Can I be Good Without God?

This question is one that pops up frequently in conversations with unbelievers. There are also numerous statements and questions that are based on the same concept, for example: “I can be a good person, without having to believe in God”, or “How can you say that good people are lost or going to hell?” or, “Why does it matter what religion or god you choose to believe? What really matters is just being a good person”. Many Christians have heard these statements, which are extremely difficult to answer, particularly in a quick conversation or online comment. I want to take a closer look at the question in the title of this article (and the others like it), in the hope of helping Christians and unbelievers in search of an answer.

Unfortunately, answering this apparently simple question is not as easy as it first appears. The first problem is that the question is usually loaded. By this I mean that the person asking it thinks that they are already being good without God, and if you answer with a simple ‘no’ then you will probably offend them. Answering this question therefore requires more than a simple yes or no – you must delve deeper into the meaning of the question first. I specifically want you to consider the meaning of the deceptively simple word ‘good’.

When we say: “so-and-so is a good person”, what exactly do we mean by that? Are we saying that they are morally better than we are, or that they share similar moral values to us, or perhaps that they are better than the average person we know? In any case, how exactly does one judge any level of goodness, be it in your own life or someone else’s? Despite claims to ‘not judge anyone’, people do this all the time, as they measure their own lives against those around them. This is clearly evident when they make statements like: “this guy/girl is the best person I know” or, “that man/woman is terrible – just look at all the awful things they’ve done!” All the while, they are situating themselves within their social context, which often goes something like this: ‘I may not be as good as that guy, but at least I’m not as bad as this other chap, nevertheless I reckon I’m a good person, generally.’

The problem with this relative morality is that it all depends on your social context. Those who have been convicted of crimes look around them and judge their crimes according to the others they find in prison – “I may be a thief, but I’ve never hurt anyone”, “I may have assaulted someone, but I’m no murderer,” “I may have killed someone (with ‘good’ reason), but I’ve never raped anyone” and so on. If each individual is left to judge their own life, then the result is simply a reflection of how they see themselves fitting on the good-bad scale created by the people around them.

Not everyone sees themselves as ‘better than average’ (although I would venture that that is the most common self-rating). Some may even be really hard on themselves for not measuring up to the apparently lofty standards set by their family or friends. Others may view themselves as really wonderful compared to those around them, and be puffed up with their own self-righteousness. Yet if you were to meet Mr. not-good-enough and Mr. better-than-everyone-else, it is highly likely that you would come to entirely different conclusions about their characters than either of their self-assessments.

So who is right? Is the thief who considers himself better than murderers really a ‘better person’ than a decent, law-abiding citizen who just feels that everyone around them is ‘better’ than they are? If the question ‘am I a good person’ is answered purely by how you see yourself, then heaven should be filled with supercilious, self-righteous folk and better-than-average criminals, whilst hell is to be populated by those who are humble and honest enough to know that they are not better than everyone else. At best, relative morality makes no sense; at worst, it is the height of injustice.

So one of the answers to “can’t I be good without God” is: we would not even be able to identify what good is if God did not exist. If you followed my blog series on morality, you will know that the evidence for morality evolving in the human race without any ultimate moral Being is hopelessly thin and shaky. Those who study moral psychology really have no answers, except where they happen to agree with the Bible. In short, if there were no God, then any question about moral goodness would make no sense. If humans were highly evolved primates, then morality would not exist (as is the case for all primate species), and we would not even consider whether we were morally better or worse than our social circle. The only considerations that would cross a highly evolved primate’s mind would be driven purely by survival and reproduction, with no space for morality.

Note that I am not saying that people can’t do good deeds without believing in God, just that to identify deeds as ‘good’ requires an objective definition of ‘good’. As I have argued above, such an objective good could not possibly come from other people – we are all just judging ourselves relative to others, so what is considered a good deed in one context (e.g. assaulting someone, rather than murdering them) may not make the grade in another context. At the end of the day, this means that either no deeds should be considered good, or all deeds should be considered good, thus stripping the word ‘good’ of all meaning. If, however, an objective standard of goodness exists, and all humans have some concept of that standard (however murky or twisted it becomes), then the idea of someone doing a good deed, or being a good person has some meaning. That objective standard must, by definition, originate from outside the human race, and therefore must come from a non-human Being who exemplifies that standard – God.

As a human being, then, you have an objective moral standard imprinted in you by God, which means that you really could not do anything objectively ‘good’ without God existing in the first place. Nevertheless, you can still choose good or evil, as a human being, without basing your choice on a belief in God. All humans have a free will (which also comes from God), which we can use according to our own discretion. This is how it is possible for an atheist can live a morally better life than a religious person – both inherently understand good and evil, and have the ability to choose between the two, regardless of what they believe. In that case, how does religion benefit anyone?

Now we are getting to the crux of the matter: anyone can do good deeds and be a good person relative to their social circle, but the question really is, are they good enough? This naturally leads to the question: “good enough for who?” If God is indeed the ultimate, objective standard of good, and the Source of our understanding of what good is, then the answer must be: good enough for God. Furthermore, if you have not accepted the Bible to be true, you may ask: good enough for which god, according to which religion?

Whilst my purpose here is not to present a full study of each of the world’s religions, this question of whether we are good enough is one of the many areas where Christianity stands in total contrast to any other religion. In all other religions, being good enough requires the believer to prove it by ticking all the ‘good deeds’ boxes relevant to that religion. In most cases, there are some guidelines regarding the standard that you should aim for, the bar is set rather high, yet whether you have succeeded or not is rarely revealed to you before you die.

For example, one of the boxes that must be ticked by Muslims is a visit to Mecca at least once in your life. While there, you must complete very specific rituals in a particular frame of mind, and only if these are done absolutely right, will your pilgrimage be considered pleasing to Allah. Yet one can do the pilgrimage according to the set rules, and still not be 100% sure that your state of mind in the process was acceptable – so has this box been ticked, or not? Similar rules and rituals can be outlined for all other religions, including some that claim to be Christian (Catholicism, for example, is replete with such rules that might, or might not, save you from purgatory).

Fake Christianity aside, the Bible presents a different picture of salvation than any other religion. In both the Old and New Testaments, God’s message to all people everywhere is: you are not good enough, and no amount of rule keeping or rituals will make you good enough. His standard of ‘good enough’ is not that the good deeds should outweigh the bad (as in Buddhism, for example), but that any bad thought or deed is enough to break His law, and no good deed done thereafter can mend that break. Every single one of us is guilty. We have not met His standard and, on our own, we will never be able to meet it.

In His teachings and by the example of His life, Jesus set this impossible standard. Jesus’ standard includes being impossibly good: forgive others, even when they sin against you over and over again (Matt. 18:22-35), and love those who hate you or treat you spitefully, which means do and think only the best for them (Matt. 5:43-48). His standard also includes not doing things that most people don’t even consider to be bad: looking lustfully at someone you are not married to is equivalent to adultery (Matt. 5:27-28), and harbouring anger and hatred towards someone is equivalent to murder (Matt. 5:21-22). He sums up His standard in one simple, yet mind-blowing, statement: “Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.” (Matt. 5:48).

Unlike other religions, the standard of Christianity is not just difficult – it is impossible (Matt. 19:25-26). Unlike other gods, the God of the Bible does not expect us to achieve His standard before He is willing to save us. Instead, He asks us to accept the simple facts that we have fallen far short of His standard, broken His law, and can do absolutely nothing to save ourselves. To any and all who recognise their wretched state, and ask Him to save us from our own wretchedness, He offers the free gift of salvation that has been made possible by Jesus’ death on the cross for our sins (Isaiah 53).

Only once we are saved can we claim to be ‘good enough’, by which we mean that God, through Jesus, has made us perfect in His sight, through no merit of our own. At the very moment of salvation, our names are written is His book of Life, which is a record of all who will be in heaven with Him for eternity (Rev. 22:21-27). Nonetheless, Christians are still living on this earth, and although we are righteous before God because of Jesus’ sacrifice, we still have lives to live. The full purpose of salvation goes far beyond a ‘ticket to heaven’ – it is the start of a brand new life to be lived on earth through the power and love of our Lord Jesus Christ. In the time that we have left on earth, we are to become like Jesus in our everyday lives, such that those around us recognise a level of ‘goodness’ in us that they cannot achieve without God (Matt. 5:14-16).

The contrast between salvation through Christ and the promises of all other religious systems could not be starker. Instead of working to possibly get to heaven (or a better next life), we are guaranteed a place in heaven, yet are called to continue our work here on earth. We are not good enough for heaven, but He accepts us anyway through His own sacrifice on our behalf, and He helps us draw nearer to His standard of perfection while we are still on earth.

The idea that one can be good without God is both logically and practically impossible. Logically, the question itself would make no sense in a godless universe; practically, God’s standard of good is far beyond the best we could ever hope to achieve. Those who believe that they can meet an arbitrary standard of goodness by sheer self-effort may indeed be morally better than others in their social circle, but in reality they are robbing and deluding themselves. The pure relief, joy, and comfort that comes from letting go of your own self-righteousness and effort, whilst reaching out for the righteousness of Jesus Christ is simply indescribable. The real question, therefore, is “Should you even try to be good enough without God?”