WHY DON’T ATHEISTS BELIEVE IN GOD?
Psalm 53.1-4
S: Atheism
C: Rational belief in God
Pr: LOOK AT THE EVIDENCE.
Type: Inductive
PA: How is the change to be observed?
• Consider the evidence.
• Be a listener.
Version: ESV
RMBC 11 November 07 AM
INTRODUCTION:
ILL Belief (H)
Nine-year-old Joey, was asked by his mother what he had learned in Sunday school.
"Well, Mom, our teacher told us how God sent Moses behind enemy lines on a rescue mission to lead the Israelites out of Egypt. When he got to the Red Sea, he had his engineers build a pontoon bridge and all the people walked across safely. Then he used his walkie-talkie to radio headquarters for reinforcements. They sent bombers to blow up the bridge and all the Israelites were saved."
"Now, Joey, is that really what your teacher taught you?" his mother asked.
"Well, no, Mom. But if I told it the way the teacher did, you’d never believe it!"
The story about the exodus is an incredible story.
It is nothing short of miraculous.
That being said…
1. We realize, as Christians, that many of the narratives in the Bible are hard to believe.
When it comes right down to it, those of us who are Christians believe some really incredible, impossible things.
We know that.
This is why I have never desired to be harsh on people that do not believe, especially for those that are more thoughtful by nature.
Today, I want to talk to two groups.
I want to speak to Christians, to give you a snapshot of some selected history regarding atheism, and more importantly, what a new breed of atheists are saying today.
I also want to speak to non-Christians who do not believe there is a God or who may be wrestling with the question of His existence.
I want to assure you that I am not a man with all the answers.
I, too, am on this journey of life, constantly searching for truth and more truth.
What I cannot do, this morning, is present such an airtight, cogent argument that everyone who listens will be immediately convinced that what I say is true.
But what I want everyone to do this morning is to seriously look at the evidence – know both sides – without disparagement – which I think both groups have a tendency to do.
Admittedly, there are times that Christians have been particularly harsh about those that claimed atheistic belief.
At the same time, please understand that I do speak from a Christian worldview.
I make no apologies for this.
I intend to humbly persuade this morning.
OUR STUDY:
First, I want us to consider selected points in the…
I. History of Atheism
For those that believe in God, I think it is particularly interesting to note that…
2. The Romans believed that Christians were atheists.
The culture into which the church was born was not a friendly one.
They were not inclined to be in favor of religious diversity.
So, when Christianity began to grow, it was not met with approval.
The Roman government considered this new Jewish sect as subversive to the state religion.
If you did not believe in the Roman gods, it was described as impiety and heresy, and was considered a capital crime.
This is why many a Christian lost their lives in the early years, both from their homeland in Palestine, and as they stretched out across the Roman empire.
Through the years, we know that Christianity took hold in the empire by the late 300s, and became the dominant worldview in the western world even until this day.
However, as the modern world ushered into place in the 1800s, the belief in atheism began to take a prominent role in the intellectual world.
The criticism of Christians began to increase.
It was claimed that Christians were uncritical thinkers.
They were wasting their life on wishful thinking.
They revered a book with glaring inconsistencies, bizarre mythology and inaccurate history.
Such thinking caused Karl Marx to conclude that…
3. Karl Marx: “It (religion) is the opium of the people.”
It is a drug to help a person get by.
It is used to dull the pain caused by reality.
In other words, religion was being used as a “crutch.”
And according to Marx, if people want happiness, they need to give up what is illusory and unreliable to experience what is real.
Friedrich Nietzsche, a prominent 19th century philosopher, is well-known for coining the aphorism "God is dead" (German: "Gott ist tot").
4. Friedrich Nietzsche: “…God is dead, that the belief in the Christian God has become unbelievable..."
Although the original quote of “God is dead” was not spoken by Nietzsche directly, it was spoken by one of his characters in one of his writings.
Nevertheless, he did not believe in God
He believed that God was nothing more than a conjecture of the creative will.
He believed we had outgrown our need of God, so we should instead spend our energies creating the perfect man, what he calls the “overman.”
He believed that humanity needed to create a whole new set of values that would replace what man had inadequately put forth with religion.
It must be understood that it was men like Vladimir Lenin and Adolf Hitler that listened to Marx and Nietzsche respectively, and they changed their worlds.
Now, of course, it is entirely unfair to say it was because of their belief in atheism alone that caused these historic tragedies.
But Lenin did apply Marx’s atheism to the development of the communist society and Hitler did apply Neitzsche’s concept of the overman to developing the master race of the Germans, especially at the expense of those of Jewish and African descent.
This is why we must understand that actions come from ideas.
What we think and what we believe does influence what we do and say.
ILL Atheism (S)
Lightning flashed in the Maryland sky. Rain pelted her face as a pregnant Madalyn Murray shook her fist toward the heavens and unleashed a torrent of vulgarities as she taunted God to strike her dead for blasphemy.
When she remained untouched, she grew more defiant. She turned and declared to her watching family: “You see! You see! If God exists, He would surely have taken up my challenge. I’ve proved irrefutably that God does not exist!”
This was the conclusion of the woman who brought the court case to eliminate prayer in schools.
Now I don’t agree with Murray-O’Hair’s logic because, in my worldview, I don’t believe God is obligated to answer her.
So, her claim does not really prove anything except that she really did not like God.
She saved a lot of her venom for the Bible…
5. Madalyn Murray-O’Hair: “We find the Bible to be nauseating, historically inaccurate, replete with the ravings of madmen.”
She characterized the Bible as a brutal, horrible book, full of hate and murder.
And this was her stated goal:
“I want to be able to walk down any street in America and not see a cross or any other sign of religion.”
Madalyn’s legacy has been passed on to another group called…
II. The New Atheists
These new atheists are nothing less than evangelistic, and are, in a way, militant.
They will not let anyone off the hook simply because they are not doctrinaire believers.
They condemn not just belief in God, but respect for belief in God.
Religion is not only wrong; it’s evil.
A battle has been joined to wipe religion off the map.
One of these men that enjoined the battle is Sam Harris.
Harris has written two books that have gained prominence: The End of Faith; and Letter to a Christian Nation.
His goal is simple.
He states that he has set out to demolish the intellectual moral pretensions of Christianity in its most committed forms.
In other words, he wants to eliminate the underpinnings of those that truly believe.
For Harris…
6. Sam Harris: “Theology is now little more than a branch of human ignorance.”
It is an ignorance that is dangerous.
For, it is Harris’ conclusion that unless belief in God is eradicated, civilization is likely to end in a murderous sea of religious warfare.
It is an interesting point, and one worth considering…
Atheism (H)
Quentin Crisp:
“When I told the people of Northern Ireland that I was an atheist, a woman in the audience stood up and said, ’Yes, but is it the God of the Catholics or the God of the Protestants in whom you don’t believe?’"
Religion is tied into a lot of conflict.
Religious wars exist all over the map, and a lot of them have involved Christians.
Certainly there are religious overtones to the 9/11 attacks and the continued conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq.
In comparison to Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris is a cute little puppy.
Dawkins has been called by some “Darwin’s pit bull.”
He has written a book called The God Delusion, and he does not hold back on his criticism of Christianity.
He does not worry about public relations.
He calls it as he sees it.
For example, he has said…
7. Richard Dawkins: “The God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction…”
Dawkins is fierce in his opposition.
He does not merely disagree with religious myths; he disagrees with tolerating them.
He has become, as one neutral observer said, a proudly elitist and self-certain minority.
When asked what the main difference between religious believers and atheists was, Dawkins had a quick answer: "Well, we’re bright."
It is his opinion that highly intelligent people are most likely to be atheists.
Many years ago now, Salmon Rushdie wrote in a piece of fiction descriptions of the prophet Muhammed that some Muslims did not consider too flattering.
Because of this, the Ayatollah Khomeini issued a fatwa against Salmon Rushdie.
His execution was ordered and a $3 million bounty was placed on him.
This profoundly affected a man named Christopher Hitchens.
He believed this to be a frontal assault on free expression and became determined to fight it.
It has become his determination that…
8. Christopher Hitchens: “Religion poisons everything.”
It is also the title of his book: God Is Not Great: Why Religion Poisons Everything.
He believes that we need to leave this sinister childhood nonsense behind and move up to more adult thinking.
He characterizes himself as an anti-theist.
He makes the distinction like this:
“An atheist can still say he wishes it was true. It would be nice if it was true. I can’t see why it would be nice if it was true. I simply can’t see that. To have pre-cradle to post-grave round-the-clock supervision and surveillance by someone with a very devious form of morality, who wants this to be true? I’m delighted that there’s no reason to think it’s true. It’s humanity’s most obvious falsification.”
Hitchens has in recent months become the most common speaker on the circuit, and many Christian apologists of varying degrees have lined up to debate him.
He possesses a sarcastic wit that is fairly blunt.
Hitchens lumps all religion together.
Like all new atheists, it makes no difference to him.
And he is very keen to make sure that we understand that Christianity is as dangerous as Islam.
Under the same umbrella he groups…
• Mother Teresa,
• voodoo,
• the pope,
• Muslim suicide bombers,
• animists,
• the archbishop of Canterbury,
• séances,
• Thomas Aquinas,
• an evangelical huckster "dressed in a Little Lord Fauntleroy suit,"
• Muhammad,
• the "tawdry myths of Bethlehem,"
• the "vapid and annoying holiday known as ’Hanukah,’"
• Mormons,
• "hysterical Jewish congregations,"
• the "sordid" theology of Pascal,
• Martin Luther King Jr.,
• rednecks,
• "cobbled-together ancient Jewish books" (i.e., the Bible),
• WWII-era Japanese emperor worship,
• and male circumcision (which Hitchens describes as "mutilation of a powerless infant with the aim of ruining its future sex life").
His criticism continues when he says…
“We believe with certainty that an ethical life can be lived without religion. And we know for a fact that the corollary holds true – that religion has caused innumerable people not just to conduct themselves no better than others, but to award themselves permission to behave in ways that would make a brothel-keeper or an ethnic cleanser raise an eyebrow.”
He has a point.
Christians have not been consistent.
They have not followed the example of Christ.
And in so doing, they offer little evidence that God exists.
III. Atheist to Theist
For a good part of the 20th century, the analytical philosopher, Antony Flew has been a prominent spokesman for atheism.
Though not a writer of popular books (as Harris, Dawkins and Hitchens), his intellect is well-respected in academic circles.
He earned his philosophical fame by arguing that one should presuppose atheism until evidence of a God surfaces.
His advice has consistently been…
9. Antony Flew: “Follow the evidence wherever it leads.”
This means, as a true academic, he was willing to have his mind changed if he had the evidence to do so.
Not all academic minds are so open-minded (and neither are religious ones, I might add).
But a few years ago, he came to this conclusion…
“It now seems to me that the findings of more than fifty years of DNA research have provided materials for a new and enormously powerful argument to design.”
Flew says that a pivotal point in his thinking was when he realized two major flaws in the various theories of how nature might have created itself.
First, he recognized that evolutionary theory has no reasonable explanation for "the first emergence of living from non-living matter" – that is, the origin of life.
Second, even if a living cell or primitive animal had somehow assembled itself from non-living chemicals, he reasoned it would have no ability to reproduce.
What Flew was facing is what so many scientists ignore.
At the heart of life, at the center of each cell in every living thing, is a language, a code, or what we would call information.
There is no known natural process capable of producing information.
There is no evidence.
The only logical conclusion is that there is an intelligent source behind that message and information in each living cell.
CHALLENGE:
There are two messages that I have observed that atheists want to hear from Christians.
10. Militant Atheists to Christians: Change or disappear!
The new atheists are clear on their agenda.
There is no room for religion, regardless of the brand.
They want us to change or clear out.
But one has to wonder to hat extent will they take this rhetoric?
If they really believe it, will they resort to violence, the very thing they condemn regarding religion?
And for most, science is the direction to follow.
It is the only reliable method of knowing anything…
Atheism (S)
One atheist, Ram Samudrala, put it this way…
...I am . . . against religion in general, particularly organised religion. In many ways, science is as much a religion to me as any other, but the one fundamental difference is that I constantly question my beliefs and I try extremely hard to prove myself wrong. . .
Samudrala is not the most antagonistic example, but he is fairly representative of what is being thought by those that reject religion in general and Christianity more specifically.
There are other atheists that are more friendly.
What I mean is that, to them, it is fine to believe what we want but don’t try to force what we believe down their throats.
In other words…
11. Friendly Atheists to Christians: Don’t be so hateful and smug!
The testimony of such atheists is that Christians come across to them as arrogant, and even angry.
We do not take them seriously to find out what they think.
We are so busy trying to persuade them that we do not take the time to really listen.
In their view, churches have aligned themselves against non-religious people, and in so doing, Christians have turned off people they would want to connect with.
I would like to suggest to everyone in this room this morning to do the following…
12. CONSIDER THE EVIDENCE.
Atheism (S)
Ram Samudrala greatly saddened me when he came to the following conclusion. He said:
Existence is random and inherently meaningless and purposeless…
What I say to that are the words that were spoken to the skeptical Nathaniel when he was told about how great Jesus was.
He was told, “Come and see!”
What great advice!
Come and see!
Consider the evidence.
And let us hear what
13. Scripture speaks…
In Psalm 19.1-6:
The Heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.
Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge.
There is no speech, nor are there words, whose voice is not heard.
Their measuring line goes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world.
In them he has set a tent for the sun, which comes out like a bridegroom leaving his chamber, and, like a strong man, runs its course with joy.
Its rising is from the end of the heavens, and its circuit to the end of them, and there is nothing hidden from its heat.
The psalmist says that our very world speaks of the existence of God.
It is, though, up to us to listen.
It means that we must slow down and consider the evidence.
For every day, creation speaks of its Creator.
Again, Scripture says…
Psalm 53.1-3
The fool says in his heart, "There is no God."
They are corrupt, doing abominable iniquity; there is none who does good.
God looks down from heaven on the children of man to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God.
They have all fallen away; together they have become corrupt; there is none who does good, not even one.
The psalmist again tells us again that creation speaks of God.
The only ones that don’t recognize it are the foolish, because they are either ignoring the evidence, or they are choosing to not consider it.
When this happens, it is a further corruption of the soul, as the apostle Paul writes in Romans 1.18-20:
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.
Paul agrees with the psalmist.
God has made it plain.
His power, His divine nature are clearly perceived, if we only will consider the evidence!
What is that evidence?
It is the world we live in.
It is the bodies we possess.
It is the minds that think.
ILL Atheism (S)
Alister McGrath, a former atheist, in a debate with Christopher Hitchens, said this:
"I believe in Christianity as I believe the sun has risen, not simply because I see it but because by it I see everything else."
“I will gladly concede, because I think Mr. Hitchens is right on this, that there are some forms of religion that are pathological, that damage people. For every one of these atrocities which must cause all of us deep concern, there are 10,000 unreported acts of kindness, generosity, and so forth arising from religious commitment.”
McGrath concedes the error of many a religion, but does not give up on his faith because of it.
Why?
Because the evidence does not take him there.
Over the next two weeks, we will continue to consider this topic.
Next week, we will speak of how the evidence engages our mind.
The following week, we will speak of how the evidence engages our soul.
BENEDICTION:
Available to pray, counsel or just talk after the postlude concludes…
Be a listener…value each other…listen to each other…seek to understand a position that is not yours…look to make a connection with another heart.
Follow the evidence…to where it leads you…and I am confident of this…if you come and see…if you truly seek God…you will find Him.
Now may the God of peace equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
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