This article is a repost of a past article that generated by far the most interest of any other article I have written. So I thought it might be good to run it again.
Atheists in recent years have become increasingly evangelistic; that is to say, they seek to win others to their point of view as they never have before. Atheists appeal to reason because they think it displaces faith; they think the two are mutually exclusive. The truth is both exist within everyone.
The question is not whether reason supplants faith; the question we should be asking is your faith reasonable, because everyone has a belief system that cannot be proven.
Tim Keller is smarter and more articulate than I, but he said the same thing; “Everyone lives by a set of beliefs that cannot be empirically proven.”
The person who believes God does not exist believes something he cannot prove, just as the Christian, in a strict scientific sense, believes in something he cannot prove. That levels the playing field.
An atheist wrote that “atheists do not believe in believing,” but that is not honest and ignores the truth. They believe there is no God or an afterlife, but cannot disprove either, all they can say about such things are what they believe, because they have no proof. The atheist does “believe in believing.”
The difference between the Christian and the atheist is the Christian is honest about what he believes. “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen,” Hebrews 11:1. Faith is believing in things that cannot be “seen.” An atheist believes in things that cannot be seen also, he merely attempts to cloak what he believes in reason.
Ravi Zacharias has said, “God has provided enough evidence to make it reasonable to believe Him; yet has left enough out that we cannot come to Him by reason alone; we must come by faith.”
There is enough observable design in the natural realm to deduce an intelligent designer, but He has designed things in such a way that it still requires faith, a trust in His Word, to know Him. And if one is unwilling to even admit He exists, how can that one expect to know Him.
The fact that God exists is innate. Paul speaking of unbelievers declares, “that which is known about God is evident within them,” Romans 1:19. Atheism is not so much a denial of God’s existence as it is an expression of their frustration that God does not act in a way that they think He should.
They would serve God if they could do so in an advisory capacity, but they refuse to yield to a God they believe is unjust and fail to consider their judgment is imperfect or impaired.
C. S. Lewis said, “I believe in Christianity as I believe the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.” That statement for one who believes has the ring of reason.
Leave a Reply