and clothed the naked, instead went behind collecting some rocks and having a few photo shoots.\u00a0\u00a0 <\/p>\n
Sure, it\u2019s neat.\u00a0 It\u2019s awesome at first, sort of like getting up at Christmas when you\u2019re a kid and you see that biggest box in the corner.\u00a0 Huge box.\u00a0 It has to be great!\u00a0 And then once you open it, even if it\u2019s a toy, you realize it\u2019s only ho-hum.\u00a0 That\u2019s how I feel about space travel.\u00a0 We don\u2019t even know if real intergalactic travel is possible.\u00a0 It might not be. <\/p>\n
Proponents of space travel point to old explorers and bold racist imperialists who didn\u2019t let stupid tales of falling off the edge of the world or getting eaten by monsters stop them.\u00a0 Of course we know that their actual concern was lack of supplies and the ability to sustain a long voyage.\u00a0 Plus, they knew you could sail in a boat.\u00a0 They knew you could cross mountains.\u00a0 It had been done for eons.\u00a0 The only question was did they have the materials to make it longer than before?\u00a0 We have no clue if humans \u2013 or any living creatures \u2013 can sustain what would be needed to make space travel, much less non-earth self sustained living,\u00a0practical.<\/p>\n
And the returns and costs?\u00a0 For hundreds of billions of dollars we\u2019ve only had a few things confirmed that we seem capable of learning from our snug labs in China.\u00a0 What else could we spend so much on for so little return and call it a success?\u00a0 <\/p>\n
So why do we do it?\u00a0 Why are we obsessed \u2013 beyond the simple coolness of it \u2013 with someday getting moon colonies, or Mars colonies, or slipping the surely bonds of the Milky Way and touching the face of Andromeda?\u00a0 I say because in many ways, space flight and the promise of keeping the human race alive beyond the earth is the soteriological hope of the secular man. <\/p>\n
Soteriology is, of course, a fancy scholar term for the study of salvation.\u00a0 In the old days, that was the hope that we would die and dwell in the house of the Lord forever.\u00a0 In recent years, that seems to be an assumption on the part of a growing number of believers.\u00a0 Hell is, well, diminishing in importance and acceptance.\u00a0 For the secularly dominated, however, there is nothing. <\/p>\n
If the Cosmos is all that was and will be, and we live forever in our memories and the lives of those who come after, then once the world ends, everything becomes pointless.\u00a0 Right?\u00a0 I mean, the atheist says eternal life is in the memories of those who go beyond, who see a world that we shall never know.\u00a0 Some say it continues in our genes.\u00a0 A circle of life thing.\u00a0 Even if our great-great grandkids forget about us, we are still \u2018alive\u2019 in their genes (poor things).\u00a0 <\/p>\n
Problem with that is, once the world blows up, then it\u2019s all for naught.\u00a0 Eventually, everything is rendered pointless.\u00a0 It didn\u2019t matter.\u00a0 It didn\u2019t matter that Mozart lived, or that Confucius lived, or that Martin Luther King, Jr. was a better man than Hitler.\u00a0 The world blew up.\u00a0 It\u2019s over.\u00a0 There is nothing left to carry on a gene or a memory.\u00a0 The entire story of every living thing has just become pointless.\u00a0 The smallest molecule in the universe has every bit as much meaning as the entire narrative of human history.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
And if you think about it, that\u2019s not much on which\u00a0to hang a positive outlook.\u00a0 It does better if you don\u2019t think about it.\u00a0 Which is why if you say this to many atheists they get mad.\u00a0\u00a0 If you tell me I look for the hope of eternity in paradise, I don\u2019t get mad.\u00a0 Even if you say I believe in Hell, I don\u2019t get mad.\u00a0 But tell an atheist about the logical ramifications of atheism, and expect an ear full.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
So for the secularist, the atheist, or the lazy post-modern who gives it little thought, could it be that\u00a0the only real hope for keeping \u2018eternity\u2019 alive and making the human species worth anything more than an electron, is that some humans, somehow, someday get to escape before the world blows up and are then able to keep the memories and the stories alive?\u00a0 That\u2019s eternity?\u00a0 And it only works if we can get off this rock, this rock that both the Faithful and the Atheist agree is not long for the world.\u00a0\u00a0 Just a thought.<\/p>\n
![](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/715\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/-h8Ryig2nJBU\/UltQkjimtGI\/AAAAAAAAFuI\/E34vmGYb3u0\/s640\/fransiifrancken_thelastjudgement.jpg\")
<\/a><\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Many moderns are implicit atheists if not explicitly atheistic in their cosmology.\u00a0 It\u2019s true.\u00a0 The illusions of industry, technology and science have made more than one person focus on the here and today, what\u2019s two inches in front of me (or in recent years, on the screen on my mobile device).\u00a0 The hereafter means little.\u00a0 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2805,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1731","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
Soteriology for an atheist generation<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Many moderns are implicit atheists if not explicitly atheistic in their cosmology. It's true. The illusions of industry, technology and\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2013\/10\/soteriology-for-an-atheist-generation.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Soteriology for an atheist generation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Many moderns are implicit atheists if not explicitly atheistic in their cosmology. It's true. The illusions of industry, technology and\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2013\/10\/soteriology-for-an-atheist-generation.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Daffey Thoughts\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-10-13T22:03:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/wp.production.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/files\/2.bp.blogspot.com\/-8VYEHoRLTWU\/UltQGcMIR3I\/AAAAAAAAFuA\/wxLTwbuYulw\/s320\/flag-waving-moon-landing_9803_600x450.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Dave Griffey\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Dave Griffey\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2013\/10\/soteriology-for-an-atheist-generation.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2013\/10\/soteriology-for-an-atheist-generation.html\",\"name\":\"Soteriology for an atheist generation\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2013-10-13T22:03:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-10-13T22:03:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/#\/schema\/person\/9de3f33a0818ebc53727444b649c82a7\"},\"description\":\"Many moderns are implicit atheists if not explicitly atheistic in their cosmology. It's true. The illusions of industry, technology and\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2013\/10\/soteriology-for-an-atheist-generation.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2013\/10\/soteriology-for-an-atheist-generation.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2013\/10\/soteriology-for-an-atheist-generation.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Soteriology for an atheist generation\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/\",\"name\":\"Daffey Thoughts\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/#\/schema\/person\/9de3f33a0818ebc53727444b649c82a7\",\"name\":\"Dave Griffey\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/546cf1ab64797c201cc8ad19185f2e57?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/546cf1ab64797c201cc8ad19185f2e57?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Dave Griffey\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/author\/dgriffey\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Soteriology for an atheist generation","description":"Many moderns are implicit atheists if not explicitly atheistic in their cosmology. It's true. The illusions of industry, technology and","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2013\/10\/soteriology-for-an-atheist-generation.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Soteriology for an atheist generation","og_description":"Many moderns are implicit atheists if not explicitly atheistic in their cosmology. It's true. The illusions of industry, technology and","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2013\/10\/soteriology-for-an-atheist-generation.html","og_site_name":"Daffey Thoughts","article_published_time":"2013-10-13T22:03:00+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/wp.production.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/files\/2.bp.blogspot.com\/-8VYEHoRLTWU\/UltQGcMIR3I\/AAAAAAAAFuA\/wxLTwbuYulw\/s320\/flag-waving-moon-landing_9803_600x450.jpg"}],"author":"Dave Griffey","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Dave Griffey","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2013\/10\/soteriology-for-an-atheist-generation.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2013\/10\/soteriology-for-an-atheist-generation.html","name":"Soteriology for an atheist generation","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/#website"},"datePublished":"2013-10-13T22:03:00+00:00","dateModified":"2013-10-13T22:03:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/#\/schema\/person\/9de3f33a0818ebc53727444b649c82a7"},"description":"Many moderns are implicit atheists if not explicitly atheistic in their cosmology. It's true. The illusions of industry, technology and","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2013\/10\/soteriology-for-an-atheist-generation.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2013\/10\/soteriology-for-an-atheist-generation.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2013\/10\/soteriology-for-an-atheist-generation.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Soteriology for an atheist generation"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/","name":"Daffey Thoughts","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/#\/schema\/person\/9de3f33a0818ebc53727444b649c82a7","name":"Dave Griffey","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/546cf1ab64797c201cc8ad19185f2e57?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/546cf1ab64797c201cc8ad19185f2e57?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","caption":"Dave Griffey"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/author\/dgriffey"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1731","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2805"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1731"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1731\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1731"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1731"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1731"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/715\/2.bp.blogspot.com\/-8VYEHoRLTWU\/UltQGcMIR3I\/AAAAAAAAFuA\/wxLTwbuYulw\/s1600\/flag-waving-moon-landing_9803_600x450.jpg\")
<\/a><\/div>\n