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.