Category Archives: Atheism

July 21, 2013 · 17:01

An Atheist’s Challenge

Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools (Romans 1:22)

Lately, the Lord has been sending atheists to me challenging me to prove to them the existence of God. It baffles me why, if they really do not believe that God exists, they insist on demanding proof of His existence. If they truly believe that God does not exist, why should it matter to them what Christians believe about the existence of God? One would think that they would adopt the attitude of live-and-let-live. One atheist excused his antagonism against Christians because he felt Christians always tried to shove God down his throat. Personally, I know few Christians that are that aggressive in their evangelistic zeal. Sadly, most Christians are timid about sharing their faith. So, this perceived Christian aggression most likely comes in the form of Christian radio and television programs and occasionally through secular airwaves as Christians opine as part of a news broadcast. Perhaps the occasional street preacher comes along with his message of hell fire and damnation, but all of these are easily avoided. Such methods seem to fall far short of heavy-handed evangelism, but obviously such ostensibly innocuous proclamation of the Gospel is as caustic to an atheist as water on the Wicked Witch of the West, and atheists hate it.

Last week I got into a protracted conversation with such an atheist. Rather than attempting to prove to him that God does exist, I challenged him to prove to me that He doesn’t exist. Of course he could not. So then I challenged him to explain the existence of the universe and all that we see, including our own existence. He immediately took up the Big Bang banner for which he asserted that there was more proof than for creation – a broad, sweeping generalization which he could not substantiate. From there he went right into attack mode on “people [who] created God to answer for everything they never understood … because everything they question has been answered with God’s work.” Of course he, who is open-minded and not bound by such limitations, prefers “to live a lift [sic] seeking an answer, a real one, even if it’s never answered, [he would] rather not just give up.” Interestingly, he is willing to chase any option other than God. Then his audacious arrogance clearly came through:

If one day the clouds open and there appears a figure … and he spoke to me, or if I were to die and somehow my dead brain, full of non-active brain cells became active again and I hallucinated that I arrived at the Pearly Gates and was met by your lord and saviour [sic]. He then asks why I never had faith of his existence….

This is where I will make a few points…

A) – God “planned out my life” =  So he planned for me to be an Atheist and see all the faults and flaws in religion

B) – God–is all forgiving and = Well then no matter what I do (because he mapped out all that before I was born) he’ll b’ forgiving and accepted me.

C) – I w–s [sic] made in his image, his faults are mine.

D) – God–is all loving = Why would he “crea“e [sic] me” kno”ing [sic] I would live my life not under his strict regime; resulting in me spending my afterlife in hell. That’s a ’retty [sic] [expletive] move, even if he’s “t’st“ng” [sic] me ”o [sic] prove me [sic] “love“ to ”im [sic], that’s on’ [sic] sick guy by human standards.

 But I would stare him in the eyes and go “Where was the proof?” (emphasis mine)

Besides pointing out that he had not satisfactorily answered the question of existence and instead resorted to parroted and unsubstantiated generalizations about the Big Bang for which there is absolutely no proof and which is all based on conjecture, I offered the following reply:

Let me briefly respond to the four points you made:

A) God does have a plan for your life, but you are not obligated to follow it. Some of this is answered by “C&D” below. God “is longsuffering [toward us], not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9).

B) God is forgiving, but He sets a limit on His forgiveness. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). However, “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man [sows], that shall he also reap” (Galatians 6:7). “Or [do you despise] the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God [leads] thee to repentance? But after thy hardness and impenitent heart [treasure] up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God” (Romans 2:4-5).

C&D) Mankind in general, not YOU in particular, was made in the image of God (Genesis 1:27). There are several aspects to this, but the aspect that is pertinent to this point is that of WILL. God did not create man as a robot programmed to do exactly as He commands. He gives us the ability to choose whether or not to have a relationship with Him. We can accept or reject Him through our own free will. God wants a relationship with you, but He will not impose Himself on you. He loves you, but only you can decide if you will love Him. God doesn’t send anyone to hell. Those that go to hell are there because they chose to reject God; it isn’t God’s choice (see “A” above).

God, by definition, is perfect in every aspect. When God created man, man was as perfect as a created being could be and he was placed in a perfect, sinless environment. But in order to have a perfect relationship, man had to make a choice whether to obey or disobey God. The choice was simple. There was only one rule to break or keep: “And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die” (Genesis 2:16-17). Man chose to disobey. “And when the woman saw that the tree [of the knowledge of good and evil] was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat” (Genesis 3:6). At that point man lost the perfection with which he was created, and the relationship between man and his Creator was broken, because perfect God cannot abide imperfection.

At this point the God of the Bible deviates from all other man-made gods, because from this point on, it is God that puts forth the effort to restore that relationship. He loved man so much, even in his fallen state, that He took it upon Himself to pay the penalty for man’s disobedience by taking the form of man, coming to earth to live as man, then die a painful and humiliating death on a cross, only to conquer death and rise again on the third day. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).

No other man-made god, no other religion has a God like the God of the Bible. And you have the option to reject Him, if you want, but THAT is YOUR choice. And when you wake up in hell, you won’t be able to blame God for YOUR choice. “He that [believes] on him is not condemned: but he that [does not believe] is condemned already, because he [has] not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil” (John 3:18-19).

When you meet Him, (and you will meet him), the words “Where was the proof?” will stick in your throat so that you will choke on them! Here is the proof: “that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God [has shown] it unto them. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse” (Romans 1:19-20). The proof is in your hand! Can’t you see the wonderful design – how well it operates to let you turn a wrench, play a violin or paint a masterpiece? What about the marvel of your eyes? You are no product of randomness! But whether you believe or not, the choice is yours and just like any other independent agent, you are responsible for your own choices as well as for the consequences of your choices.

I left him with one final word from Scripture: “I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live” (Deuteronomy 30:19).

I have not heard back from him. I pray that some of this sank in.

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June 16, 2013 · 17:01

Aliens?

Aliens

And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever. (Revelation 5:13)

I received an email this week from someone who thought we were limiting God’s creative power by suggesting that there is no other life anywhere in the universe outside of what is found here on earth. I assume she was referring to other human-like life.

It is understandable how someone could arrive at the conclusion that other “races” (to differentiate between human and human-like life) could exist elsewhere in the universe. After all, the universe is immense, and we are told that at it is arrogant for us to presume that we are the only ones. Then we have evolutionary/atheistic scientists that incessantly probe the night skies “listening” for “intelligent” communications from other worlds in the tax-funded Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence (SETI). If that is not enough, our “science” channels are filled with programs about UFOs or Ancient Aliens. That these programs are featured in the “science” channels lends an air of credibility to them, so that many – even the “elect” – are swayed by them. But all of these have a common thread – evolution. For decades now, the propaganda of evolution has been forced down the throats of otherwise intelligent people – starting in kindergarten – so that our society has been thoroughly indoctrinated in this unsubstantiated “theory.” As the saying goes, “Tell a lie long enough, and people will believe it.” Evolution teaches that life sprang from non-life on earth 3.5 to 4 billion years ago – by mere accident – and if it can happen here, surely it could happen elsewhere in the universe. That might be true, if evolution is true, but evolution has consistently failed the test of scientific scrutiny; even avid evolutionists will admit to this. (I could offer quotes, but that would make this article too long.)

So, back to the question of other “races” of “people” elsewhere in the universe. We are in agreement that God is certainly capable of having created life elsewhere in His universe, if He chose to do so. We cannot say with certainty that He did not. However, if He did create life elsewhere, that would raise some serious theological issues for us here on planet Earth.

God created us in His image (Genesis 1:26-27). Man sinned (Genesis 3), and brought the curse upon ALL of creation (Romans 8:21-22). God came and put on the “image” of man (Philippians 2:5-7) in order to pay the penalty (Romans 6:23) for our sin thereby redeeming us (Galatians 4:5; Titus 2:14) and all of His creation (Revelation 5:13).

Now, if there are other human-like creatures (Vulcans, Klingons, Romulans, etc.), somewhere else in the universe, it is very likely that they all sinned as well – remember, Adam was only given one rule to obey, and he chose to disobey. So what is to say those other races fared any better? That being the case, it would mean that Jesus would have to die separately for each one of those races of “people,” but that is in conflict with Scripture. The Bible tells us that Jesus died once for all (Romans 5:17-19; 1 Corinthians 15:22; Hebrews 10:10). So, according to Scripture, Jesus came to die for and redeem man-kind, not aliens.

Yes, God is certainly capable of creating other races of people, but we cannot substantiate that from Scripture. To insist that other races “might” exist “out there” is speculative and arbitrary. We need to stay with what Scripture clearly reveals to us, and it says nothing about aliens from “a galaxy far, far away.” Even though God could have created them (His omnipotence is unlimited), we need not worry about E.T.

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June 10, 2013 · 00:27

Practical Atheism

people-jumping-off-cliff

 

If ye love me, keep my commandments. (John 14:15)

It could be argued that there are no true atheists. The Bible says that “that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them” (Romans 1:19), so they are, in fact, not ignorant of the existence of God. Instead, they “hold [down or suppress] the truth in unrighteousness” (Romans 1:18). According to a recent poll reported in the Washington Post, August 13, 2012, only five percent (5%) of Americans profess to be atheists. That represents a rise from one percent (1%), but it could hardly be called epidemic.

The same poll noted a decline of those who call themselves “religious” from 73% to 60%.  “Religious” is a rather nebulous term that could range from strict fundamental Christianity to navel-gazing new age mysticism. In an article that asks, “How Many Americans are Evangelical Christians? Born-Again Christians?” Bradley Wright points out that “Currently Evangelical Christianity in the US is at about its 40-year average, with 23%-24% of Americans affiliating with an Evangelical church or denomination.” Of course, just being affiliated with an evangelical church does not necessarily mean that the adherent is “born again.” Under this classification, Wright noted that 34% of Americans claim to be born again, and that includes mainline Protestants, and Catholics besides Evangelicals. Even here, the numbers may be misleading because many who claim to be “born again” really have no idea what that means. Probably the percentage of truly born again believers in America is less than 20%, and I base that on personal observation without any scientific proof.

My observation informs me that there exist many “practical atheists” out there. Many are in our churches and are familiar with church “lingo” so that they easily “pass” as genuine Christians. Most practical atheists, however, are either “non-religious,” that is, they profess to believe in God, but do not affiliate with any organized religion, or they are simply “spiritual” holding to one or more varieties of pantheism, and they will even “allow” for a “supreme being.” None of these would deny the existence of God outright, but they live their lives as if there is no God. Their egocentric lives are a series of choices based on what is expedient for them at the time. They never consider consulting God on a matter, but rather act on what suits them at the moment. To someone like this, James says, “Go to now, ye that say, [Today] or [tomorrow] we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain: Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that” (James 4:13-15).  To ask God’s direction in any plan would not even occur to a practical atheist.

A practical atheist thinks that all his possessions are his because of his own effort, or in the case of him who lives off subsidies, he believes that somehow these things are owed to him. Certainly Paul’s instruction to “In [everything] give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you” (1 Thessalonians 5:18) would make little sense. The practical atheist gives low priority to “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is” (Hebrews 10:25). Even if he is a member of a church, often other activities will take priority over attending the worship service and Bible study on Sundays. The practical atheist has no need to “Pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17) or to “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. (2 Timothy 2:15). For the practical atheist, personal prayer and Bible study are of little or no value. The practical atheist lives his life as though his future is guaranteed. He is oblivious to Jesus’ warning: “Surely, I come quickly” (Revelation 22:20).

Practical atheists are not necessarily “bad” people. Jesus told of a rich man that died and went to hell (Luke 16:19-32). Jesus’ description of the man was not necessarily an evil report; albeit he was self-centered and self-absorbed, and oblivious to the needs of Lazarus who begged outside his gates. The rich man went to hell because he was a practical atheist. He lived his life as if God did not exist even though he was probably very religious in practice, yet even his religious practice was all about him, and “God” was just part of the nomenclature of his religious life.

The practical atheist may profess a superficial belief in God, but he lives his life as if God does not exist, and as if he is not accountable to Him in any way. As Christians, we should strive to live our lives consistent with our profession and the teachings of God’s Word, and not as practical atheists.

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March 17, 2013 · 23:38

The Bible Stands

Bible

The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever.   (Isaiah 40:8)

Recently a well-known pastor was interviewed by a well-known news commentator concerning the History Channel’s mini-series entitled the The Bible.  The commentator, who claims to be a Christian, began his interview with the presupposition that the Bible is all allegorical. His first question betrayed his bias: “Adam and Eve: Did they literally live in the Garden of Eden and usurp the evolutionary process?” The exchange continued on a pretty even keel from then on with the pastor responding to the commentator’s every incredulous questions. Finally the commentator challenged the compatibility of the Bible with science. The pastor responded with, “I think you’re wrong on this one. The Bible does not contradict true science. It may contradict passing fads of scientific theory that are always evolving.” The pastor could have been more straightforward with the commentator and plainly said, “No, you are wrong on this one,” and gone on to make his case. The truth that pastor made clear was that the opinions of science are always changing with every new discovery, but God and His Word never changes, so, it is either always fully reliable, or it us wholly unreliable. It is either all true or not true at all.

So the pastor continued to make his point: “For example, it used to be thought that the cosmos always existed. But then we had Sir Fred Hoyle, who named the named the Big Bang Theory, that said, ‘Guess what, the universe had a beginning 13.7 billion years ago.’” At this point the pastor had not yet fully capitulated. He was simply pointing out that scientific theories are fickle, but what he unwittingly did was give credence to the unproved “scientific” Big Bang Theory. This was reflected in the commentator’s subsequent question: “Do you believe that the universe started 13.7 billion years ago?” Now the pastor was in a tight spot. He had already opened the door to the possibility of the Big Bang, so now he had to wiggle out of it the best way he could. He responded, “I think it very well could have. One of the things fundamentalist Christians mess up on is they try to say the earth is 6000 years old. The Bible never makes that claim anywhere.” So now, before a national audience, he made the theories of man superior to the Bible, he threw fundamentalist Christians “under the bus,” and he made a false (or at least uniformed) claim about the Bible.

Of course the Bible makes no claim about the age of the earth! However, when one makes a careful study of the genealogies in the book of Genesis, one can easily determine that the time from Adam to Noah was about 1600 years. Some who doubt the veracity of Scripture will attempt to interject “gaps” in the genealogies so that the time span could be much greater, but this is unfounded when one takes Scripture for what is plainly stated. Others attempt to introduce long ages, billions of years even, between the first two verses of Genesis, but this, again, is unfounded. Or else they will attempt to make the “days” of creation be long ages, and this too has no basis in truth especially when a “day” (Hebrew: yom) is clearly defined as “evening and morning” – clearly a 24-hour day. So with a little bit of study and the use of some very simple mathematics, we can conclude, according to Scripture, that the earth is approximately 6000 years old. By yielding on this point, the pastor lost credibility for himself and for the Bible, and ultimately he lost the debate. The commentator reaffirmed his assertion that the Bible was all allegory and given that the pastor had basically conceded on the Genesis record there was really nothing more the pastor could say to convince him otherwise.

Anyone who truly believes that “All scripture is given by inspiration of God” (2 Timothy 3:16) and that “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but [God’s] words shall not pass away” (Matthew 24:35) cannot afford to compromise on Scripture even in the tiniest point. Jesus said, “For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled” (Matthew 5:18). If this is so, then all of Scripture is true and accurate, and according to the biblical record, the earth is about 6000 years old. The atheists/evolutionists do not yield in the least on their contrived Big Bang Theory, so why should Christians compromise on the truth of Scripture?

The pastor preached a solid sermon on Sunday. He preached on:

      • The reliability of the Bible
      • The exclusivity of the Gospel
      • The sovereignty of God

All points meant to encourage Christians to trust God and His Word. So why compromise? Either God’s Word is true or it is not. It really is that simple. The words of the old hymn probably express best the attitude we ought to have toward the Word of God …

The Bible stands like a rock undaunted
’Mid the raging storms of time;
Its pages burn with the truth eternal, (emphasis added)
And they glow with a light sublime.
 
Refrain:
The Bible stands though the hills may tumble,
It will firmly stand when the earth shall crumble;
I will plant my feet on its firm foundation,
For the Bible stands.
 
The Bible stands like a mountain tow’ring
Far above the works of men; (emphasis added)
Its truth by none ever was refuted,
And destroy it they never can.
 
The Bible stands and it will forever,
When the world has passed away;
By inspiration it has been given,
All its precepts I will obey.
 
The Bible stands every test we give it, (emphasis added)
For its Author is divine;
By grace alone I expect to live it,
And to prove and to make it mine.
(“The Bible Stands” by Haldor Lillenas, 1917)

 

As Bible-believing Christians, there should never be room for compromise on Scripture.

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February 24, 2013 · 16:00

Midnight at the Museum

Perot Museum

The Perot Museum of Nature and Science, Dallas, Texas.

Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools (Romans 1:22)

In December 2012, Dallas opened the doors to Perot Museum of Nature and Science dedicated to the “religion” of evolution. Recently a couple of friends and I ventured out to explore “the talk of the town.”  The place was replete with technologically enhanced exhibits designed to “wow” patrons and to captivate the minds of young children.  One such display, logistically placed at the beginning of the self-guided tour, depicted the origin of our universe.  One young lad called out to his friends, “Hey! Come here!  It’s the Big Bang!  This is how it all started!”  The display projected a video program from above onto a convex reflective surface below.  The narrative began by discrediting the “creationist” view in lieu of “the facts” we now “know” about the origins of the universe.

That was just the beginning.  Throughout the museum, evolution was presented as undeniable fact.  One signboard encouraged the visitor to “Imagine you are a paleontologist…” and then stated that “Paleontologists solve fossil mish-mashes by referring to studies of anatomy and evolution.”  The bias could not be more clearly stated; the starting place is “evolution” and the possibility of creation is not even up for discussion.  A display of mammal fossils proclaims that “We mammals distinguish ourselves by our ability to grow hair and suckle our offspring. Most also give birth to live young” (emphasis added)  This seemingly innocuous statement equates humans with animals, rather than a special and distinct creation of God.

Another exhibit traced the evolution of dinosaurs to birds.  The placard read: “When did modern birds emerge?  It is difficult to pinpoint.  The transition from ‘pre-bird’ to bird took tens of millions of years with many steps along the way.”  However, omitted from the narrative is the fact that no evidence exists in the fossil record to confirm such a claim; even so it is presented as indisputable fact.  And according to the geology exhibit earth’s sedimentary rock layers “reveal the major events in the geologic history of a site … and the evolution of life on Earth.”  The truth is that the sedimentary rock layers only reveal fully formed plants and animals with no transitional forms at all.  In fact, the museum displayed many fossilized creatures that still exist today.

The biology section explained the importance of the cell.  “All living things are made up of tiny, self-contained units called cells.  Cells perform essential functions, such as taking in nutrients, converting energy, or enabling reproduction.” What is omitted from the message is how highly complex even the most simple cell is and the improbability of it having resulted from a random combination of inert matter.  In tracing the history of evolution one sign recorded that “As new evidence and observations mounted, evolution became an accepted theory (emphasis added).  Today, we continue to develop and test ideas about the way evolution works.”  Several misrepresentations are found in this statement.  First of all, there is no “evidence” for evolution.  Secondly, no “observations” of evolution have been undeniably documented, and they certainly have not “mounted” because all such “observations” keep collapsing on themselves.  Thirdly, one might conclude that the reason evolutionists “continue to develop and test ideas about the way evolution works,” is because it does not work, or, as they say out in West Texas, “they’re kicking a dead horse.”

The human evolution section displayed a replica of fossilized footprints discovered in Laetoli, Tanzania.  These footprints showed “a well-developed arch and heel-to-toe imprint.  This contrasts to our ape relatives which, when walking upright, place more pressure on the outside of the foot.”  The footprints, at least to this observer, were clearly human; however, the artist’s conception of the creatures that made the prints looked like naked, lanate, ape-faced hominids.  It is not difficult to see how they arrived at this conclusion, when one considers the evolutionist’s mindset.  Supposedly, the volcanic ash in which the prints were made was 3.6 million years old.  Modern humans, according to evolutionists, only evolved 100,000 years ago, so naturally the prints could not have been made by modern humans.  The unanswered question, or the question that is not raised is, what if the volcanic ash is not that old?

In all, the field trip to the museum was an enjoyable experience, but as the saying goes, “it’s a nice place to visit, but I wouldn’t want to live there.”  For a place that is supposedly enlightened by “science,” it reveals the darkness brought about by the denial of the Creator (Romans 1:28).  The Institute for Creation Research addresses the topics covered here with a vast resource library of articles.  Below are just of few that I would encourage you to consider.

Suggested Reading:

Big Bang Explanations Fall Flat

New Research Undermines Key Argument for Human Evolution

Humans are Humans, After All

Archaeopteryx Is a Bird…Again

Stalling Over Transitional Forms

Bacteria Study Shoots Down ‘Simple Cell’ Assumptions

Who or What Made the Laetoli Footprints?

The Unasked Question

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