Can Atheists Be Good People?

I have heard it said that atheists want to communicate that they can be good people without God in their lives.  They deny the existence of God, which differs from agnostics, who say you can't know for sure.  Well, to begin with, the Bible says that no one is truly good but God (Romans 10:18).  Romans 3:10-12: "As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: there is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.: "

A civilized culture that is founded in biblical, godly wisdom will have laws that reflect goodness, however.  Being in that culture will overflow into the citizen's worldview.  When goodness and justice are being upheld around them, they will form habits that will reflect that goodness.  However, as stated in Romans, in ourselves we are not good.  Our righteousness is as filthy rags.

Isaiah 64:6

“But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.” 

However, one of the arguments for the existence of God is that we do have a basic sense of morality ingrained within us because we are made in the image of God.  Genesis 1:27: "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them."  We care for our children.  We protect the innocent.  We have the capability to love.  Again, our sin nature inside us is dead spiritually until we accept Christ, and even then that old nature wars against the new nature that is saved.  But people who have rejected God and His existence, which by the way does not eliminate Him, only denies Him, can still perform good acts. 

People who are cynical and don't want to believe in anything they cannot see or touch may still donate money to the poor, for example.  A kind deed it is!  And someone who does believe in God can do a terrible thing, such as murder someone.  Why is this?  Because we are made in God's image, so we have some of His likeness, but because of sin every one of us, believers and nonbelievers, still have a sinful, corrupt nature.  We were created perfect, but are tainted and stained now.  We're in essence damaged goods.

What do we do?  2 Corinthians 5:17: "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new."  John 3:36: " He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him."  Trust in Christ, be saved, and you will have the Holy Spirit living in you to help you reject sin and walk in newness of life.