Q&A: Atheist Student Asks Why GOD Is Necessary For Meaning & Morality

In this video, Frank Turek gets into a debate with an atheist/agnostic student who makes the case that humans are merely biological creatures but at the same time that we are essentially good. He then goes on to define what precisely is meant by "good" and to make a case for how one can understand the meaning of meaning and the meaning of good apart from God.

Here is a link to Frank's Youtube Channel where the original media comes from @CrossExamined ​

Go check out his work because it's awesome!

Also:

[lifeisgood]

The glaring flaw that I saw in this young man is that he thinks we are all good by nature. It's just the opposite, we are constantly struggling to be good.

[Kbirson]

How could anyone assert that humans are naturally good and universally agree to what that is having read anything about human history

[matshepo_s]

Tony gives humans so much credit... Like no we're not as good as he thinks we are.

[Fubizz]

Did anyone else hear this young man at the very end say “do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” He is literally taking the golden rule of the Bible and calling it human nature

[OpenMawProductions]

"Your life is meanignless" - Richard Dawkins.

So, no. the natural end point of Atheism seems to be nihilism.

[askingwhyisfree]

The fact is that subjective meaning is what drove people to kill each other. "My meaning is more important than yours so I will do anything and everything to get it." That's the problem with subjectivity. You say people are nice to each other to survive? One nation needed resources so they took what other nations have to keep their own alive.

[ninpro]

This reminds me of C S Lewis' argument against the Moral Law being simply our "herd instinct" (do to others as you would have them do to you). He used the example of a person who got tripped in a subway. If he was tripped by accident, he might get hurt, but would not hate the stranger who tripped him. On the other hand, if an actual attempt was made by the stranger to trip him, but failed, he would be mad at the stranger without even getting hurt; not because anything bad actually happened, but because there was an intent behind it. The moral law deals largely with intent.

He also argued against the idea that humans are actually good by nature with another example: If an observer were to study human behavior without knowing our languages and without being human himself, his results would show no evidence that any such law ever existed. It goes to show just how bad we people are at following our own morals.

I'd highly recommend to anyone looking at this to just read the first 5 chapters of "Mere Christianity." They're quite short, and will grant a wealth of simple but deep knowledge in the subject ;)

(Plus, the book is free to read online, you can just download it)

[thatonestickfigure]

Brother I've loved watching Turek's videos for a while and watching someone react and vilify his Q&A is very enlightening. Love you content.

[Jet.Single]

How is he smart when he keeps contradicting himself and doesn’t even realize it? Please tell me that. Noticing or being able to recognize a contradiction is pretty straight forward.

[omarbriseno]

Loving your channel brother. God bless you 🙏🏽

[Lee-stiwrx]

That was a great video mate. Love what you added at the end. I've been watching your channel now for a couple of months and think you're doing a great job. Keep em coming man. God bless.

[EternallyLoved]

I've never heard anyone refer to themselves as a meat robot 😂

[JesseDriftwood]

I don't understand how meaning could be objective if it's rooted in "his purposes". That means that your meaning is *subject* to god. Objective means true *independent* of mind. If you believe that god is or has some type of mind or if he has intentional states and desires, then it wouldn't be objective.
You could say that maybe god is the source of ultimate meaning or morality, but I don't see how it's even coherent to call this objective.

[driftingdandelion]

i’ve recently found God and put my trust in Jesus, i love watching your videos please keep on keepin on 🤍

[marlonmorales]

He will surely know the default nature of a kid once he gets one.

[Kezadome]

This young dude exposes how young minded and inexperienced he is in life.

[raphaelfeneje]

LOL. This dude sounds like Christopher Hitchens. Nice video, sir. God bless your ministry 🙏❤️

[hellodaviddunn]

I can see this guys wheels turning and I love where he’s going with it. He was also respectful but passionate. Honestly, if I was standing in a room full of people, I don’t know that I’d have the guts to stand there and state my case, especially after the loss of my friends. I’d be so mad at God and whoever was the representation of God.

I hope this guy keeps going back to Frank’s meetups and asks more questions. Even though he’s wrestling, I (my own opinion) think he’s on the right track.

Thanks for sharing this and thanks for the edit where you popped in and talked specifically about Jesus and how “our hours are short.” Good stuff man.

Staying locked in from Oklahoma.

[AnnoyingMoose]

Anyone who thinks that humans are inherently good have a poor memory of kindergarten.

[JB-sueq]

I really like Tony. He's coming from a place of trying to figure things out and he has a very high amount of love for humanity in general. I really think it's a simple matter of experiencing human nature more first-hand through his own experiences. I wish him well and I think eventually he could grow to see.