Those who do not believe

 I am currently reading another book that looks at the thinking of atheists. The author has debated a number of the so-called New Atheists and has studied their books and their thinking for some time. It is an interesting look at their thinking and their absolute refusal to accept the concept of God despite the overwhelming evidence for His existence.

For the past few years I have been very interested in apologetics and have read quite a bit in that field. In that reading, there are many references to the thinking and arguments presented by atheists. Their circular reasoning makes it almost impossible to believe that they actually believe what they claim to believe, and their lack of logically thinking is astounding. Many of these are scientists from various fields who seem to hold philosophy in contempt. They continue to make statements that are self-defeating, contradictory, and circular. They seem unable to see that their beliefs would lead to a world that would be chaotic and could not last.

Take just one argument that is sometimes the topic for debates between atheists and theists. Does objective morality exist? The theist believes that because God exists, objective morality exists. There is a standard of right and wrong that is not subject to vote or to personal beliefs. The atheist, believing there is no God, also does not believe that any objective morality exists. Each person decides his or her own moral code. Some believe that culture determines right and wrong. But, whose culture? As the writer of this book asked in one debate, are you talking about the culture of the Nazis or the culture of Mother Theresa? Are you talking about a culture that cherishes it's babies or one that sacrifices their babies to their god? Such a belief in subjective morality would lead to chaos and would lead to the destruction of our society.

Why do they not see that? These are brilliant individuals, but they appear to be blind to their refusal to see what countless millions have seen over thousands of years. There is a God who desires to be known and worshiped. Why can they not see the many prophecies foretold in the Bible that have come to pass? Why can't they accept the archeological evidences that demonstrate the truth of the Bible? 

Perhaps their reason is financial. Some of these individuals have made a great deal of money from their books and the speaking opportunities these books have provided. It's pretty hard to sing a different tune when the one you've been singing has made you wealthy.

Some atheists refuse to accept any concept of God because to do would force a change in their moral behavior. The well-known atheist Aldous Huxley once said, "I have motives for not wanting the world to have meaning, and consequently assumed it had none, and was able without any difficulty to find satisfying reasons for this assumption...For myself, as no doubt for most of my friends, the philosophy of meaningless was essentially an instrument of liberation from a certain system of morality. We objected to the morality because it interfered with our sexual freedom."

Others might refuse to believe in God because they believe that the arguments for God are weak and lack scientific credibility. This is a common complaint from many atheists. But, what about the credible scientists in many fields who do believe in God and point to science as the foundation of their belief? How do they ignore their colleagues who profess a strong faith in God?

In the 17th century Blaise Pascal argued that if Christianity has a 50 percent chance of being true then it would be rational for a person to live a Christian life. This has become known as Pascal's Wager. I believe the evidence is much stronger than 50 percent that there is a God Who has revealed Himself in Scripture, and faith in Jesus Christ is the way to know this God. I struggle to understand how anyone can look at the evidences with an open mind and not come to the same conclusion.

The faith that is required to be an atheist

 I don't usually do this, but I have to promote a book I recently promoted:  I Don't Have Enough Faith to be an Atheist. When I wrote about it before I was only on the first chapter, but it was so good I had to encourage you to read it. I'm now half-way through the book, and it keeps getting better. It is the best book on apologetics I have read, and I have a number of them in my shelf.

Books on apologetics are sometimes written for academics and can be difficult for the average person to follow. This book is not like that. It's not a simple, quick read, but it is highly readable. The authors, Norman Geisler and Frank Turek, have written a book that is readable for almost any person. Both are highly respected Christian philosophers who have debated numerous atheists during their careers. The arguments they present in this book are sound and will help anyone defend their faith against the most strident nonbeliever. They also will help answer any questions Christians may have about their faith.

The chapter I am currently reading is discussing miracles. They are specifically addressing David Humes' arguments against the possibility of miracles. With simple logic they are able to shoot holes in his argument and prove the existence of miracles and how those miracles point to the existence of God.

Throughout the book they correctly point out that the arguments nonbelievers have against the existence of God is not based on sound reasoning or logic but on the determination to discount His existence so they can live their lives without any moral restraints. They have to reject all the obvious evidence that God does exist in order to hold on to their belief (hope?) that He does not. There will come a time when they will realize how wrong they were. Of course, the saddest part of their of their refusal to believe in the existence of God will be the multitudes of people they were able to convince their worldview was right.

I plan to do a series of messages in 2025 that will speak to the evidences of the existence of God. This book will be one of my resources for these messages. I wish I had read this book earlier in my ministry, but I'm thankful I found it now. I will say again, I cannot recommend this book more highly.

Do atheists have doubts?

I have just finished reading Surprised by Doubt by Joshua Chatraw and Jack Carson as part of my morning devotions. It is a very good, honest look at how most Christians will struggle with doubts at some time in their lives. The authors draw a lot from the writings of C. S. Lewis and their own experiences of struggling at times to understand God and what He was doing in their lives. Probably most of us have had times in our Christian lives when we thought that "this isn't what I thought being a Christian would be like." At times like those is when doubts can begin to creep in. Certainly, I've had such times in my own life, and I appreciated how the authors addressed those doubts and offered practices to help overcome them.

From that book I began reading Why God Makes Sense in a World that Doesn't by Gavin Ortlund. I'm still in the early pages, but as the author addresses some of the beliefs of the New Atheists the question came to mind as to whether atheists ever doubt their atheism? Over the years I have read a number of apologetical books that do an excellent job of defending Christian beliefs against those offered by atheists. I am not of a philosophical mind so I am amazed at easily these Christian writers tear apart the alternative theories proposed by the New Atheists such as Dawkins, Krauss, Harris and others. I'm also amazed at how shallow those theories are especially as they are being offered by persons with such high academic standing.

So the question came to me: do these individuals ever begin to question that perhaps they are wrong, that God does exist and is the creator of all the universe? With so much evidence to disprove their points, how could they not have doubts? Perhaps they cannot afford to have doubts. After all, their books are selling well, and that would change if they decided that they were wrong and became Christians. Of course, Jesus challenged that way of thinking when He said, "For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? (Mt. 16: 26)"

Psalm 111: 10 tells us "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom." Being atheists I would assume they have no fear of God, but how can anyone push any possibility of the existence of God out of their minds? Paschal's Wager is that if there is even a 51% possibility that God exists a person would be a fool to reject Him. While the arguments for God cannot absolutely prove the existence of God, they certainly take us well beyond the 51% threshold.

Yes, Christians can have times of doubt in their lives, but most of us will not let those doubts take us away from belief in God. We use those times to grow in our faith and find Christ to be even more real. And, yes atheists can have doubts as well, and sometimes those doubts lead them to faith in Jesus Christ. Among some notable atheists who came to believe in God are Antony Flew, Alister McGrath, Francis Collins and many more.

When you are talking to someone who expresses the belief that there is no God, do not give up on that person. He or she may be struggling with doubts you do not know. If not then, perhaps later. Keep praying for those individuals, keep sharing your faith as opportunities present themselves, and keep believing that God will break through their doubts and lead them to see that Christianity is true.

Can we have morality without God?

Philosophers have long tried to insist that man can be a moral creature without a belief in the existence of God. As our society grows more secular today this claim is heard even more frequently. Many would point to the work of Immanuel Kant as the godfather of this worldview. Kant taught that the rules of morality were rational  and evident to people apart from any belief in God. He further believed that people not only had the ability to know right from wrong but also had the ability within themselves to choose to do what is right. Obviously, there are some problems with this philosophy.

One, watch any news program and you will readily see that many people do not appear to have the ability to know right from wrong nor the ability to choose to do what is right. Our world is overwhelmed with violence, chaos, greed, hatred, abuse, addictions, and far more problems than can be listed here. Without a Moral Lawgiver there is no universal standard of right and wrong, and without such a standard there is bound to be everything described above as each person does what seems right in his or her own eyes.

A second problem arises when the person who insists there is no moral standard given to us by God but then complains when someone does something they believe is wrong. If God does not exist, and there is no objective moral standard, then who is to say that anything is right or wrong? What is the basis for such judgment? Without such a standard then there is no compelling reason why a person cannot do anything he or she pleases. 

What we often find is that nearly every person will eventually admit to certain behaviors as immoral, but then they struggle to explain why those actions are immoral. The reason they struggle with their explanations is they are using biblical standards of right and wrong and doing so while still trying to deny the existence of God. It is here that the hypocrisy exists.

The late apologist Ravi Zacharias frequently wrote about this dilemma faced by those who claim that man can be moral without God. In his book Can Man Live Without God he wrote, "Let me say forthrightly that what we have actually done is to 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 place the same principles below the ground that we flaunt above the ground, we would completely self-destruct."

Our culture wants to deny the existence of God, claim that mankind is free to create its moral code of conduct without an objective moral standard, free people to live according to their conscience, but then revert back to a biblical foundation of morality when needed. They cannot have it both ways.

The failure of atheism

 Many would point to Frederick Nietzsche as the philosopher who has had the greatest impact on atheism today. In a very powerful book I'm currently re-reading, Can Man Live Without God by Ravi Zacharias, the author points out the fallacy of Nietzsche's claims about the positive attributes of atheism.

Nietzsche taught that Christianity denied human progress because of its teachings on morality, repentance and humility. He believed that a civilization of power could not be built on such teachings and therefore Christianity, and the belief in God, had to be destroyed. One who bought into his philosophy was Hitler who tried to create a world without God and plunged the world into a horrible war.

Zacharias points out that the reality of Nietzsche's philosophy "is, under close examination...philosophically incoherent, morally bankrupt, and unable to logically or existentially support civilization...We do not see the promised greatness or harmony. Instead we are trapped in a world of violence, discord, emptiness, alienation, and racial hatred. But having become masters of deceit and able manipulators of reality, we have also become deaf to the truth."

Does this not sound like what is happening today in our world? Violence, discord, emptiness, alienation and racial hatred make up the news stories every evening. We have removed God from the public square. We have rejected the very teachings Nietzsche said was preventing society from moving forward, and the result is chaos, confusion and division.

Atheism is a failed philosophy, but it is quickly becoming the dominant worldview of many within our nation. We have seen the results of this belief system played out in such countries as the Soviet Union, China, North Korea, and other nations, and yet it is proclaimed in the media, on university campuses and in a growing number of our political leaders as the best hope for mankind.

The church must boldly proclaim the truth of God's Word and challenge atheism wherever it is taught. We must know what we believe and why we believe it. We must pass our faith on to our children and grandchildren. As someone has said, we are only one generation away from losing Christianity. We must be able to defend our beliefs and faith to those who would question it.

It's important to remember that Jesus promised that the church would withstand every attack made against it. Our battle against atheism is not a battle against flesh and blood but against the powers of darkness. It is a spiritual battle that we will win but only if we are willing to stand firm on the beliefs we claim we hold.

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?

2018 Top Reads 1-5

Yesterday I shared five of the best books I read in 2018. In that post I covered books 6-10. Today I will give you my top five reads.

5. Hidden Worldviews: Eight Cultural Stories That Shape Our Lives by Steve Wilkens and Mark L. Sanford.  All people have a worldview that impacts the way they live their lives, that shape the values and beliefs they have, and even impact the way we spend our money. However, many worldviews are not promoted by religious beliefs but are shaped by the culture in which we live. Because they come through culture we give little thought to them and probably don't even realize they are a worldview. This book looks at eight of these worldviews and explains how we come about following them and the problems that can occur if we continue to follow them. This book will cause you to look at the worldviews that shape your life, and it will preach!

4. Breaking The News: How the Media Undermine American Democracy by James Fallows.  This is not a new book; it was first published in 1996. Some of its stories are dated, but this doesn't make them less true nor does it mean that the book is not as relevant as it was when first written. For instance, the author explains why many Americans mistrusts the news media. Sound familiar? He also discusses how the media does not report the news, they make the news. They have the power to ignore the stories they do not want to report which means for many Americans those events never happened. They have the power to twist stories to suit their political views. One of the remarkable things I found when reading the book was how virtually every political analyst and prominent columnist declared Bill Clinton's run for the presidency was dead after various controversies occurred during that race. In many cases, it was the same people who were certain that Donald Trump's campaign was doomed and he had no chance of being elected. And they are still working and earning big paychecks. Reading this book will impact the way you watch the news.

3. There Is a God: How the World's Most Notorious Atheist Changed His Mind by Antony Flew.  For over 50 years the author was a committed atheist and philosopher professor who wrote over thirty books, many of which promoted his arguments against the existence of God. However, he always worked by the philosophy that he would follow the argument wherever it lead. In 2004 he shocked the world by announcing that he now believed in the existence of God. The atheist world was stunned that they had lost one of their leading defenders of atheism. In this book he explains the four lines of evidence that convinced him that there is a God. It is a fascinating read.

2. Love Your God with All Your Mind: The Role of Reason in the Life of the Soul by J. P. Moreland. The author is one of the leading Christian philosophers in America today, and I've tried to read one of his books each year for the past several years. One of the criticisms of Christians is that many have not thought deeply about what they believe, and as a result their faith has remained shallow. Some in the church world have actually promoted an anti-intellectualism mindset. How this squares with the biblical mandate to make disciples is not clear to me as part of discipleship is having a good understanding of what we believe. As a result of this mindset many have lost the ability to think as Christians about the issues facing our world today. Moreland challenges us to use our minds, our ability to reason and logic to grow individually as Christians and to better evangelize, worship and defend our faith. I found this book to be an excellent resource as one can tell from all the markings in it.

1. Last Call for Liberty: How America's Genius for Freedom Has Become Its Greatest Threat by Os Guinness.  I consider this to be one of the most important books I've ever read and one that should be required reading for every high school student. It would be a great text book for a civics class, but of course that is no longer taught in our schools anymore. The author points out that how one defines freedom is critical. In the past freedom included accountability and responsibility for one another. Today, many define freedom as the right to do whatever they want without regards for anyone else. As the author explains, such an understanding of freedom will result in "the destruction of freedom in the name of freedom." Guinness makes it clear that our freedoms came from a Jewish and Christian understanding of covenant and creation, and the solution out of our present crisis is to return to the values that come from that understanding. This is a powerful book filled with insights every American needs to understand.

2018 Top Reads 6-10

Each year many bloggers post their favorite books for the year. I've done this myself for the past few years. Out of 45 books I read this year this is my top 10 books for 2018. Today I'll list 6-10, and tomorrow we'll mention 1-5.

Since retiring from active ministry my reading has changed somewhat. For instance, I read fewer books on pastoral ministry since I'm not serving in that role now. I tend to concentrate more on theology, philosophy, apologetics, and how our world is being impacted by various worldviews. You'll see this in the lists. As an act of editorial transparency, if you click on one of these books and purchase it through Amazon.com I will receive a small referral fee. Believe me, it's very small, but I wanted to be upfront with my readers!

10. Irresistible: The Rise of Addictive Technology and the Business of Keeping Us Hooked by Adam Alter. We all know how addictive technology can be with many of us checking our emails, Facebook and other media accounts so often it affects our productivity. The author points to studies that demonstrates that the average human had an attention span of 8 seconds in 2013. BTW - A goldfish has an attention span of 9 seconds. Problems associated with technology led Steve Jobs to not allow his children to use an iPad, and many other tech giants had similar rules in their homes. Why? Because they understood how addictive technology and social media can be. This fascinating book could be helpful to anyone in ministry for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is when we are helping someone with addictions associated with technology. One clinical psychologist told the author "Every single person I work with has at least one behavioral addiction." Chances are there are people in your church, or family, with the same problems.

9. Your Best Year Ever: A 5-Step Plan for Achieving Your Most Important Goals by Michael Hyatt.  Numerous studies have shown that setting goals is critical to achieving success in any endeavor. Many years ago I followed a goal setting plan that allowed me to achieve more than I would have thought possible. If you do not have a goal setting program that works for you, this book will provide you with one. Did you know that merely by writing your goals boosted achievement by 42 percent? If you had read this book you would have known that. Now is the time to be setting your goals for 2019 and beyond which means now is a great time to follow the advice presented in this book.

8. Not God Enough: Why Your Small God Leads to Big Problems by J. D. Greear.  Many of us, and many churches, like a small God who we believe we can control and predict. The problem is conceiving God in this way holds us back from experiencing the true God who wants to do marvelous things in our lives. One of my favorite chapters in the book discussed the burning bush encountered by Moses in the wilderness. While we don't know much about how Moses perceived God prior to that experience, we know what happened afterwards! Moses went on to do far more than he ever thought possible. The author points out several things that can burning bushes in our lives. I identified with some of them, and I guess you will, too.

7. Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland by Christopher R. Browning.  This is a troubling book that I could not put down. It tells the story of ordinary men who made up the Reserve Police Battalion 101 of the German Order Police in 1942. These men were responsible for mass shootings of Jewish people and rounding them up for shipment to Nazi death camps. The first time they were ordered to murder innocent people, many in the unit refused. As time went on three different groups emerged. One was a core of eager killers who enjoyed hunting down their victims, a second group who carried out their orders, and a third group who continued to refuse to carry out the killings. The meticulous research of this book followed many of the men in this unit. One of the reasons this book was so troubling was that it described how far down ordinary people can fall. Which of the three groups would any of us find ourselves? Until we face the pressures these men experienced I'm not sure we can honestly answer that question.

6. The Devil's Delusion: Atheism and its Scientific Pretensions by David Berlinski.  This is a book I read a few years ago and decided it was time to reread it. One of the things that makes this book interesting is that the author identifies as a secular Jew who admits his religious training did not take. Most of his life has been committed to teaching and writing books about mathematics and the sciences, but here he takes on the New Atheists such as Richard Dawkins and Sam Harris. With biting humor and a brilliant mind he defends religious thought and attacks the idea that science disproves the existence of God. As he writes, "Confident assertions by scientists that in the privacy of their chambers they have demonstrated that God does not exist have nothing to do with science, and even less to do with God's existence." For me, this is a must read book for pastors and anyone who wants to better defend their faith against the attacks being made today against Christianity.

Tomorrow I'll share my favorite top five books that I read in 2018.

Abandoning the faith

A few weeks ago I shared that I had began re-reading some of the older books in my library as part of my devotional reading. This week I began reading Life Looks Up by Charles B. Templeton. Written in 1955 it is as current as today as it describes many of the issues facing mankind. What makes this book even more interesting is that just two years after its publication Templeton walked away from the Christian faith and declared himself to be agnostic.

He had began his ministry as an evangelist a decade earlier and became good friends with Billy Graham. Some believed that Templeton would have an even greater impact for the Kingdom of God than Graham, but after serving as an evangelist for a decade he left it all.

I do not know all the details behind his decision. I'm sure it's been written about elsewhere, but I really haven't probed into it. It does appear that one primary factor was that he decided he could not longer believe the Bible. He described in his last book a conversation he had with Billy Graham after he abandoned the faith. He insisted to Graham that no one could honestly believe the creation story in the Bible. I suppose once he made that determination it followed that he would question everything else written in the Scriptures.

Graham responded that although he certainly could not explain everything in the Scriptures, including the creation story, that he had chosen to believe them as the written Word of God. Of course, that belief in the Bible is what made his preaching so powerful and anointed.

When one begins to doubt the truth of God's Word it becomes easy to question everything about the Christian faith. There is a reason the enemy has fought throughout the ages to keep the Scriptures away from people. When that failed his next strategy was to get people to doubt them. "Has God said..." was his approach in the Garden of Eden and continues to be one of his most effective methods of keeping people from a relationship with God through Jesus Christ.

It is critical that we settle in our minds once and for all what we believe about the Bible. If it is nothing more than the writings of men trying to explain their sense of a deity then we are free to believe whatever we want. However, if we believe that the Bible was written by persons inspired by the Holy Spirit and contains the very Word of God, then we need to respond accordingly.

We are free to choose how we want to think about the Scriptures, but we are not free to avoid the consequences of that choice. And there is a consequence, an eternal one. Graham made his choice and so did Templeton, and time will tell which one made the right choice. As for me, I have chosen to believe the Bible to be the infallible Word of God. It is what I preach and it impacts the way I try to live my life. I pray you will make the same choice.

The atheists respond

In yesterday's post I asked why atheists spend so much time trying to disprove the existence of a God they don't believe in. That post generated more Twitter comments than any post I've ever written. Most of the comments were negative ones from various atheists, and most of them contained personal attacks on me. I was called an idiot, a village idiot, and other similar comments. Included in the personal attacks were demands that theists provide objective evidence that God exists.

I found the level of personal attacks interesting. I've posted nearly 17,000 tweets on Twitter and never once been personally attacked for any of them until this one. Obviously, I hit a nerve! The personal attacks did not bother me. As I've told people recently, once you become medicare-eligible you really don't care what people think of you! This is especially true of those you don't know and are unlikely to ever meet.

I did click on a couple of the people who responded to that post and found that they attack anyone who challenges atheism. It seems they often make derogatory comments about the person advocating for God, demand evidences that God exists, and then accuse the person of running off instead of providing such proof.

First of all, it's a little difficult to prove the existence of God in a 140-character tweet. Personally, I quit debating people on social media a long time ago, and I refuse to engage in any conversation with people who make personal attacks on those with whom they disagree. This is not only true of atheists but other Christians as well. Some of the nastiest people I've seen on social media are Christians, and I refuse to respond to their comments as well.

From looking at the Twitter accounts of some of those who attacked my post, it appears they really aren't interested in anyone providing evidences of God. If they were, they could read any number of excellent apologists such as William Lane Craig, J. P. Moreland, Gary Habermas, or Ravi Zacharias. These individuals do an excellent job of responding to the various challenges many atheists have towards theism.

To be fair, many atheists are sincerely seeking answers to their questions regarding the existence of God. They are willing to engage in serious debate without resorting to personal attacks. I also have to admit that too often when they look to the church for the answers they seek they are disappointed. As one whose previous ministry required me to be in different churches almost every week I will admit that it would have been difficult to have found evidences of God in some of them.

One of my favorite books continues to be Jim and Casper Go to Church: Frank Conversation about Faith, Churches, and Well-Meaning Christians. It is a true story of Jim, a Christian, who paid Casper, an atheist, to attend church with him every Sunday for several weeks. Casper was willing to believe in God if he could find sufficient evidence to prove God's existence during this experiment. They attended some of the best-known churches in America, but in the end Casper was not convinced. As the subtitle states, the book contains frank conversations between Jim and Casper about their experiences in these different churches and why Casper never found the proofs of God's existence in any of them.

The book provides a powerful indictment against the church and its failure to address the concerns of both those who do not believe in God as well as its own members. We should not be surprised that so many Christians are also abandoning the church and seeking other ways to experience God that go deeper than a commitment to attend a 60 minute service each week.

There are those churches who understand the spiritual concerns of people today and are intentionally addressing those concerns. May their tribe increase and include all churches.

I'm sure I'll get hammered again for this post, but that's OK. I don't hate atheists, even those who attack those of us who believe in God. I do feel sorry for them because they are missing out on the blessing of having God in their lives. And I pray that one day they will realize that only God can fill the void they feel in their lives.

Why do atheists try so hard to disprove God?

A thought that often occurs to me when I hear an atheist speak or read something they have written is why are they so insistent that God does not exist? I don't believe in Santa Claus or the Easter bunny, but I don't spend time writing volumes trying to prove my point nor do I engage in endless debates with those who do believe in either of those childhood stories. Whether others believe in Santa Claus or the Easter bunny really doesn't impact my life so I spend no time in trying to prove my worldview that they don't exist.

If an atheist doesn't believe in God, other's belief in God doesn't impact that atheist's life. He or she is free to live their lives as they please. So why do some of the new atheists work so hard to convince others that God doesn't exist?

For some I'm sure it's financial. Some well-known atheists have written best sellers and get invited to share their beliefs in the media and on college campuses. Their unbelief in God can be very lucrative. Perhaps that drives some of their obsession with trying to convince people there is no God, but I doubt that is the primary reason they are so insistent that God does not exist.

Perhaps the real reason is that if God does exist that means they are not God. Dallas Willard has written, "God being God offends human pride. If God is running the universe and has first claim on our lives, guess who isn't running the universe and does not get to have things as they please. (Renovation of the Heart: Putting On the Character of Christ)"

It is only when people can convince themselves that God does not exist that they then can become God. They can choose their own moral principles and live the lives they wish to have. The real reason people reject belief in God is not intellectual, it is moral. They understand that if God does exist they either have to conform their life choices to his teachings or live lives of disobedience and will one day face his judgment for their disobedience.

Every attempt to remove God from the public square is to be able to make the state God. As God, the state can then enact laws that reflect its own views of right and wrong. Behavior that God calls sin becomes legitimatized through the passing of laws and rulings of the courts. At that point a society begins to call good evil and evil good and in danger of God's judgment (Is. 5:20) so it becomes even more important to eliminate belief in God.

We are often told that we are in the midst of a culture war, but it goes much deeper than that. We are in a spiritual war with the very soul of the nation at stake. Too often, the church has been sitting on the sidelines letting others determine when it's proper for us to engage. It's time to get off the sidelines and enter into the battle.

It's past time that we proclaim the word of God without apology. Just as the Old Testament prophets stood up to the false gods of their day, the church today must stand up to the false gods of our day. Billy Graham and other preachers of his generation spoke with authority to the masses because they depended not upon their own personal wisdom or philosophy but stood upon the authority of the Scriptures they proclaimed. We can do no less today if we want to see God move once again in the lives of men, women, and young people.

Let the nation rage and people plot a vain thing against God (Ps. 2:1). They will not prevail against God nor against a church that proclaims the Word of God.

My top ten books for 2015 (Part 2)

Last Friday I shared the first five of my top ten books for 2015. I will finish my list today. It was not easy to limit my list to just ten books this year as I read several that I found very helpful. Some of them I commented on throughout the year so you can go back to previous posts and see some of those. Again, these are not in a particular order, but they will round out my top ten for this year.

On Guard: Defending Your Faith with Reason and Precision was written by Christian philosopher and apologist William Lane Craig. Craig has debated some of the leading atheists of our time and in this book shares some of his strongest arguments for the existence of God. He also addresses the problem of suffering which may be one of the most common complaints non-theists make about God. Craig can be challenging for some not trained in philosophy to read, but this book was written especially for those of us who want to better defend our beliefs.

Think Like a Freak: The Authors of Freakonomics Offer to Retrain Your Brain was written by Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner, the authors of Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything. I love these books because they challenge much of what we commonly accept as true, and they address issues most people (certainly economists) never discuss. In this book they explain why Nigerian e-mail scammers make such a point of saying they are from Nigeria as well as explain the amazing success of a Japanese hot-dog-eating champion. One of my favorite stories was of how a cure for ulcers was discovered and why the medical community refused to recognize this cure for so long. This is fun and informational reading.

Timothy Keller wrote The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism to respond to the most frequently voiced doubts and concerns non-believers bring to his church. As he does this, he provides Christians with the answers we need when we face the same challenges. Since reading this book I have become a big fan of Keller and have another of his books on my to-read shelf.

Kingdom Triangle: Recover the Christian Mind, Renovate the Soul, Restore the Spirit's Power is written by J. P. Moreland, a professor of philosophy at Talbot School of Theology. In this book Moreland seeks to replace scientific naturalism and postmodern worldviews with a Christian worldview. Even many Christians have been influenced by the first two worldviews which is one reason the church is as weak as it is. As he explains in the preface, "I want to foment a revolution of Evangelical life...My purpose is to mobilize, inspire, envision, and instruct an army of men and women for a revolution on behalf of the cause of Christ." I've also added a couple more of Moreland's books on my to-read shelf.

Wrapping up this year's top ten list is Decisive: How to Make Better Choices in Life and Work by Chip and Dan Heath. Too many of the choices we make are based on information we have sought that would support the decisions we want to make while ignoring information that doesn't support our presuppositions. Short term emotions often overrule logic leading to poor choices. By sharing information gained through various studies and numerous stories the authors show how we can make far better decisions that will have a positive impact on our lives and our organizations.

I hope you will find this list helpful as you think about your reading for 2016. As I written before, leaders are readers. It's important to look at reading as an investment in our ministries so we need to read those books that will add the most value to our leadership. I found these books to be very informative and beneficial to me so I encourage you to at least look at them as possible helpful resources to your own ministry.

Is atheism winning?

While traveling to a meeting yesterday I listened to a podcast from William Lane Craig, the well-known Christian philosopher and apologist. He was reviewing an article from a Christian publication that claimed that atheism is winning in today's culture. The reasons for that writer's conclusion was that many young people are leaving Christianity and that a large number of Christians are unable to effectively share their faith.

Craig did an excellent job of showing that the claim that atheism is winning is not correct. While he agreed that both of the writer's statements were true, Craig pointed to the growing number of Christians in China and elsewhere in the world. While it is true that many young people are abandoning their faith, it is also true that many others are coming to faith in Christ at the same time.  Despite the best efforts of "new age" atheists such as Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, Christopher Hitchens, and others, atheism is not winning.  Christianity is growing around the world.

One of the reasons for this growth is the excellent material now available in the area of Christian apologetics. The old method of evangelism, what I call the "Turn or burn!" method, simply does not work today. People are asking questions and demanding answers before making a faith commitment. Many struggle with Christianity because they have questions that no one has attempted to answer or failed to answer to their satisfaction. I recently spoke to a woman whose husband cannot believe in God due to the widespread evil in the world, and this is a major stumbling block for many.

When I began pastoring in 1981 there was very little material available in apologetics, or at least I wasn't aware of them. Today, there are many such resources, and pastors and other church leaders should take advantage of them.

William Lane Craig has written several such books, but I have to admit that some of them are over my head academically.  However, he recently published an excellent book, On Guard: Defending Your Faith with Reason and Precision, that he wrote for the non-scholar. I read it earlier this year and found it to be a wonderful resource.  I'm currently reading The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism by Timothy Keller. This is another excellent resource that addresses the questions and concerns people have about Christianity. Anything by Ravi Zacharias is also a great resource for the person who wants to effectively share his or her faith with others. I especially recommend his books Why Jesus?: Rediscovering His Truth in an Age of Mass Marketed Spirituality, Jesus Among Other Gods: The Absolute Claims of the Christian Message, and Why Suffering?: Finding Meaning and Comfort When Life Doesn't Make Sense.

I encourage pastors to study these resources and teach the material to your congregations. We must be able to respond to the questions people have about Christianity if we want to do effective evangelism in the 21st century, and this material will help you do that. Atheism isn't winning, and it won't win because it is not based on truth. We have the truth, and it is our responsibility to learn how to most effectively share that truth with others.