development. Psalm 14:1, written by David around 1000 B.C., mentions
atheism: "The fool says in his heart, 'There is no God.'" Recent
statistics show an increasing number of people claiming to be
atheists, up to 10 percent of people worldwide. So why are more and
more people becoming atheists? Is atheism truly the logical position
atheists claim it to be?
Why does atheism even exist? Why doesn't God simply reveal Himself to
people, proving that He exists? Surely if God would just appear, the
thinking goes, everyone would believe in Him! The problem here is that
it is not God's desire to just convince people that He exists. It is
God's desire for people to believe in Him by faith (2 Peter 3:9) and
accept by faith His gift of salvation (John 3:16). God clearly
demonstrated His existence many times in the Old Testament (Genesis
6-9; Exodus 14:21-22; 1 Kings 18:19-31). Did the people believe that
God exists? Yes. Did they turn from their evil ways and obey God? No.
If a person is not willing to accept God's existence by faith, then
he/she is definitely not ready to accept Jesus Christ as Savior by
faith (Ephesians 2:8-9). God's desire is for people to become
Christians, not just theists (those who believe God exists).
The Bible tells us that God's existence must be accepted by faith.
Hebrews 11:6 declares, "And without faith it is impossible to please
God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and
that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him." The Bible reminds us
that we are blessed when we believe and trust in God by faith: "Then
Jesus told him, 'Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed
are those who have not seen and yet have believed'" (John 20:29).
The existence of God must be accepted by faith, but this does not mean
belief in God is illogical. There are many good arguments for the
existence of God. The Bible teaches that God's existence is clearly
seen in the universe (Psalm 19:1-4), in nature (Romans 1:18-22), and
in our own hearts (Ecclesiastes 3:11). With all that said, the
existence of God cannot be proven; it must be accepted by faith.
At the same time, it takes just as much faith to believe in atheism.
To make the absolute statement "God does not exist" is to make a claim
of knowing absolutely everything there is to know about everything and
of having been everywhere in the universe and having witnessed
everything there is to be seen. Of course, no atheist would make these
claims. However, that is essentially what they are claiming when they
state that God absolutely does not exist. Atheists cannot prove that
God does not, for example, live in the center of the sun, or beneath
the clouds of Jupiter, or in some distant nebula. Since those places
are beyond our capacity to observe, it cannot be proven that God does
not exist. It takes just as much faith to be an atheist as it does to
be a theist.
Atheism cannot be proven, and God's existence must be accepted by
faith. Obviously, Christians believe strongly that God exists, and
admit that God's existence is a matter of faith. At the same time, we
reject the idea that belief in God is illogical. We believe that God's
existence can be clearly seen, keenly sensed, and proven to be
philosophically and scientifically necessary. "The heavens declare the
glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day
they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge.
There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard. Their
voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the
world" (Psalm 19:1-4).
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