Tag Archives: atheism

Jan 20 2014

What Will It Take for an Atheist to Believe in God?

The real answer to this question, of course is the work of  conviction and renewal by the Holy Spirit in their heart.

But what do hardened atheists say when asked this question?

This is what atheist Peter Boghossian writes in his book A Manual for Creating Atheists:

“…if I walked outside at night and all of the stars were organized to read, “I am God communicating with you, believe in Me!” and every human being worldwide witnessed this in their native language, this would be suggestive (but far from conclusive as it’s a perception and could be a delusion).”

On Real Time with Bill Maher, Maher has a humorous response to what it would take for him to believe:

“Jesus Christ coming down from the sky during the halftime show at the Super Bowl and turning nachos into bread and fish.”

Silly atheists…

Delight in Truth would argue that some of these atheists would reject Jesus even if He came down during the Super Bowl and performed a physical miracle.  Follow the conversations Jesus has with His opponents in John 6 and John 8.  Despite the miracles He was doing in their midst, they still did not believe in Him. In fact, they wanted to kill Him.  In the same way we have hardened people today who hate God (even though they claim he does not exists).

Clearly pharaoh did not believe in God despite the exceptional miracles performed through Moses… and in our case, Maher would have us think that he would believe in Jesus if he saw nachos turn into bread… This is an abominable proposition in the very least.

Why do atheistic activists fight with such fervor against the concept of a monotheistic God, especially the God of the Bible? When was the last time you saw an anti-theist mock an eastern religion? They focus on Christianity and Jesus because that is where the truth is, and the truth bothers them. They have no problem with Buddhism and other polytheistic religions, but they go after the Judeo-Christian beliefs.

Why?

Because they love sin.

God’s moral standard is perfect and they reject it in favor of their own system of so-called morality. They do this in order to numb their God-given conscience and continue to sin.

The next time an atheist or anti-theist challenges you, ask him why he fights so hard against a God whom he claims does not exist…

Mar 20 2013

Atheism as the Wisdom of the World

The late William Provine, a biologist at Cornell University, made the following statement about evolutionary theory:

“Let me summarize my theory on what modern evolutionary biology tells us loud and clear.

There are no gods, there are no purposes, there are no goal directed purposes of any kind.

There’s no life after death.

When I die, I’m absolutely certain that I’ll be dead.

That’s the end of me.

There’s no ultimate foundation for ethics, no ultimate meaning in life, and there’s no free will for human beings either.” (1)

It is mind-numbing to see the level of truth suppression in these statements made by what society considers a brilliant man.  I sat through an eight year college and medical education and took some of the same courses as this biologist, yet I hold to a different standard, an absolute standard for the purpose of life, ethics, and morality.

I cannot even begin to categorize the philosophical belief expressed in this quote.  Blind fatalism may apply, but that would imply fate as a driving factor.  Even atheists may want to depart from Provine’s position of no “meaning in life.”

So depressing to apply such philosophy to one’s life… No goal directed purpose to anything…

But more importantly, such godless worldview is contradictory in its premises.

If there is no foundation for ethics and therefore no absolute morality, then moral relativism is the moral law of the land.  Everyone sets up their own system of right and wrong with respect to morality.  That implies free will in action, the volition and ability to do what everyone feels good and right for themselves.

That would appear to make sense in a land without ethics.  But… Provine says that there is no free will for human beings, contradicting his previous statements…

Provine is correct in one sense.  There is no absolute free will because human beings do not posses the ability (without divine redemption) to lead a sinless life even if we want to.  We are chained to this fallen creation until the finalization of our redemption (Rom 8:20-21).

Delight in Truth readers, with respect to Dr Provine, we are dealing with a case of 1 Corinthians 1 wisdom of the world gone bad.  Paul tells us that the wisdom of the world cannot be applied in knowing God ( 1 Cor 1:21).  He will not reveal Himself via the wisdom of the world, but by the Word of God through the mysterious work of the Holy Spirit.

That is the folly of the cross! The world considers it foolishness… the whole idea of absolute morality, total depravity, and the need for our sins to be imputed onto Christ crucified in order that we may attain righteousness.

When the sinner realizes this, they will never be the same again.

(1) quote from Rodi – Agnus Dei

Mar 9 2013

The Church as a Model for Atheists

Scripture tells us that God placed eternity in the hearts of men, and the sentiment to seek God, to worship, and to have fellowship with a purpose beyond just a “get-together.”

Surprise, surprise… even those who are atheists provide evidence for this in their actions.

The Sunday Assembly in London is an atheist church, a godless church,  which has copied the practice of the Body of Christ.  They meet on Sundays, they sings songs, have some announcements, a reading, and a sermon from guest speaker.

The godless are copying the godly.

It might be a good thing.

They claim to be very open-minded and I hope they would eventually invite a Christian speaker to present to them a Christian worldview and the Gospel, which may give the Holy Spirit the opportunity to change some of them.  What an amazing testimony that would be!

On the other hand, this may turn into a larger movement, an alternative to the real Church which will deceive many towards perdition.

In a Christian Post article, Matt Slick, president and founder of Christian Apologetics and Research Ministry, says that a movement like this is dangerous. “The devil is working through them to replace the Christian church with the church of the devil.  Atheism is the ultimate denial of God,” Slick said. “This movement is a manifestation of the enemy of the Gospel trying to replace Christianity, corrupt it and weaken it.”

“It might be that they become united and become a stronger front against Christianity. That is my concern. This has potential to do a lot of damage to the Church”

If Satan has the capacity to disguise himself into an angel of light to attempt to deceive the masses, he surely can use a copycat church to do the same.

Our job is to show unbelievers that even atheists feel the deep longing for that Something, for the unknown God of Acts 17, for the need to gather with purpose.  Under the light of Scripture we know that purpose is to worship the One and true God.

image credit

Mar 4 2013

Chinese Propaganda… in Our Christian Media!

I had written a post (here) about the online magazine Christianity Today, questioning whether it can be called Christian based on some the articles, editorials, and opinion pieces they publish.

So, it was not surprising to see an article in Christianity Today entitled “China Isn’t Trying to Wipe Out Christianity” which is basically an apologetic piece on the claim that persecution is really not that bad in China.

Having lived in communist Romania until age 13, and having seen the persecution methods employed by that government against my local church, I can testify that what I read in this article was a message influenced by communist propaganda.  The communist Romanians had freedom of speech, religion and assembly as part of their core values.  Allegedly. And theoretically.  But they were vehemently persecuting the existing ne0-Protestant churches for their FAITH under the banner of national security.  Any prayer meeting was seen as a national threat.  Every church was suspected of being a potential western ally.  Every faithful Christian was a potential revolutionary.  All of these to cover the real motive which was religious persecution.

They used the seemingly legitimate national defense excuse to accomplish their atheistic goals of suppressing the truth and stamping out religious practice.

And the propaganda disseminated in this article by Christianity Today follows some of the same old techniques we have seen in the former eastern communist bloc.  For example:

1. The government is really not after those practicing their faith in house churches.  Oh no.  They are after anti-government elements that pose a national threat… So I ask… National threat from whom?  Is the US or western Europe about to go to war with China? How ridiculous does that sound? Are they afraid that individual house cell meetings for prayer are going to topple a massive totalitarian government?  Even that is highly improbable!

2. The Chinese government is not persecuting the faith, they are trying to suppress protests which can be embarrassing.  So I ask… Why are Christians trying to protest in the first place if they are not persecuted for their faith?

3. The Chinese government is not persecuting Christians… only the ones who are trying to publicize human rights violations.  Again, when freedom of religion is suppressed, that is a human rights violation translating into religion persecution.

Quote from the article: “The point here is not in any way to minimize the seriousness of these cases, but simply to point out that these believers were not persecuted for their faith or even for belonging to a house church…”  This is exactly what the propaganda is!  That the persecution has nothing to do with faith but with anti-government activity.  We have seen this cover story time and time again in Romania.

This is an old trick and we are not going to fall for it!

Can we now see how ridiculous it is to blame Christian “trouble makers” to divert attention from the real underlying impetus of the atheist Chinese government, their real motive being the  persecution of the Christian faith? And Christianity Today is buying it despite multiple other reports and assessments with respect to the intense persecution of the faithful in China!

Even though Christianity Today may not (want to) discern the truth, we know that our brothers and sisters in China are suffering at the hands of an atheist totalitarian regime which wants to inhibit their faith in God.  We will continue to pray for these Christians and remember Matthew 5:10 “Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

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Jan 21 2013

Why are Young People Leaving Religion?

nones-exec-3

According to the latest data from Pew Forum on Religion, one in five US adults have no religion affiliation, while that figure rises one in three young adults who consider themselves part of the “nones.”  Nones are now a group that encompass atheists, agnostics, skeptics and open theists.

One in three!!! These are staggering statistics!

At the same time, NPR published an interview with six young people who have abandoned their religion, and I will paste some highlights here:

Miriam Nissly, 29, was raised Jewish and considers herself Jewish with an “agnostic bent.” She loves going to synagogue.

“I find the practice of sitting and being quiet and being alone with your thoughts to be helpful, but I don’t think I need to answer that question [about God] in order to participate in the traditions I was brought up with.”

Yusuf Ahmad, 33, raised Muslim, is now an atheist. His doubts set in as a child with sacred stories he just didn’t believe

“Like the story of Abraham — his God tells him to sacrifice his son. Then he takes his son to sacrifice him, and he turns into a goat. Today if some guy told you that ‘I need to sacrifice my son because God told me to do it,’ he’d be locked up in a crazy institution.”

Kyle Simpson, 27, raised Christian. He has a tattoo on the inside of his wrist that says “Salvation from the cross” in Latin.

“It’s a little troublesome now when people ask me. I tell them and they go, ‘Oh, you’re a Christian,’ and I try to skirt the issue now. They go, ‘What does that mean?’ and it’s like, “It’s Latin for ‘I made a mistake when I was 18.’

“I don’t [believe in God] but I really want to.

“I think having a God would create a meaning for our lives, like we’re working toward a purpose — and it’s all worthwhile because at the end of the day we will maybe move on to another life where everything is beautiful. I love that idea.”

Melissa Adelman, 30, raised Catholic

“I remember a theology test in eighth grade where there was a question about homosexuality, and the right answer was that if you are homosexual, then that is not a sin because that’s how God made you, but acting upon it would be a sin. That’s what I put down as the answer, but I vividly remember thinking to myself that was not the right answer.”

Rigoberto Perez, 30, raised as Seventh-day Adventist

“While I was younger, my father drank a lot. There was abuse in the home. My brother committed suicide in 2001. So at some point you start to say, ‘Why does all this stuff happen to people?’ And if I pray and nothing good happens, is that supposed to be I’m being tried? I find that almost kind of cruel in some ways. It’s like burning ants with a magnifying glass. Eventually that gets just too hard to believe anymore.”

Lizz Reeves, 23, raised by a Jewish mother and a Christian father. She lost a brother to cancer.

“I wanted so badly to believe in God and in heaven, and that’s where he was going. I wanted to have some sort of purpose and meaning associated with his passing. And ultimately the more time I spent thinking about it, I realized the purpose and meaning of his life had nothing to do with heaven, but it had to do with how I could make choices in my life that give his life meaning. And that had a lot more weight with me than any kind of faith in anything else.”

*******

What do all these young people have in common?  Their answers prove how ineffective formal religion is at addressing their need for a Savior.  They have all been exposed to empty religious practice which can never save.  Even the four who had contact with Christianity do not mention the center of Christianity: Jesus Christ.

Everything in their universe is focused on themselves.  They are the authors of their future and no one will stand in their way.

They have tried to find answers in religion and they could not.  Now they will attempt to find answers in the philosophy, meditation, and human wisdom.  They will fail with these as well…

Until they find “the folly” of the cross, and the Savior who was crucified on it.

1 Corinthians 1:21-25 “For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength.”

Dec 12 2012

War on Christmas (part 2)

We pick up on this theme from here, and we turn our attention to an organization named American Atheists which has declared an intellectual war on religion, especially Christianity.

They were founded by Madalyn Murray O’Hare, the litigant in the Supreme Court case responsible for removing prayer from schools in the early 1960’s, and their current membership numbers in the thousands.

If you have seen offensive billboards toward Jesus while driving around, it is highly likely they are sponsored by this group. They have made the news recently due to a coordinated campaign against the message of Christmas, calling Jesus a “myth.”

Said their president: “We know that a large population of ‘Christians’ are actually atheists who feel trapped in their family’s religion. If you know god is a myth, you do not have to lie and call yourself ‘Christian’ in order to have a festive holiday season. You can be merry without the myth, and indeed, you should”

As a result they have launched a billboard campaign called “keep the merry, dump the myth.”

It is sad to realize that these people have to fight a belief system in order to place themselves on the map. They don’t realize that they have their own religion, a set of beliefs and principles called “atheism,” and they have their own gatherings (churches), and their own organizations professing their beliefs. Sounds like a full-fledged religion to me. Moreover, they are ironically using our celebration of the birth of Jesus as an occasion for their own merry celebration!

As you see these billboards at busy intersections and public squares, keep in mind that we are not engaged in a fight against an atheist organization. We are clenched in a spiritual war against the forces of darkness:

“12For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. 13Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm”(Ephesians 6:12-13).

Intellectual persecution against Christians is here disguised under “separation of church and state” and it will continue to progress to more significant levels. We therefore need to “stand firm” and proclaim the Gospel with love and without shame.