Ask the Atheist

Your question is asked in good ole theistic backwards style. The questions you ask have very obvious answers, the type that almost don't warrant answering. But in the spirit of AskTheAtheist, I'll play along. Truly the only reason I jumped in was so I could get another stab at linking to Jake's morality video. Jake is the creator of this site, if you're just joining the party.

Here are the answers to your questions (I'll answer them in a very basic style, k ?)...

How can you justify morality based on a guide that cant be proved?

How's this for a guide that can be proved... one person shoots another person, everyone who loved the victim is crying. Do you think the people crying are hurt and upset, maybe even devastated? Do you feel good when you are hurt and devastated? If you are like me, you don't feel good when you are hurt, therefore you try not to devastate and hurt other people.

I understand how a social contract is constucted, but what purpose does it serve in the end?

It keeps us alive as a society, otherwise we'd most likely all be dead.

And if there is no purpose to existence, why are we alive?

What book told you there was no purpose? The Bible? I've never known anyone in my life without a purpose, that's just some retarded bullshit nonsense that Christian terrorists pull on you to scare you into believing their bat-shit stupidity. Avoid them, they're con artists.

- Brian Sapient
Rational Response Squad

Do a little research on the Golden Rule to see just how exclusively Biblical it is. Not.

The Bible has plenty of instructions that everyone would agree are great ideas, like "thou shalt not kill". It also has plenty of instructions everyone would agree are terrible ideas, like much of Leviticus. The good ideas are not only common sense, but they can generally be found in other sources pre-dating the Bible by centuries.

Consider the possibility that the good ethical advice in the Bible is not good ethical advice because it's in the Bible, but rather its human authors put it into the Bible because it's good ethical advice. It's a reflection of human nature, much of which is benevolent.

This may make the Bible a good moral guide if you cherry-pick the sensible parts, but it certainly doesn't establish its God as the only source of morals.

- SmartLX