“Thy Will Be Done”

    The Third Petition in the Lord's Prayer asks "Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven" (Matt. 6:10; NKJV). Here there is a contrast drawn between heaven and earth. Heaven is where God's will is always done, a perfect paradise where truth and justice always prevail. Earth, however, is another story altogether. Here we are confronted on every hand with the ill effects of man's rebellion against God – cruelty and exploitation, corruption and injustice, tyranny and war. Our desire and our prayer, therefore, is for earth to be brought into conformity with heaven.
    It is here that the contrast between Christian theism and atheism is cast in bold relief. An atheist insists that heaven does not exist, that earth is all there is. As for ourselves, we can hardly think of an idea more perverse. By eliminating the will of God atheism is, in effect, erasing all the higher human values; it is the negation of all ideals. It denies the existence of a transcendent order, of a universal, objective standard of morality, of meaning and purpose in life, of ultimate justice, and robs us of the hope of life after death. It leaves us with nothing but the toil and sorrow of everyday life, to snatch whatever fleeting pleasures blind fate may strew across our path.
    But at this point the atheist will surely object. "We can create our own values, By means of a kind of social contract we can create a society to our own liking: liberal, humane, and democratic."
    This vision of a secular utopia is certainly very appealing, but it is a mirage. First of all, in the atheistic worldview the values of human dignity, equality and democracy occupy the same place as God and religion – they are all imaginary, artificial constructs of the human mind with no basis in objective reality, mere wish fulfillment. Whatever scorn and abuse the atheist pours on religion he must also pour on liberal democracy as well: it is all alike a delusion.
    But secondly, this vision of a secular utopia fails to reckon with human nature. If we could create the kind of society we would like, what kind of society would it be? The secular liberal is quick to answer, "one that is marked by a respect for individual human rights, and by freedom and equality." But in real life it rarely works out that way. Driven by individual self-interest we push and shove our way to the front of the line, and hurt each other in the process. Crime is a daily fact of life, and whole governments have been known to have been corrupted. If there is no transcendent standard of right and wrong, no universal law that is binding, and no eternal rewards and punishments, then why should anyone not try to see what they can get away with? In the end might makes right and victory goes to the strong, who rarely use their power for the benefit of society as a whole. In the end justice is but a mirage.
    "Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven" expresses the deepest longing of the human heart. Granted, part of us rebels against the idea of divine authority: we don't want to be subject to the will of a Supreme Being. But another part of us dreads the prospect of living in a universe in which there is no final justice, where cruelty and inhumanity reign supreme, and there is no retribution for evil. In short, a world without God is a fool's paradise.