Christians Do Enjoy Life

Some people in England who do not believe there is a God recently went to a lot of trouble, and cost, to advertise on London buses with the slogan "There is Probably No God, so Stop Worrying and Enjoy your Life!".

I do confess to having a certain respect for the evangelical zeal of the atheist. Possibly it is something that we Christians could learn from.

If there is no God, what exactly is the problem? Why go to such extraordinary lengths to announce the fact from the top of a double decker bus? Why not just get on with your enjoyable, non-religious life and allow us simple souls our harmless superstitions?

Me thinks thou doest protest too much.

But I would challenge the bizarre assumption clearly held by the slogan-makers that being a Christian is somehow incompatible with leading an enjoyable life. Does committing oneself to Christ condemn one to a life of misery and unhappiness? Certainly not in my experience.

The invocation only works if by "enjoyment" the atheist actually means sin. Or let me put it in less biblical terms - it only works if the atheist is equating happiness with stealing, murder, deceit, infidelity and all the other things that a good Christian, or for that matter a good non-Christian, would seek to avoid.

I'm flattered that somebody somewhere is sufficiently concerned for my happiness and well-being to want to spend such a great deal of money trying to persuade me that they know best. But if it's all the same by them I'll stick with my faith. And I will enjoy doing so.