A Thought on not Discounting Atheists for not Believing
Atheism is a belief system that denies the existence of the divine in someone’s life or world experience, as well as the universe. Prominent atheists include Richard Dawkins (though he says he is a cultural Christian), Aron Ra, Alex O’Conner, et al.
This line of thinking leads many Christians to assume these people have no morals to offer the world, that they harbor resentment toward religion, and that they feel that profound immaterial experiences mean nothing, as everything can be reduced to the natural world and its laws.
Yet, the truth is far more complex than reducing everything to a caricature of what you think atheism represents.
Some atheists have absolutely no problem with religious beliefs. They simply see no evidence for the God of the Bible, or for any other gods. But they’ll tell you: “You are free to have your beliefs.”
I’m personally not a fan of organized religion, and believe you can meet with the divine in your living room (near where I’m currently writing this) or on top of Mt. Kilimanjaro.
That’s the funny thing about atheists who are respectful toward us believers. They tolerate our belief in the divine much more than (sadly) some Christians treat them.
Look.
One of the most famous verses in the Bible says an ever-permeating truth in our reality when we accept spiritual forces. Considering atheists foolish is written right here in two places in the Scriptures. One of them better makes the point I will offer you in the next paragraph.
“The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God.’ They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds; there is none who does good” (Psalm 14:1 [ESV]).
Psalm 14 (and Psalm 53) do not say what we typically ascribe to them. The person who does not believe in God may be quite intelligent when it comes to an IQ score or in certain fields. The context of this verse is more about wickedness and moral failing than anything about how smart someone is. These are paired with actions that make someone a fool.
An atheist might help someone at the store with their groceries, or even feed a homeless man on the median. They may have excellent interpersonal skills and make the room brighter when they are present. But according to this verse, if they do not respect God’s ultimate sovereignty to judge the living and the dead, they are fools.
Meaning wicked men who steal because, “Hey, God’s not looking. He probably doesn’t even exist.”
This type of verse refers to perverse, wicked people, those who commit their actions because they live in such a way that there is no grand moral code in this universe in their frame of mind. The pedophiles who harm children because of their evil hearts, those who kill others, or even those who torture people for the fun of it. People who gossip about others to diminish their character and feel higher because they have nothing going on in their own life (when the Bible says killing a man’s reputation in such a way amounts to murder in a metaphorical sense).
Truly wicked individuals are not on a quest for truth, nor are they wondering if God exists. Most atheists I’ve come across fall more into this camp of thought than being outright wicked. If they had some sort of evidence of God’s existence, they’d follow Him. That’s not wicked so much as curious.
Atheists often point to Christian denial of science to paint the Christian faith as some sort of crutch or outdated belief system. But not all Christians deny science. We understand how the mountains were formed, and if evolution occurred in the natural world, then God had to be the one guiding it. Atheists are correct in saying Christians get hung up on red in tooth and claw, because it shows the natural world is not as good as God claimed it was in the beginning.
To which most Christians respond with the fall of Adam and Eve and the curse on creation. But that curse was human death and the world being even wilder, not that the world wasn’t already that way to begin with. Eden was a paradise, not necessarily the rest of the world.
Remember, Yahweh controls such objects as supermassive black holes, and gamma-ray bursts are a taste of His power.
Why wouldn’t He create a world where dinosaurs once ruled? He’s an infinitely powerful being, and lions won’t be eating plants until Jesus is present on Earth.
To say that science and faith are at odds is intellectually dishonest for both sides of the issue.
We like to paint our pictures. We love to set up our straw men to shred them.
But how about we try to understand the other side a bit more?
My personal take is that Bible prophecy is a real thing, and the odds of Jesus fulfilling even three prophecies are in the domain of scientific notation with how many zeros you must place in the odds.
While I don’t believe Daniel 8 and 11 are about ancient history, the Book of Daniel shows the Messiah coming exactly when Jesus did and the destruction of the Temple in 70 A.D., even if you date it super late.
There is no getting around this.
Study the prophecies in Psalm 22, Isaiah 53, Isaiah 9:6, and other passages such as Zechariah 12:10.
There is now a giant megacity being constructed exactly where the Bible says one will be located as the largest city ever that will one day align with the Antichrist. That is the weirdest coincidence ever, or the Bible is true. Based on the rest of Bible prophecy (not necessarily end-times verses) I don’t believe in coincidences when it comes to these subjects.
Prophecy proves that God (Yahweh Elohim) is outside of time and space, able to see the end of the age from the beginning of the world 4.5 billion years ago.
I believe that if more atheists studied prophecy, they would understand the supernatural aspects of this world.
But are they outright fools in the manner of the previously cited verse? Not necessarily. At least, not in the way most Christians take that verse.
No matter how you view the world, everything on this planet is far too perfect and dependent on other aspects of the world to not be divine in origin. When leaves fall and fertilize my lawn as they break down, it is by design.
When the bodies of dead animals break down and return to the planet, it leads to more life further along the timeline.
The world harbors life, and even death is a part of this natural cycle.
Eventually, when Jesus sets up the eternal cosmos, there will be no more death, because the former things will have passed away.
If these things are former, then that would mean the universe was designed like this to begin with.
The common atheist argument against a good God is funny to me, because without some of these things in our world, we would cease to be. Even hurricanes and earthquakes make life possible on Earth.
A being that can make superstructures like galactic filaments would certainly know the science behind keeping a planet up.
Most atheists, if they’re honest, are agnostic and say they don’t know.
These people, as long as they live morally and don’t hurt others, will be raised back to life at the Second Resurrection. If their good works outweigh their negative works, then they will remain in God’s Book of Life and be allowed entry into the last state, not being destroyed in the Lake of Fire like some unrepentant murderers and others who are unsavory and never repented (even before the Judge of All Mankind after they are raised).
My personal take is that it is foolish to look at this universe and not believe in a Creator. Have you ever seen a ring galaxy? Why does Orion have a sword and a bow, and even a dog that follows him? Why does my small dog seem to possess qualities that go beyond being sentient (not quite sapient, but still)?
Don’t discount atheists as purely foolish. Some are on a quest for truth, and many find the man in history known as the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Sometimes it takes a little time.
Blessings and shalom as you journey on your quest!
Shabbat shalom!
