Believe it or not, we all serve something.
I’ve always been a firm believer in hearing the other side. I might not agree with the presuppositions of my opposites, but I’m willing to at least listen. This willingness has nothing to do with tolerance, because no one can take what I believe away from me. Only I can give it up. If I were to feel threatened then the onus is on me and the possibility that perhaps what I deem to hold true, isn’t water tight after all. Either I need to reassess and fill in the cracks of doubt or be willing to open the gates to persuasion.
Although I’m quite the opposite to an atheist, I have often sought to hear what they have to say. I have followed them, read articles and books by them, and yet, the irony is their arguments have only reinforced mine. I don’t say this mockingly, but in earnest: I thank the four horseman (Dennett, Harris, Hitchens, and Dawkins) for showing me clarity to pursue my faith. For years I believed in a wishy-washy kind of way, but never really knew why. I didn’t have a sound reasoning and grasp of my faith, instead I pathetically wanted to have my cake and eat it. In other words, I believed, but not enough to practice. That is what I thought freedom truly was. Either/or. You either believe or you don’t. You either follow something or you go your own way. You either submit or dominate. God or no God. And, yet over time I realised that no matter which side I was on, I was in fact trying to serve two masters. The opposite of the God I loosely believed in, was another god I was too blind to see. And then it struck me, is it possible we all serve a master it just depends on which one?
Jesus' words capture this in the gospel of Matthew, verse 6–24:
“No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and be enslaved to money.”
He’s addressing a crowd in the familiar Sermon on the Mount and pointing out that there are some amongst the masses who are serving something else, yet claim to follow God. One master is pulling on your strings more than the other. In the example he uses, if the purse strings are pulling you, then that’s what is enslaving you. You see, it’s in our inherent nature to worship something, money, fame, success, adoration or whatever feeds your obsession, even when we don’t realise it. We all have idols in our lives, no different to the Greeks, Romans or Egyptians. Ours might not be thunderous gods, celestial entities or carved deities, but we define ourselves by them and we give every moment of our free time to pursuing them. Atheism, whether you choose to believe it or not, is an idol. It is a belief in which defines you and directs you. And, every atheist who believes otherwise would not be so passionate and vociferous towards those who believe in the very thing they don’t. I don’t believe in father Christmas (shock, horror) nor do I spend my time refuting the fact. If I did, then surely I’d need to devote my life to inspecting every chimney every made. The zealous pursuit of disbelief is an irony in itself. In his last interview before he passed, Hitchens attested that his purpose was to serve as a voice against religion. A belief in which he fervently pursued and dedicated most of his life and work. One thing he was not, was lukewarm. And, although he didn’t serve two masters, he certainly loved one and despised the other. A hitch-22.
