ATHEISM
An Atheist is a free-thinker that is free from religion and knows that
there is no god.
A first Word
Having read many
“arguments” on this subject, it’s hard to address Atheism because scripture is
not considered a viable argument. - So I
write to the Believer, not to the Atheist.
Webster: Atheist – A person who believes that there is no God. – rejects all
religious belief – rejects supernatural revelations – rejects anything that
cannot be proved scientifically.
Wikipedia - There
is no one ideology or set of behaviors to which all atheists adhere. Many atheists hold that atheism is a more parsimonious
worldview than theism, and therefore the burden of proof lies not on the
atheist to disprove the existence of God, but on the theist to provide a
rationale for theism
Parsimonious – It’s a principle, urging one
to select from among competing hypotheses that which makes the fewest
assumptions and thereby offers the simplest explanation of the effect. – Also
known as “Ockham's razor”.
Evidence
- There is no evidence that God
does not exist; therefore, the Atheist must hold his position by his “Faith”; not because of evidence – So you
could say the Atheist has a “sort of” faith.
A Few Terms
- Agnosticism
–
The belief that the existence of God is not knowable.
- Deism – The belief that
there IS a God, but that God is NOT involved in the world.
- Freethinker – A person who forms
his opinions about religion and God without regard to revelation,
scripture, tradition, or experience.
- Humanism
–
The system of philosophy based upon human reason, actions and motives
without concern of deity or supernatural phenomena.
- Naturalism
–
The belief that all phenomena can be explained in terms of natural
causes and laws.
- Relativism
–
The view that truth is relative and not absolute. It varies from person to person, from
time to time.
- Lost – Those who embrace
the above. – The things of the Spirit are foolishness to them.
John 6:44-45 – The Holy
Spirit must draw them
44 No one can come to Me unless the Father who
sent Me draws him; NKJV
1 Cor 2:14 – It’s foolishness without the Spirit
The man without the Spirit does not accept the
things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to
him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.
NIV
The Belief
- There is no God; no Devil,
no Sin, no Miracles and no Supernatural.
- Everything is
material – Man – Earth and the universe.
- Evolution is a
scientific fact.
- Morals, ethics and
truth are relative.
The Paradox – The rock
- If God is omnipotent, then can He make a rock so big He can’t
pick it up?
- If He can’t make the
rock, then He’s not omnipotent
- If God can’t pick up
the rock, then He’s not omnipotent
- Therefore God does
not exist. - If everything was created, then who created God?
- Why do you believe in
Jesus and not Santa Clause? –
You can’t see either one.
v The questions posed are
nonsense questions, just like “What does Yellow smell like”?
Right out of the chute
- The Bible says right
out of the chute – Only a fool would say that there is no God.
- The Bible was written
to believers not to unbelievers – It’s
foolishness to the Atheist, who does not have the spirit and has
only the wisdom of the world.
- There is no argument
or defense of the existence of God written in scripture, just the
presentation and unfolding of God – “In the beginning was the Word” – The
believer believes
- Point
blank
– The Atheist is perishing.
John 1:1 – In the
beginning - God
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the
Word was with God, and the Word was God. NIV
Ps 14:1 – The Atheist is a
fool
1 The fool says in his heart, "There
is no God." They are corrupt, their deeds are vile; there is no one
who does good. NIV
1 Cor 1:21-22 – The
Atheist has the wisdom of the world
21 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. NIV
1 Cor 2:14 – The Atheist does not have the spirit
14 The man without the Spirit does not
accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness
to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually
discerned.
NIV
1 Cor 1:18 – The Atheist is perishing
18 For the message of the cross is foolishness to
those who are perishing, NIV
The Reason - ME
- Having employed
hundreds of employees, I have noticed that there is a common thread woven
concerning making decisions. – How does the decision affect me? –
Whether vocalized or not, decisions are ME driven. – What’s in
it for ME.?
- “I’m not buying it” an employee told me as I shared
about Christ. – He was seeing a married woman and would not give that up –
That’s the conundrum; is life about ME or about HIM?
- God told us in
advance; most people “will not buy it”. – They are on the broad
road that leads to destruction – I
must say here, that years later, he told me he had “bought it”. Praise God
Matt 7:13-14 – The road of
the world leads to destruction.
13 "Enter through the narrow gate. For wide
is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many
enter through it.
14 But small is the gate and narrow the road
that leads to life, and only a few find it. NIV
Wisdom
- The Atheist seeks wisdom to
scientifically nail down everything he believes.
- God says that seeking
Him is the beginning of wisdom, knowledge and understanding.
- The believer finds wisdom through
the eyes of his soul, through the eyes of his faith.
- He has revealed
Himself plainly in his creations. God's invisible qualities-his eternal
power and divine nature-have been clearly seen, being understood and man is without excuse.
- Does
unbelief in God nullify His’ existence? – Shake your fist in the air, kick
up dust, tear your clothes, shout obscenities – None of this nullifies the
existence God.
- The Atheist would
say, “Show me where God is” – I would say, “Show me where He
isn’t”.
Rom 3:3-4 – Unbelief does
not nullify God.
What if some did not have faith? Will their
lack of faith nullify God's faithfulness?
4 Not at all! Let God be true, and every man a
liar. NIV
Ps 111:10 – God is Wisdom
10 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom;
all who follow his precepts have good understanding. NIV
Prov 1:7 – God is
Knowledge
7 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge,
but fools despise wisdom and discipline. NIV
Prov 9:10 – God is understanding
10 "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of
wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. NIV
Rom 1:19 – God has made Himself plainly known to man
19 since what may be known about God is plain
to them, because God has made it plain to them.
Rom 1:20 – Man is without excuse
20 For since the creation of the world God's
invisible qualities-his eternal power and divine nature-have been clearly seen,
being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.
NIV
They Know
- The Atheist already
knows about God; in his heart, conscience and thoughts, because it accuses
them and they must defend themselves.
- They have a need to
be a freethinker – to form their opinions about life without regard to
revelation, scripture, tradition, or experience – To be free to do what
they want – It all about ME.
- A friend once told me
that he didn’t want to even think about God right now. He had a life style that he would have
to give up and he just wasn’t ready to do that.
- There
is no need for God when things are all going your way. – It’s when you hit
bottom you get the “fox hole” religion. –
- Blessed are those who
seek God, knowing that they have nothing to offer Him.
Rom 2:15 – Atheist reject what they know in their hearts
15 Since they show that the requirements of the
law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing
witness, and their thoughts now accusing, now even defending
them. NIV
Matt 5:3 –at the bottom -
Knowing you can offer nothing
3 "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for
theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
NIV
Conclusion
- If you don’t believe
in God or you believe there is a God, but just haven’t accepted Him, is of
little difference. Those without
Christ are all in the same bucket regardless of titles.
- Atheists are not evil or
crazy people; in fact they are, for the most part, smart people who just
like us, have other people in their lives that they lovingly care for.
- Theist – Believe in God, but do not accept Him as
Lord of their Lives – Maybe one day later.
- Deist believes in a god;
but just not in a god who has anything to do with them.
- These are all just people
who have NOT been drawn by the Holy Spirit to God.
- According to scripture;
very few are drawn. - They are lost, and die in their sins.
- Predestination: Atheists are not predestined to “not
believe”; all men already do not believe, doomed to hell. God has issued a “clemency” on
some; gave them the “ability” to seek God. There is nothing man on his own
can do to merit salvation – It is a gift from God.
- Atheist Madalyn Murray O’Hair and her 16 year old
son William Murray had a court
battle in 1963 that resulted in the U. S. Supreme Court decision to ban
prayer in public schools – A few years later William refuted Atheism,
became “born again” and apologized publicly for his part in the law
suite.
- Today, June 2012, at
our local high school, a law suite has been filed by some students because
a prayer was said at their graduation although all the students had voted
on it.
- We are not
responsible for planting
the Gospel seed – That’s the Job of the Holy Spirit.
- We are not
responsible for the Harvest
of the planted seed – That’s God’s Job.
- Our job is to water the seed and with
God’s blessing, get to witness the harvest.
- Praying,
Sharing and Caring “Waters” the unbeliever – Reach out – they are
perishing.
Rom 3:23-24 – All fall
short
23 for all have sinned and fall short
of the glory of God, NKJV
Eph 2:8-9 – It is a gift
from God
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith,
and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,
9 not of works, lest anyone should boast. NKJV
Luke 8:11-12 – The seed is
the Word of God
11 "This is the meaning of the parable: The
seed is the word of God.
NIV
Matt 13:37 – The Holy Spirit is the sower
37 "The one who sowed the good seed is the
Son of Man. NIV
John 6:44 – The Holy Spirit plants the seed
44 "No one can come to me unless the Father
who sent me draws him, NIV
1 Cor 3:7-9 – We are
called to water
7 So neither he who plants nor he who waters
is anything, but only God, who makes things grow.
8 The man who plants and the man who waters
have one purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labor.
9 For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's
field, God's building. NIV
1 Cor 3:6 – God made it
grow
6 I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God
made it grow. NIV
15 Take your sickle and reap, because the time to
reap has come, for the harvest of the earth is ripe." NIV
In the multitude of counselors,
there is wisdom.
Prov 11:14
I am grateful for those that went before me providing concepts, ideas, historical information, and scripture verses. Because of them I can stand on their shoulders and see further than I otherwise ever could have.
A Commentary, Critical, Experimental and Practical – Erdman’s
Apocrypha; The – Edgar J. Goodspeed
Baker Commentary on the Bible – Walter A. Elwell
Bible Almanac; The – Packer-Tenny- White
Bible Commentary – F.B. Meyer
Bible Dictionary - Harper
CARM – Christian Apologetics &
Research Ministry
– M .J. Slick
Expositor’s Bible Commentary; The – Frank E. Gaebelein
Great Doctrines of the Bible Vol 2 – W.
A. Criswell
Illustrated Bible Dictionary – Nelson’s
Illustrated Bible Dictionary - Tyndale
Illustrated Manners and Customs of the Bible – Packer-Tenny
Influence; The – A novel – Matthew John Slick
International Dictionary of the Bible; The new – Douglas-Tenney
Josephus; the Jewish Historian A.D. 37-98
Matthew Henry’s Commentary - Zondervan
Mysteries of the Bible – Readers Digest
Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible; The – Zondervan
Secrets of the Dead Sea Scrolls – Hugh J. Schonfield
Today’s Dictionary of the Bible – T.A. Bryant
Victor
Journey through the Bible; The – V. Gilbert Beers
Where to find it in the Bible – Ken Anderson
Who’s Who in the Bible – Paul D. Gardner
Wikipedia Encyclopedia
Wycliffe Bible Commentary; The – Pfeiffer-Harrison
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