As the saying goes, ‘it’s hard to find an atheist in a foxhole,’ but in peacetime they seem to be everywhere. God’s word clearly identifies atheists as ‘fools’ (Psalm 14:1), yet many of them claim to be the brightest and most educated of the bunch. When and where exactly, did this ideology of atheism gain traction? Is atheism merely ignorance or does it display a heart of rebellion? In this intriguing broadcast, Carl shares the four common objections used by atheists in their denial of God and why you need to be aware of them…
Here is a complete transcript of the podcast (below)…
Friend, Heywood Brown once said, “Nobody talks so constantly about God as those who insist that there is no God.” Today we will discuss one little word and that word is atheism. Now, Atheism has been defined as the dogmatic denial of the existence of God or more specifically a personal God. There’s a mindset today that Atheism is merely choosing not to believe in God or there’s no such thing as God because mankind has yet to provide any tangible evidence for His existence. Trouble is scripture makes it very clear in the Book of Romans that this mindset is actually a symptom of a rebellious heart because God has indeed revealed himself through two branches, namely His creation and our conscience, so that man is without excuse for acknowledging Almighty God’s existence.
I’m sure you’re familiar with this passage regarding God’s creation, but let me read it to you real quick. Romans 1:20 says “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: ” Who’s they? That’s us!…And that’s the tragedy concerning this atheistic business; because although people play ignorant to Gods existence, they’re in fact without excuse and in denial of Him. You cannot play the ignorance card with God friend because His creation bears witness to Him. When we see this splendorous creation all around us, according to God we are without excuse and guilty if we don’t acknowledge His handiwork.
And just as I’ve mentioned in previous broadcasts, our conscience bears witness to the existence of God also, whether we’re saved or not. Our conscience is an innate gift from God that we may ascertain between good and evil, and the choice is always ours. We have the final say as to which path we choose. . As the scripture says in Romans 2:15 says “Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness…” Friend, God’s law is written in our hearts, we know right from wrong, but as I’ve said previously, the conscience can become wounded, seared, or even callous if we’re not careful. If we continue in sin unabated, the unction of God’s spirit will diminish until we reach a dangerous place called reprobation and heaven forbid that anyone listening would ever get to that stage in life.
Now, the Greeks of course were lovers of wisdom and really promulgated this idea of atheism, i.e., there’s just a universe or cosmos and nothing more, which begs the question, where exactly did this universe come from? Scientists have postulated that in the beginning there was a big bang and according to the big-bang model, the universe expanded rapidly from a highly compressed primordial state, which resulted in a significant decrease in density and temperature…ok but that doesn’t explain how it started, why it started and who was there to observe this ‘bang’ in the first place. You see, scientists in general have become the new priesthood of the 21st century, espousing that only they are qualified to reveal truth based on empirical observation, and those of a religious disposition like us, remain in the dark, as to how our universe began. Listen, they can observe till the cows come home but entrance into God’s kingdom always has and always will be dependent upon faith not empiricism.
In fact, many scholarly and learned gentlemen who have performed heroic acts for their country, like Thomas Paine, still stubbornly refused to acknowledge the reality of God. Paine, who was a Brit and emigrated to America in 1787, had leaped from obscurity to fame after writing some brilliant pamphlets on freedom. But then he made a fatal mistake. He began to write his “masterpiece” called The Age of Reason which scoffed at Christianity. “This will destroy the Bible,” he predicted. “Within 100 years, Bibles will be found only in museums or in musty corners of second-hand bookstores.” His book was published in London in 1794. But it brought him so much misery and loneliness that he once said: “I would give worlds, if I had them, had The Age of Reason never been written.” Paine eventually became a bedridden invalid until he died, friendless and alone, in 1809. Much to Paine’s disdain, the Bible has remained a best-seller to this very day.
So, Atheists offer what they consider to be good and sufficient reasons for believing that no God exists. And here are the four most common objections used by atheists: (1) the fact that evil exists (2) the apparent purposelessness of life; (3) random occurrence in the universe; and (4) the First Law of Thermodynamics—i.e., that “energy can neither be created nor destroyed” is evidence the universe needs no Creator.
In response to this, I would like to address these objections one by one with you.
So, point number one is pertinent, because those who have a Christian worldview realize of course that a rogue Cherub named Lucifer is responsible for the entrance of evil into this world through his downfall. Lucifer fell from Grace, long before man did. In Isa 14 and Ezek 28, we learn that Lucifer rebelled against God (and by the way, you might not have heard this term Lucifer unless you have a copy of the King James Bible or New KING James, because his name cannot be found in any other translation), Anyway, this fallen angel sought to tempt man in the Garden of Eden, was successful and four curses were consequently invoked upon Gods creation including man, as a result of this satanic suggestion. Satan was cursed, man was cursed the woman was cursed and finally the earth was cursed…remember that?
Because of this tragic incident, we now experience evil and both death and sickness came into existence because of Adam’s original sin. Therefore, man is currently blinded not only to his terminal sinful condition, but to the existence of Satan his blinder. Sure, man can sense evil all around him but the cause of it remains hidden to him; do I have scripture for this? Yes… 2 Corinthians 4:4 says, “In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. “You see friend it is Satan, (formerly known as Lucifer in the Old Testament) who blinds men’s hearts from the truth of the Gospel.
Point number 2: The apparent purposeless of life…Well I hate to break it to the atheists but just because there seems to be no apparent purpose, doesn’t mean there isn’t. Think about it, how can the creation (that’s us) possibly know our purpose without checking in with the creator and finding out? Our creator God has designed each and every one of us for His good purpose and pleasure and we can only find fulfillment in this lifetime, when we make a connection with our creator. It’s often when we make this connection can we be creative ourselves. Calvin Coolidge once said: “It is hard to see how a great man can be an atheist. Doubters do not achieve. Skeptics do not contribute. Cynics do not create.”
Point number 3: random occurrence in the universe…Well like I’ve said, there is much random in this world because it is cursed. The four curses pronounced on the creation in Gen 3 means the world is prone to accidents, crisis, calamity, sickness, and a whole host of machinations.
Point number 4: the First Law of Thermodynamics—the very fact that there are numerous physical and spiritual laws in the universe points to a creator in opposition to random occurrence by happenstance. If I was to stumble across a Rolex watch in the middle of a field, I wouldn’t assume that the metal formulated itself and the cogs randomly came together over time. No, the intricacy of its design points to a designer just as innate laws point to a lawgiver. I remember my old sixth form teacher back in high school, Mr. Malone, I’ll never forget him, anyway he said to us that if you locked up twelve chimpanzees in a room, that over the course of one million years they would have written the complete works of William Shakespeare….wait, what?! are you kidding me, you will have a room full of poop if nothing else but evolutionists insist that given ‘vast expanses of time,’ anything is possible.
Friend, you may not realize but according to God’s word there is a 7-step descent into reprobation and one which we should all be aware of. I’m going to read for you this passage from Romans and please pay close attention to its content.
Romans 1:21–25 says “Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. 22 Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, 23 And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things 24 Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves: 25 Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshiped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed forever.”
Friend as we progressively deny the reality of God and glorify Him not, our hearts can become foolish and gravitate toward the denial of God’s existence. India and China in particular are prime examples of cultures prone to the idol worship of graven animal images but each nation has its own spiritual challenges, so I’m not pointing figures at the Far East. If we choose not to glorify God, our imaginations become darkened. In the nineteenth century Atheism found expression through a series of four great systems—Positivism, Secularism, Pessimism and Socialism. The doctrine of Evolution which was given scientific standing by Darwin’s Origin of Species in (1859), became almost at once the prime support and stay of the atheistic propaganda at the time and still does today.
In every department of thought “evolution” is supposed to account for everything, while itself needing no accounting for…why? Because it’s a theory not fact and requires faith to believe in its tenets. Men like Feuerbach, Strauss, Flourens, Duehring, Vogt, Buechner, Haeckel, and Nietzsche, united in the 19th century in a common proclamation of dogmatic Atheism; and probably in no period since the advent of Christianity has Atheism been proclaimed with more confidence or accepted more widely than during this time period. These men laid the foundations of secularism, which is the mainstay for the vast majority of Universities and colleges in our nation today and all the while its atheistic foundation namely evolution, has never once been proven yet and never will.
You see Atheism does not provide an adequate answer as to why anything exists when it is not necessary for anything at all to exist. They claim to be rational, but why choose to be rational in a random universe, it makes no sense? Nonexistence of everything in the world is possible, yet the world does exist. Why? If there is no cause for its existence, there is no reason why the world exists in the first place. And what about morality? Atheists can believe in morality, but they cannot justify this belief. Why should anyone be good unless there is a Definer of goodness who holds people accountable? Its one thing to say that hate, racism, genocide, and rape are wrong. But if there’s no ultimate standard of morality then how can these things be wrong? My point is, a moral prescription implies a Moral Prescriber.
And finally, if atheism is ‘true,’ that truth implies there’s such a thing as objective truth. Most atheists do not believe that atheism is true only for them. But if atheism is true, there must be a basis for objective truth right? Truth is a characteristic of our mind, and objective truth implies an objective Mind beyond our finite minds; who defined that truth to begin with and placed it within our very being.
In closing, friend the truth is those who hold to atheism are in fact in denial and exhibiting a form of rebellion. God’s word makes it clear that His majestic creation and gift of conscience bear witness to His very existence and atheists are without excuse, no matter how much they protest their ignorance. If you have an atheist acquaintance right now, don’t try to debate science or philosophy, with them all day long, but instead tell them how much the Lord loves them, share testimonies of God’s goodness with them by sharing the gospel. This will shine light into their hearts and evoke a response from them as your concern for them is genuine. I’ve had many debates with people down the years but a man convinced against His will is divided still. Often these debates are fruitless and people’s emotions get stirred as they defend their position. Instead, Share God’s word and let your light shine before men. ‘
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