devotional

21JAN
2013

A Question about Why I Do Not Believe in Atheists

On 15 Jan 13, Christopher R., a professing atheist, asked me to explain why I don’t believe in atheists.

Response:

 

Oh, let me count just eleven of a thousand ways…

 

     I’ll begin with the wisdom that no professing atheist could hope to comprehend. To some this may appear imprudent. To those who understand the way of God, however, it should appear as something else.

     Reason #1: Christ died on the cross and then Resurrected according to the prophets. This was no waste of time. I personally know that He is raised because He has chosen to reveal Himself to me. The promises of an everlasting God are as everlasting as He Himself is. Two thousand plus years ago God said, “He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him,” John 14:21. It’s true. 

     Reason #2: The truthfulness of the Bible. I heard the Gospel (or good news) of Jesus Christ. After I was regenerated, the Bible is how God has revealed Himself to me. There are no errors in it. After thousands of years men have found none. Every supposed contradiction or error has an answer. Objectors, more often than not, are folks who know little of God factually and nothing of God personally. Everyone thinks they’re an expert on religion. This is a manifestation of both sinful arrogance and man’s idolatrous heart. Of course there are legitimate questions, but just because a man spends a weekend reading an automobile manual he’d be a fool to think he’s some sort of expert on cars with an opinion on par with a man who’s been fixing cars for a decade. Yet this is exactly what most antagonists do. There is a lifetime of learning that goes into a mature or proper handling of the Bible. The Bible, without argument, is the most reliable book in antiquity and one verified even by the very enemies of its martyred authors. It was true first in history and then also in its claims about God. Its forty plus authors and thousands of years of elapsed timeline make it an unparalleled jury unto itself. The prophetic marvels of the Scriptures prove its supernatural origin above all other religious claimants, even to the unlearned, as a divine axiomatic. 

     Reason #3: Satan and evil. The Bible tells me why there are evils like hypocrisy, adultery, abortion, homosexuality, lying, gossip, pornography, etc. that dominate this world. Sin brings a curse. Everything accursed can be traced to our race several thousand years ago when we were made in the image of God. The Bible answers our issue perfectly. It tells me why there’s idolatry and false religion. There is a real devil. He is spiritual. That spiritual part of man that’s dead to God but still under the sway of Satan in various forms is terrifyingly and precisely explained in the Bible. The sinful condition of man in Adam is made evident and is absolutely verifiable on every continent. Scripture says, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” Romans 3:23. I’ve asked thousands of people personally and they’ve verified this fact. You’re verification also if I ask. We’ve all broken the Ten Commandments and thus prove that we’re sinners from birth. While many have explained this away in his or her own way, the fact that they continue to explain it away verifies the word of God.

 

Now to the reasons comprehensible to the natural man:

 

     Reason #4: The conscience. Example: You know it’s wrong to lie. That’s from God. You’ll give account to God for all of your lying, stealing, blasphemy, covetousness, etc., on a day He has appointed already, Acts 17:31. The law is written on the hearts of all men from birth. God says that the consciences of all men, “Show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and between themselves their thoughts accusing or else excusing them),” Romans 2:15. So which is it with you at this moment? Accusation or excuse? Conscience can be explained away as socially constructed or evolutionary for the benefit of others, etc., but it’s from God. Many people want to mask their lying hearts by proffering arguments about stuff like the greatest good. They ask well, what if a lie would save a life? Or my personal favorite lawyer trick is the intentional confusion of discretion and lying with the old, So if my wife looks fat in a dress and I say she looks great you’re saying I’m going to hell? Big picture: The only reason that God does not blaze evident in the lives of every mind on earth brighter than the sun at noonday is because of our unrepentant sin. If sin is removed (as only Christ can do) then God is personally evident. 

     Reason #5: The wisdom shown in creation and Scripture’s intimate knowledge of it. “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork. Day unto day utters speech, and night unto night reveals knowledge. There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard. Their line has gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world,” Psalm 19:1-4. This was as true in the author’s day without knowledge of Laminin as it is today. The more we learn of the world through the sciences the less excusable a man is for the sin of denying God. All truth is God’s truth. Science and faith are not at all polar opposites if science is science and faith is faith. The Bible is not a science book, but when it speaks about the workings of creation it is one-hundred percent accurate, even long before men discovered many such truths. This shows me that the God who designed the universe actually inspired it. Book recommendation: Ray Comfort’s How to Know God Exists. Scientific Proof of God

     Reason #6: Atheism is a claim to infinitude. A finite man cannot with certainly discard the infinite without infinite knowledge. All you can prove is that you’re agnostic. Atheism is a moral decision, not an intellectual one. 

     Reason #7: The irrationality of naturalism. The “New Atheism” of my day is almost exclusively the result of evolutionary ideation. Many atheists don’t believe in evolution, but some still do. It’s not science. I think it’s an excuse. Darwin wrote: “If it could be demonstrated that any complex organ existed, which could not possibly have been formed by numerous, successive, slight modifications, my theory would absolutely break down.” (Origin of the Species. Chapter six). Done. Many scientists have proven organs that can’t evolve. Just consider the human eyeball. Naturalism assumes an unobserved fallacy of macro-evolutionary change based on environment. The best way I can explain the perpetuation of evolution is that just like in fake religion (or fake Christians) the love of money is still the root of all evil (1 Timothy 6:10) and there’s big money in the evil of denying God through evolution today. Evolutionary naturalism would have me believe that a creature fully developed to breathe H2O can slowly begin to adapt to breathing O2. That such upward adaptation, though contrary to all present assistance to the creature, can persist to evolve for millions of years until all of the various complex working parts attached, in literally one moment of time, can become completely beneficial and operational. Then get passed on. That’s simply not reasonable or rational. If that’s what you call science then yes it is diametrically opposed to faith. That’s not science at all. It’s an insult to God and to primates. Which came first, the chicken or the egg? It’s a question of cosmology. Without Genesis 1:25 I can’t sensibly answer it. 

     Reason #8: The fact that all men know there’s a God. Romans 1:20 says that this world proves God to you. You know He exists, but you suppress that fact in and by your habitual sinning. This doesn’t mean that all men know that Christ is raised. No. What it means is that all men, you included, by the evidences of the world, are without excuse in any sort of idolatrous religion which includes your professed atheism. It’s easier for you to deny His existence than to submit to Him because you don’t want to stop doing what you love, which is sinning. Think of it like a cell phone that’s had its ring volume slowly turned down. Calls can come in, but not be heard. That’s you before the creation. You can’t have a painting without a painter, and you can’t have a universe without its first infinite cause. 

     Reason #9: No atheist has done what they must do to truly know God exists and thus grasp the holy writings which are the real proof that I must step down from to help you see through any supported argument. Repent of your sin and put your faith in Jesus Christ. If you do that you’ll know Him. Not just about Him. Him. You’ve never done that. The real proof therefore remains perhaps forever one inch from your proud, blasphemously borrowed mind.

 

Personal:

 

     Reason #10: Love. True, sacrificial love brings out the best in anyone. Read 1 Corinthians 13 sometime for God’s view on what love should look like as the direct result of true religion. Men do not seek “proof” of love because they want it. There is no chemical test that can isolate the effects of what we call love from what candy does to the brain, yet it’s there. Without love the gospel makes no sense. It is both the justice of God against the sins of men and the love of God displayed on the cross of Calvary that makes the gospel make sense, Romans 5:8. Furthermore, as a man, I cannot explain the love I have for my wife and children without God’s love for sinners like me. 

     Reason #11: My experience. I’m left with this. It stands next to all those in a hundred religions claiming it, yes, but if they’re not in Christ, none of them can claim their experience as the result of the Resurrection of one sinless virgin-born Man. At the Resurrection of Jesus all the arguments cease. I am humbly placed next to the Apostle John when he testifies of Jesus: “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of life— the life was manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness, and declare to you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us— that which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. And these things we write to you that your joy may be full,” 1 John 1:1-4. 

In closing:     

     Proofs of God, sir, are not what saves a man. You only seek them, in the manner you “seek” them, because you deny proof. “God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty,” 1 Corinthians 1:27. It is foolish to some to believe in Jonah’s story. It’s foolish to some to believe in demons, angels, hell and such like. How about the story of the flood of Noah? I know. I didn’t grow up a Christian at all. These things are part of what Scripture calls the simple or foolish things. There’s a God who created the universe and measures it with His hand though (Isaiah 40:12). What do you think is impossible with a being like that? It’s foolish to the world to imagine Jesus, a crucified peasant, as the King and Savior of the world. The cross is certainly no ladder of glory! All I can say to you, my dear agnostic friend, is that if you’re living in this world as if there’s no God or judgment to come, please make sure that you’re right. If you’re wrong you have a huge problem on Judgment Day. You have angered Him and He will deal with you. He offers you His mercy and forgiveness, but you must repent. You must repent (confess and turn from your sins) and put your faith in Jesus. It is His righteousness alone that is my righteousness now. If you’ll do that I’d like to cordially welcome you to a life of untouchable joy mixed with certain tribulation, temptation, persecution, frustration, possible death…and life everlasting.

     Here's a challenging message for you from one of my most respected teachers, Pastor John MacArthur. I think it will explain a lot of things far better than I can. This video is part of a conference done in 2007. It's entitled The Challenge of Science. Please give it a watch if at all possible. 

     Here in conclusion is my greatest apologetic for why non-Christians exist: “Pilate therefore said to Him, “Are You a king then?” Jesus answered, “You say rightly that I am a king. For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice,” John 18:37. You do not hear Jesus because you're not of the truth. Should you wish to contact me and provide me your telephone number or some other form of communication, I’m open to answering any of your questions. May God’s grace be with you. You are in my prayers.

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