Because of length, I have chosen to make this blog a two-part post.
I recently read a thought-provoking statement by another Christian. “Many atheists don’t believe in God because they don’t want Him to exist.”
This hits the proverbial nail on its hard, tiny head. In my limited experience with “debating” atheists, I have discovered some deep flaws in their thinking and mindsets that are almost immediately obvious to anyone who has lived a number of years as a Christian and studied the Bible, Christian principles and other evidences for their faith. I would like to share a number them in this and my next blog.
The Bible has this to say about those who, despite the evidence, ignore, refuse and twist the truth. *All Scriptures are taken from the New American Standard Bible.
“The fool has said in his heart, ‘There is no God.’” Psalms 53:1a
“For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” 1 Corinthians 1:18
“If our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” 2 Corinthians 4: 3-4,
“Because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools…” Romans 1:19-22
Christians need to know why they believe what they believe so their faith is not shaken by the clever arguments of worldly minds. Believers would also benefit from understanding some of the deep, basic flaws in the way atheists think and operate.
Atheists begin with faulty presuppositions (foundations for their viewpoints) of many kinds. They decide what they want to believe and if the Bible or how they interpret God doesn’t fit with those preconceived notions, they decide it’s all a bunch of lies. They also judge spiritual things from a totally natural mindset. 1 Corinthians 2:14 says, “But a natural man (or unbeliever living completely according to the flesh) does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised.”
Of course, atheist thought comes in all shapes and sizes and this tangle of misconceptions, misunderstanding and completely skewed conclusions can sometimes be so tangled that the believer conversing hardly knows where to begin.
They assume they know enough about Christianity, its nature, foundations, and function, to make an accurate judgment as to its truth, viability, and benefits.
Often, then, they come away with the conclusion that the Bible is mythical and portrays a barbaric God. Therefore, any faith based on the Scriptures is false. In fact, what very little they do know is sadly inadequate and skewed and they don’t bother to do the work that will show them how tragically wrong they are. They are like legally blind ants looking at a NASA space shuttle through glasses with badly scratched, dirty lenses and deciding they are seeing clearly and perceiving accurately.
They’ve been programmed to believe the all religion, including Christianity is an invention of man to help them deal with life.
Do they ever ask themselves, “If there was no God, no need for faith, why would human beings invent it all? We have no need to stand on our heads and walk on our hands so we’ve never invented the practice.
I’ve heard it said that no one would have invented a religion like Christianity that includes the mind-bending concept of a triune God–humans would only invent a god they can comprehend. They would not invent a religion where their God dies on them and His followers are such deeply flawed cowards that they would forsake Him in his greatest hour of need. It would not invent a God that challenges the ways in which we naturally respond to life, e.g. letting ourselves be last and serving, rather than being served, blessing those who curse us and doing them good, laying down our rights to see others promoted.
They are clueless as to the awesome majesty of Christ and the life we believers live in Him, the love we experience from Him. They are like the orphan who has been nothing but hungry, lonely and homeless, thinking their life is the only truth. Through the picture window of a warm home, they watch a family joyfully love one another unconditionally, passionately and sacrificially. They have no idea of the rich depths and heights and breadth of what they are witnessing or that they are desperately in need of a home with that same loving acceptance. The abundant, regenerate, intimate life with Christ is far from their comprehension.
As Ravi Zacharias, apologist and teacher has said, “Christianity isn’t true because we experience it; we experience it-deeply and gloriously-because it’s true”
These are just some of the observations I have made and I will share more with you in a couple of weeks. There are many resources for the Christian who wants to understand the historical accuracy and logical viability of his or her faith and I will share a few at the end of my next post.
Thank you for taking the time to write this! Unfortunately, I think your generalized view of “atheists” has been skewed by the overly vocal bad-apples that self-identify with atheism. I hope that I can, perhaps, change this somewhat.
Actually, a great many atheists– myself included– were faithful believers before losing faith in the existence of the divine. For my part, I had nothing to gain and everything to lose by my disbelief. I was a devout Christian with an avid appreciation for apologetics whose family and friends were composed mainly of strong believers. When I lost my faith, I was very worried that it would destroy my relationships with my parents, my closest friends, and even (and especially) my wife. My atheism had nothing to do with a desire for God’s non-existence, and I am not unique among atheists, in that respect.
I’ll admit, there are certainly a number of cranks out there who continue to spout nonsense– such as the “Jesus is just Mithras” crowd. However, quite a number of us actually do have a very good understanding of– and even a respect for– Christianity, its nature, foundations, and function. A number of atheists are former pastors, preachers, ministers, theologians, apologists, and New Testament scholars. Again, speaking for my own experience, I was (and remain) very keen on apologetics literature; I read New Testament Greek, and understand the textual history of the Bible; and I have a knowledge and appreciation of Christian philosophy and theology.
Yes! We do ask this question! There are entire fields of philosophy and anthropology dedicated to researching this very question!
Incidentally, we actually have invented the practices of standing on our heads and walking on our hands. I actually do both fairly frequently, for exercise. My younger Jiu-Jitsu students get a real kick out of racing me, their army-crawls versus my handstand-walking.
Thank you, again, for writing this. I hope that I can be an example of those unfortunately far less vocal atheists among us who do not share the vitriol of other unbelievers. A great many of us– if not the majority– really are simply looking for truth and remain honestly unconvinced of the existence of the divine.
Great post!
I have frequently discussions with atheists and I have found that in order for them to become atheists in the first place they had to give up the ability to reason.
Since the existence of God can be proven through reason, atheism requires 100% faith since it cannot be proven.
Thanks so much for your kind reply and for representing the respectful portion of atheism. I apologize if I have in anyway been part of the Christian crowd that responds to unbelievers with any vitriol. I am glad your are looking for the truth and pray you will find it.
You can stand on your head and walk on your hands? Awesome. I can barely manage to walk upright on my own two feet sometimes without falling over. 🙂
Blessings
I’m not sure the existence of God can be “proven” by reason although believing in God is a whole lot more reasonable than atheism. I think that faith, by it’s very nature, would not be faith if it can be 100% proven by reason and completely invulnerable to doubt. I have struggled with doubt many times over the course of my life but cannot forsake my faith because I have experienced too much to know that it is anything but true. I also guess there are probably as many reasons for a person becoming an atheist as there are atheists.
Blessings
Ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle is given credit for first developing systematic thinking.
He was a student of Plato who was a student of Socrates.
As we know, the ancient Greeks were pagan.
Yet, through reason, they developed various proofs that God exists.
Further, modern scientific discoveries and methods have all but proven God’s existence too.
And atheists like Dawkins and Hawking are long past panic and into straight up denial.
Cherlylynne,
After encountering many atheists myself, it has become clear that there exist precious few reasons why they became atheists.
THE major reason for becoming Godless or agnostic is poor religious and history education.
Many atheists were taught some wacko version of Christianity as children and then went into a perpetual state of rebellion once they reached the age of reason (puberty).
Another factor is that the history of Western Civilization is not taught properly to undergrads and public school students.
Even back in the early 1970’s I was taught the history of Western Civilization minus the profound influence of the Catholic Church from the 5th century through to the Renaissance.
That’s like gutting a fish and expecting it to swim.
After studying Socrates, Plato and Aristotle in grad school I learned how to reason my way to faith.
The Christian faith is in fact quite reasonable.