What Would Jesus Say To An Atheist? Series

But my brother, who has three master's degrees, including one in theoretical physics, is a born-again pastor in Pennsylvania.

Rosiland Pickard, MIT professor and tech pioneer, lived the first part of her life and career as an atheist. But then she read the Bible and something happened.

I’ve been reading, studying and teaching the Bible for 35 years. I’ve read it cover to cover over 40 times. I’ve asked the hard questions and dove deep into the mystery. And I am more convinced of the Bible’s trustworthiness than I was 35 years ago.

The Terror

Do all these evildoers know nothing? They devour my people as though eating bread; they never call on God.

But there they are, overwhelmed with dread, for God is present in the company of the righteous. You evildoers frustrate the plans of the poor, but the Lord is their refuge.

David writes that these fools attack and mock Christians as causally as they would eat a PB&J sandwich.

Many of these atheists “worship” the “flying spaghetti monster,” who is said to have created the world after a night of heavy drinking.

They never call on the Lord. They don’t want God, seek God, or know God.

These people often have power:

“Listen, you leaders of Jacob, you rulers of Israel. Should you not embrace justice, you who hate good and love evil; who tear the skin from my people and the flesh from their bones;  who eat my people’s flesh strip off their skin and break their bones in pieces; who chop them up like meat for the pan, like flesh for the pot?” (Micah 3:1-3)

But, in the end, they will have nowhere to hide while the poor will be kept safe by their God.

There is deep existential dread in these people’s hearts.

Pascal, the mathematician, and theologian, suggested what we know as Pascal’s wager.

If I’m wrong and there is no God, then what have I lost? I have tried to live my life with integrity, love my wife and children, and sacrificially serve others.

If you are wrong, what have you lost? Everything. You have missed the point of this life and the next.

Asaph admits in Psalm 73 that he was often jealous of the wicked. But then his jealousy turned to sorrow:

“When I tried to understand all this, it troubled me deeply 

till I entered the sanctuary of God; then I understood their final destiny.” (Psalm 73:16-17)

There is a heaven, whether you believe it or not. There is a hell, whether you believe it or not. We all will be judged, whether you believe it or not.

Paul wrote to the Corinthians:

For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad. (2 Cor 5:10)

Not One

As you have listened to this, you may have felt some pride in your heart. I’m not like those atheists. I’m in church most

Sundays.

But there is a practical atheism that has infiltrated our churches. People affirm with their mouths on a Sunday their love and loyalty to Jesus and then live Monday through Saturday as if He doesn’t even exist.