Richard Dawkins said "The kindly God who lovingly fashioned each and every one of us and sprinkled the sky with shining stars for our delight -- that God is, like Santa Claus, a myth of childhood, not anything [that] a sane, undeluded adult could literally believe in. That God must either be turned into a symbol for something less concrete or abandoned altogether."
The atheistic community prides itself on logic and reason, holding those who embrace a belief in God to be weak, ignorant, unintelligent, and misleading to individuals. I have heard it said concerning the evidence for or against the existence of God that “what you start off believing, the evidence for it you will find.” Both theists and atheists bring presuppositions to the evidence pertaining to this question; both sides have at their disposal the same data, yet arrive at completely different conclusions. What can we make of this? Maybe both sides are true? This is impossible, two fundamentally opposed stances cannot both be true at the same time, either one is true and the other false, or both are false. This is the law of noncontradiction. It is not possible that something be both true and not true at the same time and in the same context. We find however, in researching this question, an enormous amount of information in favor of God’s existence. While this reality is encouraging, the most important evidence we have is contained in the Word of God.
It’s interesting, the Bible itself assumes the existence of God, never arguing for it, as the Book of Genesis says: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” We find, however, within the scriptures, the revelation that God indeed does exist and that He has revealed Himself to us in His Word and through His son, Jesus Christ.
The true battle for the existence of God is not found within the “facts,” but rather, within the heart. We can provide all the evidence in the world for God’s existence, but ultimately, the rejection of God rests in the work of Satan and the fallen, rebellious nature of man. Just as the Jews and Romans witnessed firsthand the miracles of Christ, culminating in His nature defying resurrection, so too does man reject God and His message of salvation through Christ today.
We find in 1 Corinthians a picture of this reality, and the ultimate futility of man’s fallaciously placed logic and reason:
“For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written ‘I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.’ Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has God not made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom. But we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.”
We, as God’s creation have at our disposal true logic and true wisdom, and where evidence falls short, the word of God has the power to transform and open the darkened hearts and minds of mankind; “For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.”
First, you are such a great writer and I really enjoy reading all your posts.
ReplyDeleteI love the verse you put up there: "For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God." Experiencing His power changes EVERYTHING but to those who don't know it, it all seems as you said, foolish.
Like you said, atheists pride themselves on logic and since God works in miracles and is capable of doing things we cannot even fathom it does not follow logic at all. They say you have to walk by faith and not by sight. It seems to me that the best evidence comes from having a relationship with Him because that is when His power and love become clearly evident to someone. Most things in life follow logic but because God can do supernatural miraculous things, having faith simply does not follow logic. So how do you approach a non-believer who is arguing off logic if they have never experienced the power of God? We have "true logic and true wisdom" from the word of God as you said, but how do you show this logic to someone who has already made up their mind that following logic, God simply cannot exist? I hope none of this is way off topic....just all my thoughts that came up :)
Thanks for the comments and question Landon! It is indeed hard to know how to talk with an individual who rejects the possibility of God’s existence based on the perceived illogical nature of such a belief. First and foremost, we as Christians ultimately do believe in the super natural, as you mentioned. The events recorded in Scripture, the feeding of the 5,000, the turning of water into wine, and the resurrection of Jesus, to name a few, are all things which are done outside the typical operations of natural law. While we know as Christians that since God is the ultimate author of all natural laws, that He can intercede and manipulate them at His will. But for the atheist, and more accurately the atheistic naturalist, “miracles” are simply impossible. For the atheistic naturalist the “cosmos is all there is, or ever was, or ever will be.” From this view, atheists will completely reject the accounts recorded in Scripture due to the very fact that they deny the miraculous events could have ever taken place. While these realities are indeed discouraging, we do have at our disposal as Christians an enormous amount of evidence in favor of God’s existence, and most importantly the reality of the events recorded in Scripture, and the ultimate trustworthiness of the Bible. I think that the biggest “issues” to bring to the table when discussing the existence or nonexistence of God are God as creator and the historical validity and trustworthiness of the Scriptures. In attempting to answer objections to these questions, we as Christians must study and comprehend what it is we believe, why we believe it. From this, the study of apologetics is of most importance in my opinion. Sadly, most atheists I know have more knowledge about Christianity than many Christians do! Yet at the same time, even those who do have an intimate understanding of their faith, and an ability to defend it, will sometimes hit a wall when talking with a staunch atheist. I have found, and know from my days as an atheist myself, that for most, all the evidence in the world in favor of God’s existence will not change their minds, as they are already decided. Here we can share how God has changed our lives, presenting our personal testimony of God’s power and love. Most importantly, we must pray for those who don’t know Him, acknowledging that it is ultimately the Holy Spirit who creates faith and can break through a hardened heart. In the end, I believe that we should follow the dictate of 1 Peter 3:15, to “always be prepared to give an answer (defense) to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect.”
ReplyDeleteAny other thoughts on how you would present your faith to someone who denies the existence of God based upon “reason?”
Thanks,
Evan
You're smart. I'll just people here if they have a theological question on my blog, which isn't likely, as it's about things like weddings and what exactly a muffin top is. Keep up the great writing!
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