No, it is not the same. Atheists actually live in God's universe and so know deep down that stuff actually does matter. Thus they have an overriding interest, though most will acknowledge neither its existence nor its source, not to profess nihilism or consistently adhere to it. People are not ideologies. People are often inconsistent, and atheists necessarily so, since they live in God's universe and yet profess their Creator doesn't exist.
do we not derive our own meaning and value with respect to the society in which we live?
I look forward to your describing the process by which things pop into existence just because we believe in them.
I'm not sure I want the Christian God
I know you don't. Nobody does, actually, outside of repentance. We are fundamentally evil beings, in rebellion against God. Only by His grace does anyone turn to Him.
Oh interesting. You're starting from the base that we live in God's universe so that atheists in that world are just in denial.
Or you know, values are ever changing out of necessity, because otherwise a group of people cannot live in harmony. You'd think that it isn't a coincidence that societies across the world came up with oddly similar values. Right... Because they are all gods creatures and this played out like a bad game of telephone.
The real question is whether it's possible for these values to have developed naturally or not. To you, they must have been inspired by God. To me, it's a natural, ever changing process. And you can see elements of group behavior in other animals that have similar characteristics, and you might wonder how that came to be as well. God? Or simply small adjustments over time that are done to improve survival?
Yes. That is because we are trying to reason and think rationally, and the only possible foundation of reason and intelligibility is that Jesus is Lord.
So what you're saying is that:
--child rape was once good
--preferring lies to truth was once good
--adhering to theism was once good
--throwing atheists in big pits covered with deadly snakes was once good
Correct?
And how did you come to this conclusion about values ever changing? How do you know?
But it isn't a moral duty to live in harmony with others, correct?
I'd say a more real question is whether other people even exist and whether your senses are reliable.