Why do atheists cling so strongly to the idea that God does not exist? The easy explanation that many religious people might readily suggest is that they don't want to follow God's commands, that out of selfishness, they rebel against God, and dismiss His existence to excuse themselves. I think there is some truth to this explanation in many cases, but for most atheists, I don't think this plays a significant role. There is a much bigger picture.
If we believe in God, and if we believe in the scripture He provides for us, then we ought to also believe in His adversary. He has employed a lot of very clever tricks to convince the world that atheism is a reasonable, plausible perspective. Chief among these, in my opinion, is false religion. Many of the very people who find atheism so shocking, participate in a church which grooms them to act like hypocritical jerks at every turn. Or they have elected to buy into some completely laughable idea, and call it God's word. False prophecy, fake healings, glossolalia, etc., all surrounded by constant appeals for more money - these are probably the cause of more atheism than all the Richard Dawkinses that have ever lived. If I thought that's what religion had to offer, I would have serious motive to doubt the whole thing too.
Similar, in effect, to false religion, is true religion abused by weak and sinful men. There are people who take advantage of religious authority to do evil things, like embezzling tithes, or molesting children. Others don't set out to do evil, but utterly fail to walk their talk, and ultimately smear the image of God's church when their hypocrisy is exposed.
I believe this "bad religion" is far more convincing of the idea that God may not exist at all than any number of persuasive atheist philosophies. After seeing enough bad religions which you can definitively determine are not of any real God, it's easy to start thinking that if you've seen one, you've seen them all. I don't think this is an unreasonable conclusion to come to. So perhaps as believers, when we encounter devout atheists, we ought to humbly accept our own role in their confusion, and remove the beam from our own eye, before attempting to remove the mote from our brother's eye.
Existence of God: Atheism requires tremendous faith.
Atheists tend to believe that their view is based in solid irrefutable logic. Some atheists ridicule believers in deity, because they feel such a belief is devoid of logic and reason. I've many times seen atheists argue that just because we do not know or understand how each step in evolution and abiogenesis works does not mean that it didn't happen. Our failure to completely prove the case for evolution is not evidence of a creator. This is true. Lack of proof against God's existence does not prove that He does exist. However, the reverse is also true, and atheists regularly fail to recognize this.
One blogger recently stated that he used to be an evangelical Christian until he realized that God was just something in his imagination. I have no reason to doubt his story; his entire perception and conception of God may well have been in his imagination. How similar, I wonder, was this imagined deity to the actual God I speak with regularly? My conception of George Washington is entirely imaginary. Certainly if I tried to have a conversation with him today, it would be only in my imagination. However, that does nothing to build a case against General Washington's existence. Indeed there is ample historical proof that he did live here 200 years ago. The same is true of God, but that is not, primarily, why I believe.
Similarly, I have heard many atheists state that they prayed and received no answer. From their tone, it is often obvious that their prayer was not given in faith, a well-known prerequisite for receiving an answer. God can exist and leave any number of prayers unanswered, but only one answered prayer is enough to prove His existence once and for all. Suitably, only the person offering the prayer ever knows with certainty when one is answered.
There is no proof that God does not exist. To be fair, proving the non-existence of a thing is usually quite difficult. However, what is ignored in atheist thought is the mountain of evidence for His existence. There are written histories which tell of His actions. Modern miracles occur daily. His followers, like myself, bare witness of His existence. And there are many scientific discoveries, such as the design of lifeforms, the balance of natural laws in the universe, which point strongly in the direction of a designer, even if they prove nothing conclusively, so far.
When I first sought to know God, it required a leap of faith. Now that I have received answers to prayers, witnessed miracles, and speak with Him daily, it does not require faith. It is knowledge. Atheism, on the other hand, requires a great deal of faith every day. An atheist must actively ignore and excuse countless facts pointing to the existence of God. They must maintain that many of the people they know are either dishonest or delusional. They must convince themselves that scriptural record is a vast conspiracy spanning centuries, and involving countless conspirators, generation after generation. And when faced with the strong appearance of fine engineering throughout the mechanics of lifeforms, and with the extraordinary improbability of this universe existing in a form where life could exist at all, atheists must have faith that this is a rare exception to the principles of Occam's razor. They must believe that the extraordinarily improbable explanation, accident, is the correct one. What drives such faith? What motive, or motives, drive atheists to work so hard to maintain such extraordinary faith? I think I will deal with that question in another thread.
One blogger recently stated that he used to be an evangelical Christian until he realized that God was just something in his imagination. I have no reason to doubt his story; his entire perception and conception of God may well have been in his imagination. How similar, I wonder, was this imagined deity to the actual God I speak with regularly? My conception of George Washington is entirely imaginary. Certainly if I tried to have a conversation with him today, it would be only in my imagination. However, that does nothing to build a case against General Washington's existence. Indeed there is ample historical proof that he did live here 200 years ago. The same is true of God, but that is not, primarily, why I believe.
Similarly, I have heard many atheists state that they prayed and received no answer. From their tone, it is often obvious that their prayer was not given in faith, a well-known prerequisite for receiving an answer. God can exist and leave any number of prayers unanswered, but only one answered prayer is enough to prove His existence once and for all. Suitably, only the person offering the prayer ever knows with certainty when one is answered.
There is no proof that God does not exist. To be fair, proving the non-existence of a thing is usually quite difficult. However, what is ignored in atheist thought is the mountain of evidence for His existence. There are written histories which tell of His actions. Modern miracles occur daily. His followers, like myself, bare witness of His existence. And there are many scientific discoveries, such as the design of lifeforms, the balance of natural laws in the universe, which point strongly in the direction of a designer, even if they prove nothing conclusively, so far.
When I first sought to know God, it required a leap of faith. Now that I have received answers to prayers, witnessed miracles, and speak with Him daily, it does not require faith. It is knowledge. Atheism, on the other hand, requires a great deal of faith every day. An atheist must actively ignore and excuse countless facts pointing to the existence of God. They must maintain that many of the people they know are either dishonest or delusional. They must convince themselves that scriptural record is a vast conspiracy spanning centuries, and involving countless conspirators, generation after generation. And when faced with the strong appearance of fine engineering throughout the mechanics of lifeforms, and with the extraordinary improbability of this universe existing in a form where life could exist at all, atheists must have faith that this is a rare exception to the principles of Occam's razor. They must believe that the extraordinarily improbable explanation, accident, is the correct one. What drives such faith? What motive, or motives, drive atheists to work so hard to maintain such extraordinary faith? I think I will deal with that question in another thread.
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