“Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15).
While it is impossible to know the exact number of people who self-identify as atheists, the number seems to be growing. A commonly reported number is that 1.6 percent of Americans identify themselves as atheists. Since the US population is approximately 305.5 million, there could be a least 4,856,000 atheists in America. That number grows even larger when the practical atheist is included with the professed atheist.
The professed atheist says there is no God, and is bold in denouncing the Creator and the Lord of Glory. The practical atheist lives life as if there is no God, giving spiritual matters no place in life and no conscious thoughts.
While it is impolite to be rude, the Bible has something pointed to say to the professing, and practical atheist. There is no kind way to say it, but, you are foolish. “The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God” (Psalm 14:1).
The Hebrew word for “fool” is nabal and means “stupid; wicked (especially impious).
The Greek term for “fool” is moros, and means “dull or stupid (as if shut up), i.e. heedless, (morally) blockhead (apparently) absurd.”
The Biblical words convey very strong language, but the thoughts and actions of the atheist justifies the harshness of the rhetoric. It is not the honest scientist who says there is no God. It is not the brilliant mathematician who says there is no God. It is not the observant biologist who says there is no God. It is not the astonished astronomer who says there is no God. It is the fool who says there is no God.
Because the Word of God totally condemns the atheist, the future of these people is an eternity in hell apart from repentance, regeneration, and renewal of the Holy Ghost. The fearful, and unbelieving “shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death” (Rev. 21:8).
The heart of every Christian should have pity on the atheist, and seek to evangelize every one with the gospel in order to arrest their exposure to Secular Humanism, which dominates America’s educational system. From Kindergarten to post graduate studies, atheism permeates what is taught. There is no divine interpretation of history in secular education. There is no Creator in secular biological studies. Natural selection prevails over creationism. Even in theology, in secular universities the divinity of Christ is denied. A social gospel is substituted for the gospel of personal salvation.
God is deliberately left out of formal studies in education as truth is suppressed. Paul explains this phenomenon in Romans chapter 1. The Bible says that men “hold the truth in unrighteousness.” Literally, individuals “hold down” the truth. They suppress the truth they know, “For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse” (Romans 1:20).
There are individuals who pretend they have given great thought to the logic of life, and come to the conclusion there is no God. This is said to explain their atheism.
According to Scripture, that is not the truth, or the real reason for becoming an atheist. The real reason why people become an atheist is that they do not want to be made to feel guilty, or to be held accountable to a Creator.
No one can logically study life and conclude it is irrational, or the product of time plus space plus chance. The cosmos is too organized, too intricate, and too balanced to be in existence by blind chance. Matter is not eternal. Self-consciousness and morality cannot, and did not come from primordial gases. There is something more to life than water, fire, air, and earth.
A rational person acknowledges there is a spiritual dimension to life, manifested in logic and the ability to think. Here is the critical point. If there is logic, there must be a Logic Giver. The Greeks called this Logic, the Word, the Logos. John said to them, “You are right. In the beginning was the Logic, the Logos, the Word, and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:1, 14).
The irrational person decides not to think about spiritual realities, but to suppress the truth with brute verbal force. The tongue, designed by the Creator to praise and glorify the Lord, is turned against Him by the creature who does not want to glorify the Lord as God, neither express any gratitude. Because of the Fall, individuals began to have new thoughts, dark thoughts. The imaginations of many were turned inward instead of outward. The result is a foolish thought, “God does not exist.”
Of course, God does exist, and He is not silent. One day, every knee shall bow, and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord to the glory of God.
When an atheist is pressed to defend their position, the shallowness of their thinking is readily exposed. Consider the arguments of atheism.
The Argument of an Atheist. There is no scientific evidence that God exists.
A Biblical Response. The question arises, “What evidence would an atheist accept as proof that God does exist?” The answer is, “None.” There is nothing a person can say or do to prove to an atheist, or to anyone else for that matter, that God exists. The Bible never tries to prove God exists for it is self-evident. The Bible begins with the presuppositional thought, “In the beginning God” (Gen. 1:1). It is enough.
However, if the matter were to be pressed, let the atheist prove that God does not exist. In order for an atheist to prove God does not exist he would have to personally be omniscient, all knowing, and omnipresent, all present lest God does exist without his knowledge somewhere he has not been. The best an honest atheist could be is to confess agnosticism, meaning, he has no personal knowledge of God.
Another truth response to the atheist is that what can be known of God is manifest in them “because that which is known of God is manifest in them; for God manifested it unto them. 20 For the invisible things of him since the creation of the world are clearly seen, being perceived through the things that are made, (even) his everlasting power and divinity; that they may be without excuse” (Romans 1:19, 20; ASV).
Whatever evidence the atheists is looking for will never be found, because it will never support his presupposition that God does not exist. The presupposition of God’s non-existence is not rooted in any objective evidence, but in a subjective determination not to admit God exists. There is a commitment not to be accountable to anyone but self. There is also a desire to eliminate any feelings of shame or guilt. No atheist would ever say they are willing to bow their knee and worship God if compelling evidence were to be shown to them that God exists. They do not want any God consciousness. Any suggestion of worshipping someone other than self is met with angry resistance and mockery. There is a visceral hated in the heart of the atheist. The truth condemns them. “And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil” (John 3:19).
The Argument of the Atheist. Natural Science can explain the universe, and all that is in it. There is no need for God.
A Biblical Response. The argument that science can explain the origin of the universe and life is a myth. To be more precise, it is a religious belief that is misplaced. Science cannot explain the origin of the universe, or the presence of man. Science has a theory called evolution, but it is only a theory.
Concerning the inadequacy of science to explain life with God, consider reading the following books: Darwin on Trial (Phillip Johnson, 1991); Darwin’s Black Box (Michael Behe, 1996); The Design Inference (William Dembski, 1998); and Signature in the Cell (Stephen C. Meyer, 2009).
The existence of DNA, which every atheist concedes is highly complex, indicates there must be an Intelligent Designer. To believe otherwise, to believe that DNA has become complex through a mindless evolutionary process is faith, not science. The Law of Entropy says that everything goes from order to disorder, yet the atheistic evolutionist argues that everything has gone from disorder to order. DNA could not have happened by accident, even when the element of time is given.
Here is the truth of the matter. Time is not a factor in original creation, for out of nothing, nothing comes. Nothing cannot produce everything. Certainly nothing could not have produced the amazing DNA. And yet, that is what the atheist argues. The atheist insists on a random accident producing the complexity of DNA at its very foundation.
If an atheist was to be shown a book, and told that it made itself, they would say that is silly. If a person were to be shown a video of Skylab, the US orbiting space laboratory launched in 1973, with its multitude of intricate parts, and told it made itself and put itself in space, they would say that is foolish. And yet the atheist is willing to say that all the stars, and planets, and galaxies, and all of life, made itself.
The Argument of the Atheist. God would not allow so much pain and suffering in the world.
A Biblical Response. The problem of pain and suffering in the universe can be answered philosophically, or Scripturally, and personally.Scripturally, suffering occurs because of sin. The wages of sin bring suffering, sadness, and death. Practically, the problem of suffering is personal. People are hurting, and, in their pain, they need hope and comfort. Let there be love in witnessing and answering this question. Tell people that God has a cure for suffering in the healing stipes of Christ.
There is something else to consider. When man puts God on trial, and accuses Him of genocide, or other horrific crimes, two questions arise.
“On what basis does the atheist stand in judgment of God?”
“Where do people get their moral ‘oughtness’ if there is no objective sense of morality?”
The person who does not believe in God, has no basis on which to judge God, unless he abrogates to Himself the right to be the Moral Arbitrator of the universe. But then, by what right does the atheist abrogate this power unto himself, especially when his own guiding principle in life is the survival of the fittest?
It is interesting how angry an atheist can get over Someone that does even exist. Though God does not exist in the mind of the atheist, He still exists as the great, and eternal, “I AM.”
Thank you for your good question. The quick answer is that nothing happens to the arguments if the Bible is left out because ultimate truth is truth, regardless of the form it is expressed in, such as the written Word, God’s Word, the Bible. In the beginning God still created the universe; nothing still comes out of nothing; complexity does not come out of chaos. That does not change. From the beginning individuals have known God exists by their conscience, and by the revelation in nature. Before the microscope revealed the reality of germs, they existed, though invisible. Before the authors of Scripture wrote, God was there all the time. Again, good question. May the Lord bless you in your journey into grace. Because I Care.
Growing up, I had a mind of doubt. I knew there had to be something more, but my mind could explain anything away, casting doubt on everything. Perhaps this had a purpose, for then I had to question everything, and many answers were found along the way: 1) I know I exist so someone created me for I certainly couldn’t create myself, 2) The cosmos are amazing, orderly, everything moving in circles, and everything made of the same one thing, 3) We’re born with understanding, all people capable of understanding the same things, which affirms that we’re all created in our Father’s image, 4) A cell, the simplest of life, never could have created itself, 5) And within each of us, if we’re searching, we can see the results of sin, the torment the sin creates when we realize of ourselves, we can’t do anything, yet we can always pray. God bless.