To The Atheist
Reflecting on the past…
I want you to know that when I was thinking about how to approach the atheist, what to say and how to say it, I really had to pause. It has become clear to me only just recently that there is probably more of a heart problem with most atheists, rather than a head problem.
I did not perceive this back during my college years when I boldly declared my position as an atheist to others. My true underlying condition was imperceptable to one that was ravenous to pursue life the way I wanted to. A life that was directed by my desires and will, and one that was free of any moral constraint or accountability.
So the real question I ask myself, and you today is…
Is it a heart problem, or a head problem?
Probability & Random Chance
My agnostic cousin and I were discussing the complexity of nature one day. I sent him a picture of some fresh cut flowers from our yard with a comment: “Courtesy of Random Chance.”
He responded by asking, “how many times do you think you would need to roll a die to get a six, 100 times in a row?” He put the possibility of the formation of complex systems, which are capable of sustaining life, into comparison with the probability of rolling a simple six-sided die multiple times to get a certain outcome. For the unbeliever, all things are possible with enough time, no matter how complex or unlikely. Time itself is their hero! Yet how long do you really think it would take for something to arise from nothing?
Is he being intellectually honest with himself?
There is no convincing
the hardened heart of an unbeliever.
Here are three of the biggest obstacles to an atheist coming to faith:
PRIDE
First and foremost, human pride creates fierce independence in the life of an unbeliever.
When you set yourself up as a supreme authority, capable of properly discerning all things, you will never acknowledge the need for a divine authority.
Proverbs 18:12
INTELLECT
Is reason your supreme authority in life? If given enough time, do you believe that you can figure things out on your own and overcome any problems that may arise?
If you rely on human reason as your source of truth, you will never find the need for divine revelation.
Proverbs 14:12
DESIRE
I remember so clearly how good it felt to have no moral accountability in my life during my college years (atheist).
I set my own rules and pursued whatever my heart desired with great intensity. Giving that up and submitting to God, only to deal with a guilty conscience, did NOT seem like freedom to me.
1 John 2:16
A Divine Deck of Cards?
Do the outcomes of random chance display organized complexity?
Or do some highly intelligent people find themselves excusing away the possibility of a creator, so they can live with no moral accountability?
Perhaps a more appropriate question my cousin should have asked me would have been along the lines of: how many times would you have to throw a deck of cards up into the air until it would land in a perfect house of 52 cards?
A Divine Deck of Cards?
Do the outcomes of random chance display organized complexity?
Or do some highly intelligent people find themselves excusing away the possibility of a creator, so they can live with no moral accountability?
Perhaps a more appropriate question my cousin should have asked me would have been along the lines of: how many times would you have to throw a deck of cards up into the air until it would land in a perfect house of 52 cards?
My Hope For You, Dear Reader...
No matter how many facts about science and creation I bring to the table in a section devoted to an atheist, it will never have the power to soften a hardened heart. If you and I were standing in front of a dinosaur bone together at a museum, you would see millions of years, and I would see Day Six of Creation.
During my residency training in Toledo, my wife and I became acquainted with a woman who lived two doors down from us. She knew I was an atheist and never tried to thump me with a Bible. But through sitting back and listening to what she shared with my wife, I was essentially exposed to the Bible. She was a true Christian who actually lived out what the Word taught. I think this was SO important for me personally. What I saw was beautiful, and it started to make me curious enough that I actually picked up the Bible and attempted to read the book of Genesis (see About The Author).
I am not sure what it might be for you… You have come this far on this website, for whatever reason. You have not logged off yet. It is my greatest hope for you to continue on the journey.
What Is Holding You Back?
What was it that finally drew me and opened my heart to the possibility of a Divine Creator? I remember coming to a point where I was just curious enough to start to try and read the Bible. I tried a church service and even went one step further. It was very uncomfortable, but I started to pray and ask God to reveal Himself to me. It felt totally stupid (talking to myself?), yet I pushed through that, and did it several times before leaving my residency program.
Perhaps the most compelling thing that happened to me came some time later, when my wife and I went back to Toledo for her baptism. During the service, the head pastor came in and told everyone a funnel cloud was just spotted outside the church and canceled the service so we could all get into the gymnasium and sit up against the wall. It reminded me of those drills in grade school. But this time it was not a drill. I clearly remember thinking, “What would happen to me if a tornado hit the gym and we died today? If all of this was true, my wife would be in heaven, and I would be in hell. Could that really be true? Could God really exist? Was it worth me taking a chance to still be holding back?”
Right now, I ask the same question of you! What is holding you back?
God Is Longsuffering
THIS LINK is a great explanation of God’s longsuffering.
The verses below also reference God’s patience and longsuffering.
Romans 1:18-2018 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness,19 because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. 20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.
Psalm 86:15 But You, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious,
Slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness and truth.
Romans 2:4 4 Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance
and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance?
“God will invade. But I wonder whether people who ask God to interfere openly and directly in our world quite realise what it will be like when He does. When that happens, it is the end of the world. When the author walks on to the stage the play is over. God is going to invade, all right: but what is the good of saying you are on His side then, when you see the whole natural universe melting away like a dream and something else – something it never entered your head to conceive – comes crashing in; something so beautiful to some of us and so terrible to others that none of us will have any choice left?
For this time it will be God without disguise; something so overwhelming that it will strike either irresistible love or irresistible horror into every creature. It will be too late then to choose your side. There is no use saying you choose to lie down when it has become impossible to stand up. That will not be the time for choosing; it will be the time when we discover which side we really have chosen, whether we realized it before or not. Now, today, this moment, is our chance to choose the right side. God is holding back to give us that chance. It will not last for ever. We must take it or leave it.”
“God will invade. But I wonder whether people who ask God to interfere openly and directly in our world quite realise what it will be like when He does. When that happens, it is the end of the world. When the author walks on to the stage the play is over. God is going to invade, all right: but what is the good of saying you are on His side then, when you see the whole natural universe melting away like a dream and something else – something it never entered your head to conceive – comes crashing in; something so beautiful to some of us and so terrible to others that none of us will have any choice left?
For this time it will be God without disguise; something so overwhelming that it will strike either irresistible love or irresistible horror into every creature. It will be too late then to choose your side. There is no use saying you choose to lie down when it has become impossible to stand up. That will not be the time for choosing; it will be the time when we discover which side we really have chosen, whether we realized it before or not. Now, today, this moment, is our chance to choose the right side. God is holding back to give us that chance. It will not last for ever. We must take it or leave it.”
– C. S. LEWIS