Business Post Contributor
By Nneka Okumazie
It is very easy to be happy about having a choice that others do not have. It is also easy to point to them as being in some captivity or wondering how that could be.
It is hard for the person to see what choice the person does not have or the limited options presented. It may not seem like much but many of the interactions with daily life are choices made within the options available. It is not the freedom to do anything, anytime, anywhere or anyhow.
People often like to say people should be free to live however they want if their business is not interfering with those of others. Many perceive that freedom to live the way they want is often attacked by the Christian faith, so they attack back.
The problem is that even though freedom is better, it is wiser to live within certain boundaries if a life would have meaning. Many people are using atheism to sell versions of the life of unbounded hedonism, which, in many cases, is a ticket to destruction.
It is possible to live without religion, but it is impossible to lead a meaningful life without a purpose, which entails discipline.
Many people may not be adhering in the right way to true Christianity, but the scriptures offer lessons in discipline and wisdom on things to be avoided, and those to stick with.
The world is having a pandemic of lack of wisdom. The world has run cold on meaning and purpose, just as atheism, agnosticism and secularism have risen, with advances.
It is almost guaranteed that in any situation, many people would act without wisdom and many would act like there is no other purpose or meaning than the controversy at that moment.
People often feel they have heard enough of Christianity or know about all of it, and prefer to stay away. It is a choice, but most of the people at any time in history would have had a positive life, and have led the meaningful parts of their lives, close to aspects of instructions that are also available in Christianity.
There is a perception of freedom with atheism. Many have tried a lot of things, in freedom and continue to do so, who have found emptiness, loss and other things they cannot explain.
There are negative experiences some people have had in their time close to wrong practices in Christianity, which is painful. But there is a continuous note to grace and mercy that should never be thrown away.
Atheism will never be greater than meaning and purpose. Christianity will be able to shape both more than anything else, as long as this world exists.
[Proverbs 14:6, A scorner seeketh wisdom, and findeth it not: but knowledge is easy unto him that understandeth.]
