Tuesday, May 12, 2020

The natural result of atheism

Although it is thought that atheists make up only about 3 percent of the American population, they get a lot of press. They are invited to speak on college campuses while conservative Christian speakers are often shut out due to student and faculty protests. Some atheists such as Richard Dawkins write best-selling books to spread their message to the masses. They demand tolerance for their views while refusing to extend that same tolerance to any perspective, especially a Christian one, that is opposite their opinion. I find true atheists rather interesting people.

First, I do not understand why they try so hard to convince themselves and others that God does not exist. I don't believe the Easter bunny exists, but I don't write books about it or travel the world debating those who do believe in the Easter bunny. The same with Santa Claus. If you are convinced that something, or Someone, doesn't exist, why spend so much time and effort to prove it, unless you need to prove it to yourself.

A university professor once wrote, "I want atheism to be true and am made uneasy by the fact that some of the most intelligent and well-informed people I know are religious believers. It isn't just that I don't believe in God and, naturally, hope there is no God! I don't want there to be a God; I don't want the universe to be like that."

I wonder how much of the strong denunciations atheists make against the existence of God is to try to convince themselves that they are right. Without God, we are free to live as we choose, make the moral choices we want to make without fear that we will face any type of judgment for those choices. But, if God does exist and what we read in the Scriptures is true, then all of our choices in life will come under judgment.

The second thing I don't understand about atheists is how they fail to see that their message is destructive to the welfare of those who hold to it. The atheist Nietzsche was honest enough to admit that when God is eliminated so is any moral standard by which man ought to live. That does not mean that atheists cannot live a moral life. Many do, but they are under no obligation to do so based upon their worldview.

Ravi Zacharias has written, "What we have actually done is smuggle in foundational strengths of Christian thought, buried far below the surface to maintain some stability, while above the ground we see humanism's bizarre experiments growing unchecked. If we truly put into practice the same principles below the ground that we flaunt above the ground, we would completely self-destruct."

We cannot live this double life forever. We cannot expect people to live according to biblical values while rejecting the One who gave us those values. Again, Nietzsche recognized this and predicted that the time would come when people would realize that rejecting God would bring the advent of nihilism. We see that occurring today. When life becomes meaningless morality, ethics, respect and decency disappears from society to be replaced by chaos and darkness.

The worldview held by atheists brings nothing but pain and destruction to society. If there is no God, then there is no moral standard and no meaning to life. Why not abuse drugs, alcohol, engage in sexual activities with whomever you choose, abandon any effort to conduct your life and business ethically and morally, lie, cheat, steal and do whatever you need to do to experience pleasure and success. After all, when you die, you're dead. What the atheist fails to understand is that he or she is also affected by the impact of this mindset, and so are their children and grandchildren.

In Deuteronomy 30: 19, God says, "I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live." In the context of that verse, God makes it clear that those who choose Him chooses life, and those who reject Him chooses death. Notice the last part of the verse: so you AND your descendants may live. Why would anyone not want to choose life?

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