“In the beginning God….” (Genesis 1:1).
“Dear Dr. Sala,” wrote a listener to Guidelines. Not beating around the bush, the listener’s opening sentence read as follows: “How weak and very stupid God must be.…” Then the logic moved from assailing God’s perceived weakness and lack of strength, as he saw it, to God’s not existing at all. He wrote, “If God exists, He would live on Earth so people can knock on his door, or phone Him for help. But as it is no one knows if God exists in the first place!”
An atheist is an individual who denies that God exists, period!. An agnostic is one who doesn’t know if God exists. Yet the term “agnostic” is a contradiction of terms. How can you really know that you don’t know something?
Atheists fall into two categories that I describe as ordinary atheists, and ornery atheists. Now, the ordinary variety are those who usually hide behind intellectualism, they’re often well-educated individuals, sometimes chairpersons in colleges and universities, or scientists who think it is politically incorrect to acknowledge the existence of God. Now, the ornery atheists know deep within their hearts there is a God but they refuse to recognize Him because their lives morally and ethically are out of sync with what God expects of humankind.
Take, for example, the man who told me, “The reason I hold to atheism is that I can’t believe in God and live the kind of a life I’m living!” A rather perverted kind of logic kept him from believing in God, yet it is also logic which demands that I do believe in God. I am not an atheist because of the logical consequences which follow the denial of a personal God who has revealed Himself to us and has given us a standard of truth.
Many individuals who are atheists simply have never confronted the reality of God’s existence. They choose to sidestep the whole issue, believing that it’s easier to find refuge within the tent of unbelief than to acknowledge moral accountability to the Almighty. Some are sincere, but most have never faced the evidence of God’s existence and they often switch camps in the face of danger.
Don Jacobs, an airline captain, flew with a co-pilot who quickly shut off any discussion about God with the terse remark that he was an atheist and didn’t believe in God. One day, however, their jet was caught in a severe turbulence and fell several thousand meters. As both men were struggling to stabilize the aircraft, Don heard the co-pilot cry out, “God, help us!” He said nothing, but once they were through the storm, Don turned to him and said, “Hey, I heard you say, ‘God, help us,’ back there,” adding, “I thought you didn’t believe in God.”
“Atheism is OK for good weather,” he said, “but not so good for a storm!”
“There are no atheists in fox holes” goes the aphorism, and I have found few as someone lay dying in a hospital, fighting for his or her life.
A sweet, tender baby that comes into the world bearing the DNA, as well as the image of the father, makes atheism very illogical. The beauty of a rose, the fascinating composition of the human body, the interaction of our systems, the vastness of space, and the order of the universe—they speak of a creator, and the logic of chance rapidly becomes illogical to me.
A little girl came home from school and she said, “Mommy, I filled out this form that asked what religion we are, and I didn’t know. What are we?” “Oh, we don’t believe there is a God,” replied the mother. Pausing for a moment, the little girl asked, “Mommy, does God know we don’t believe in Him?” Think about it!
Resource reading: Genesis 1.
