An Evangelical Explains Atheism by Chris White

Atheism is a transliteration of a Greek word which means “without God.” While there are various categories of “disbelievers” and disbelief, in common parlance, atheism means to have no belief in the existence of God.

Though considered an unpopular belief, Atheists are hardly a small class of people. Atheism is the 6th largest religion on earth and if combined with people who consider themselves ‘non religious’ they equal the entire Islamic world.

There are categories of Atheism as well. “Weak Atheism” is the position of skepticism about the existence of God. “Strong Atheism” is the position of faith that there is no God or gods. In the main, most atheists are not so strongly against religious belief as they simply cannot themselves embrace it with any kind of integrity or honesty. Many have found a path in life that brings them happiness and satisfaction without God and have even embraced some sort of moral code which would not be at odds with Christianity, Judaism, or any other world religion. One thing that many atheists feel strongly about is the issue of proselytizing by people who do have some sort of faith. They have a “live and let live attitude” and expect the favor returned. On the other hand there are some atheists who have a zealous fervor for converting people from religious belief. They see religion as such a colossal waste of time and energy that people must be liberated from its binding and deluding effects.
While most Atheists would resist being categorized (like most people!), there are some broad categories of Atheistic belief. These categories often explain the reasons for Atheism but in truth some do not believe in God just because they do not want to believe.

I. Categories of Atheism
 
Marxist Atheism: Religion is a manmade institution to ease emotional pain and the fear of dying. It is considered as a threat to social change and equality by numbing people with the hope of reconciliation of their class problems in an afterlife.

Freudian Atheism: God is a childish projection out of a desire to avoid death and have a father who is perfect and immortal.

Philosophical Atheism: Any statement about God or His existence is meaningless because it is impossible to empirically verify it. Generally speaking, the position of atheism is that if something cannot be conclusively proven, it is safer to take the position that it doesn’t exist.

Scientific Atheism: God need not exist because all things in the physical order can be explained by the laws of science or human decision.

Rejection of Religion Atheism: God does not exist on the basis of personal experience and feelings towards religion. These atheists often are people from a religious home or background who once practiced a faith of some kind and later came to reject it because of personal disappointment with God or clergy or out of rebellion towards their parents.

II.Atheism and Agnosticism
 
Atheism is different from Agnosticism. Agnostics hold to a middle ground between belief and unbelief. They may think the existence of God is improbable but they suspend judgement because know this cannot be conclusively proved. Both Atheists and Theists share in a commonality in the sense that they hold their views of God with certainty.

III. Some General Thoughts about Atheism and Christian Belief (without any pretension that I can prove the existence of God through rational argument!)
 
A. A Wrong Starting Point?
One of the arguments of atheism against Christianity is that we base our definitions of God and arguments for God based on our own religious writings. If we must rely on a source that is not considered a reality by all people to prove God, how can we say we have a strong argument for His existence? This is a very good point. Perhaps the best starting point in this discussion is to consider that if there is a God would He communicate with us? If God has spoken to man what form would it take? It seems a strong possibility that God would use human language so that we could clearly understand it. If this could be a possibility then it could also be possible that the Bible could be at least one of the modicums of God’s spoken communication to man. The argument about the divine inspiration of the Holy Bible is a lengthy yet solid one. It must be honestly studied because if the Bible is from God then its message has authority for everyone. If the argument of inspiration is disproven then the message is disproven. If inspiration is true then it would be a strong indicator that there is a God who has spoken. Arguments about other “holy writings” should be considered as well. What is their textual history, claims to authority, and consistency of message?

B. The Nature of Faith
Atheism also seems to misunderstand the nature of faith. Faith in the biblical sense does not always mean placing your hope in something that cannot be proven. Sometimes biblical faith calls for embracing and trusting God in a circumstance that is beyond our understanding. But more often than not faith is characterized as believing the evidence we are given. God worked extreme miracles for the Israelites that defied all sorts of natural laws. Jesus Christ is believed upon by Christians based on the resurrection. This is a historical event that if it did not happen makes our faith utterly meaningless. Once again there is good evidence of the truth of this incident. Most world religions can continue to stand apart from historic truth but Christianity cannot and does not. Atheism depends on no evidence whatsoever. It depends on the personal interpretation of “non-evidence”. If the burden of proof rests on the Theist to produce some hard evidence, it would seem the empty rock tomb in Jerusalem would be “hard evidence” enough.

C. A Cogent Picture of Reality
One of the noble purposes of philosophy is to help mankind understand and make sense of the reality he experiences in life. Christianity presents a coherent picture of reality that does fit all people in all places in all times. It presents man as a noble creature endowed with a knowledge of God and conscience that has been severely distorted through an act of rebellion in our primeval history. It explains why man no longer sees God and how God has made provision for our restoration. It also explains that mankind in general has chosen to depart from the original religion and make his own based on that which has been created instead of the Creator. Atheism fits into this category of worship of human reason even as some south sea islander has chosen to worship a tiger or bird-god. It’s a choice based on something. A person’s interpretation of reason to prove God, disprove God , or develop a substitute God is a human choice. As flawed humans it seems a dangerous proposition to lean entirely on my own ability to interpret reason. The doctrine of revelation in Christianity teaches that we are unable to find this path ourselves unless God helps us. It leaves no room for hubris of any kind. Christianity does not teach that “God helps those who help themselves”, but rather “God helps those who really cannot help themselves.” The understanding of our own reality and reality of the world around us seems just about as attainable as being to solve all of our own problems does.

D. Atheism is Progressive?
Gordon H. Smith in his book Atheism: the Case Against God writes: “Although atheism is negative in character, it need not be destructive. When used to eradicate superstition and its detrimental effects, atheism is a benevolent, constructive approach. It clears the air, as it were, leaving the door open for positive principles and philosophies based, not on the supernatural, but on man’s ability to think and comprehend.” Specifically, Smith envisions that through reason and human knowledge, mankind would be able to approach happiness, morals, and love apart devoid of any connection to a supernatural world or God. Atheism is touted not as a fall from grace but a leap forward for mankind. But atheism is hardly a new belief any more than theism is. With all the masses that adhere to atheism, why have they not led us into this great forward leap? Where are the positive philosophies and morals apart from conscience and God that will build the human race? All religions have their low points in history but surely they are not responsible for all the ills of humanity any more than atheists should be blamed for them. Man cannot achieve the leap forward because he will not, not because he knows not. Man has a tremendous capacity to think and reason. But reason and thinking frequently do nothing to effect the will of a man. Standing as witness to this is a world filled with chaos and injustices all with humanity as its root cause. In this way man is not integrated but rather dis-integrated. Religion in general and Christianity in particular lead men towards that integration as humans. We are fallen and in that state we cannot see God or truly comprehend Him. But as God reaches out to man and touches his will and his mind, He is once again able to be comprehended even if imperfectly.

E. Atheism For the Few
One final thought about Atheism concerns its adherents mentality that the “crowd-is-always-wrong”. This is not directly stated but is rather implied. The argument would be that since the large part of humanity has religious belief of some kind and this belief runs counter to what I believe, then they must be wrong as a whole. After all, look at how many other things mankind hasn’t been able to get right in all of its history why should religion be any different? But whatever else can be said, man does seem to have (at least by percentages) a religious nature. And while many of these religions are quite divergent in their belief systems, there are many points of commonality as well. An atheist could look at this and say this suggests the universality of stupidity and poor reasoning. An atheist might also want to look at this and consider the idea that behind all the disagreement there might be truth and light that is being ignored. The crowd isn’t always right but it isn’t always wrong either. Sometimes a crowd means there is something really good happening.

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Sources:
Dictionary of Christianity in America
Religions in America
The Atheism Web. Internet site.
The New York Times World Almanac 1999 edition
George H. Smith, “Atheism: The Case Against God”

On Struggles, Satan, and the book of Job by Chris White

“And the Lord said unto Satan, Behold, he is in thy hand; but save his life” Job 2:6

                                                                             

I must confess I am a bit leery about deriving too much theology about Satan from the book of Job.  I believe in the veracity of the book and even the most casual reading of it reveals a literary masterpiece, but I don’t think its purpose is to offer us hardcore doctrine about the interactions of God, Satan, and the human race.  What I do see is a sufficient answer (as opposed to an exhaustive explanation) as to the question of how evil can touch the children of a good God.  The main point is that God is the sovereign Creator and He has things well under control and that there are going to be difficult things that happen to us in this life that we are not going to understand and never will.  Somehow the evil one is in there but these secrets belong to God and your understanding of them is not a prerequisite to being blessed in the final analysis.  I wonder how many of us have gone through a trial thinking God was teaching us one thing, when in fact it was something else altogether.  Much energy can be expended trying to unscrew the inscrutable! A good friend of mine recently mentioned she was struggling through a particular trial and was really worried about all the work she was not getting accomplished.  The Lord spoke to her heart very distinctly that moment that His job for her that day was to rest and not worry.  Not an easy task for anyone enduring a struggle, but a wise way of expressing faith in the goodness of a sovereign God.

5 Mistakes Christians Make About Personal Suffering by Chris White

Recently I was watching a travel program about the wine country of southern France.  The host of the program was interviewing one of the many winemakers in the area and asked her what makes for really good wine.  Surprisingly, she said the best wine comes when we make the vines suffer.  What she meant was that some of the best grapes are produced by vines grown in the harshest of conditions and the rockiest of soils.  I see a correlation between this and the growth of people.  We would think a life with ideal conditions present would only thrive and be productive.  But this isn’t always the case and in some people not true at all.  The reality is that the stress of trials, troubles, and tribulations often results in our best growth as persons. 

As I have been reading and meditating on scripture recently, I have been noticing just how much the New Testament speaks about suffering in our lives and its greater purposes.  That said, our broader culture and even church culture often gets this perspective wrong.  Here are 5 of my observations about how Christians get this wrong and how we should think personal suffering:

1.      Mistaking the consequences of wrong-doing for godly suffering.  According to Peter, suffering justly for one’s sins is not the same as enduring suffering that is unjust.  Only suffering that is meted out and endured when it is undeserved is commendable to God (1 Peter 2:20-21).  This is not to say that suffering for your own wrong-doing is not without pain or purpose in the Christian life.  The writer of Hebrews reminds us “It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline?  If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons” (Heb. 12:7-8).  Such chastisement does cause us pain and suffering, but it’s done for our training in righteousness not our destruction.  The correct response to this kind of suffering is to repent, apologize and/or make restitution if a person has been hurt by your wrong-doing,  and actually rejoice that God loves you too much to let you go undisciplined.

2.       Believing that personal suffering is without any purpose.  Several years ago I was at a conference in which Joni Eareckson Tada was one of the invited speakers.  Joni’s story is fairly well-known (her bio here: http://www.joniandfriends.org/jonis-corner/jonis-bio/) through print and film, but her life achievements are prolific and her activism broad despite the fact that she has been quadriplegic for the past 47 years.  What was striking to me as a person in the audience that night was she never once alluded to her condition but spoke with great excitement about what God was doing around the world.  I harbor no doubts that Joni doesn’t have days that are frustrating and dark because of her physical condition, nevertheless, she seems to operate from the perspective that her particular suffering has been used by God as means of shaping her for greater purposes.  My home state of Oregon has the dubious distinction of being the first in the nation to legalize physician assisted suicide.  The mentality that promoted this law (it was a statewide referendum) and has taken advantage of it, is one in the same: life has meaning only if you are enjoying it.  If you are suffering bodily or psychic pain to the point you are no longer enjoying your life, then a prescription may be offered you to end your pointless suffering.  In the Bible, Job’s faithless wife suggested much the same thing when Job lost his health.  Job’s faithful response was we must accept both blessings and trials because ultimately they issue from God (Job 2:9-10).  Once again, the proper response to suffering is having the mentality that all that comes our way has been allowed by God and serves the purpose of testing and purifying your Christian faith (1 Pet. 1:6-8).

3.       Thinking you are all alone in your suffering.  By far, self-pity is one of the most powerful weapons Satan has at his disposal to wage war against your faith.  Trouble strikes our lives and causes us pain.  At first we are optimistic.  “This trial will pass soon or God will intervene somehow and then I’ll be happy again,” we think to ourselves.  But life’s problems rarely resolve quickly like they do on television.  As we go further into the journey of suffering, there is a subtle voice that seems to speak in our minds with a slight hiss.  “Sssseee, God doesn’t care about you and your ssssuffering, He’s too busy blessing everyone elsssssse!”  As we listen to this voice, self-pity sets in and soon afterwards is joined by its fraternal twin self-indulgence.   We are all alone in our troubles and might as well do something to ease the pain.  To this kind of attack, St. Peter writes “Resist him (the devil), firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world( 1 Peter 5:9.)  The truth is, if God really has singled you out among all the people in the world to suffer, you probably would be justified in feeling sorry for yourself.  But the reality is that all of us live in a broken world with a lot of broken people and therefore should wisely expect that the pain of this brokenness will intersect our lives from time to time.  We should probably be more shocked that we don’t suffer more than we do.  The point is you are not alone in your suffering.  God and everyone you know has endured or is enduring something painful in their lives.  The key to knowing this for certain is to be transparent about your struggle with others rather than isolate yourself.  You will be surprised what you’ll learn about others who you think are totally happy and blessed when you candidly share with them your sorrows.  Do this and you will pray for others, will have uncommon perspective, and defeat the enemy’s strategy of destroying your faith though self-pity.

4.       Thinking that suffering trials actually destroys a person’s faith.  Both Paul and Peter teach us that trials actually build endurance, character, and hope (Rom.5:3-5: 1 Peter 1:6-8.)  James carries this same idea noting the outcome of our testing produces steadfastness and deep growth in our souls which should be a source of joy (James 1:2-4.)  That said, many of us know people who have walked away from the faith as the result of a trial.  So, how does this square with scripture?  The trial of suffering is an instrument whereby the reality of our faith is tested.  Everybody would follow Christ if every prayer was answered and every Christian encountered nothing but blessing at every turn.  But the New Testament repeatedly teaches that true faith is believing without first seeing or trusting in the promise  of God based on his character not the results we see (Heb. 11:1; 2 Cor. 5:7.)  What happens in some people is that they receive the message of the gospel with great joy because of what it offers them, but when that joy is put to the test by troubles, their faith simply withers (Mt. 13:20.)  Put another way, trials are a means of revealing the true nature of our faith.  If it wasn’t real, it will be removed.  If it is real, a trial will, despite the pain in the moment, in the long run strengthen and temper the faith of a believer.

5.       Thinking that your suffering is more than a momentary light affliction.  In 2^nd Corinthians 4:16-17 Paul writes “So we do not lose heart.  Though the outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day.  For this slight momentary affliction is preparing us for an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison.”  As a pastor for many years now, I have watched many dear people endure things you just never get over.  The loss of beloved children in accidents, businesses that took a lifetime to build suddenly failing, a dream retirement never realized because of early on-set dementia,  the heartbreak of a father dying just weeks before his first child was born and the list could go on.  These kinds of wounds never go away this side of heaven.  You get through these things (sometimes), but you honestly never get over them.  But we must never forget the reality of eternity.  If you belong to God and God has an eternity to bless you (which He will), then whatever sorrows you must bear by His appointment, though difficult now, are by comparison very momentary and very light.  We keep our hopes in eternity for that is where they are rightly placed because that is our true destiny.

What Almighty Cannot Do by Chris White

“Can you find out the deep things of God? Can you find out the limit of the Almighty?”

                                                    (Job 11:7)

God is referred to as almighty over 300 times in the Old Testament.  While this should certainly steer our hearts towards awe and reverence, we should also be reminded that He who holds all divine power is Himself a loving Father.  As I was reflecting on God’s divine power,  I was reminded of an exercise we all had to do in theology class during ministerial training.  We had to list all the things God almighty cannot do (I came up with 4, but there were many more):

1.      God can’t lie or be unfaithful.  This is a contradiction of His character and heart.

2.      God can’t do the logically inconsistent (no rocks so big He can’t lift them or create a shade of black that looks white.)

3.      God cannot be limited by our limitations—He has infinite possibilities of creativity and the laws of the universe (which we only faintly understand) may be more flexible than we realize.

4.      God cannot be unjust.  His justice is a reflection of His Holiness and thus to violate this would be to violate His very self.

All these things are comforting mostly in the sense that they make a single statement that God is not like we are.  We do all these things with the greatest of ease and we can be thankful that God would not do any of them.  But there is a sense in which the “almightiness” of God is of great comfort to us.  This is found in Romans 8:28 where we read “for those who love God, all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose.”  We know in our heart of hearts, no evil, no problem, no sin, no power is so great that God is overcome and unable to bring His good plan for our lives to fruition.  Nothing shall keep us from the love of God because He is almighty.  Keep that close to your heart today.