The Folly of Atheism

Posted by deangonzales on December 13, 2008
11 Comments

The word atheism comes from a Greek word meaning “without god.” According to Webster’s Dictionary, atheism is “disbelief in or denial of the existence of God.” To borrow the language of Scripture, the atheist’s creed can be summarized in the four words: “There is no God” (Psalm 14:1b). But the Bible does not merely state the atheist’s creed. It also provides us with an assessment of that creed. Such a creed, according to Scripture, is the creed of fools: “the fool has said in his heart, ‘There is no God.’” The “fool” envisioned here is not necessarily a man with a low IQ. Rather, he is one who lacks sound judgment. He’s like a man who removes the gas cap from his car and holds a lighted match to the spout to determine whether there’s any gasoline in the tank. Similarly, the atheist is a man who lacks good sense. This is, of course, not my private opinion. The Scripture declares that atheism is absurd. It is a foolish viewpoint and lifestyle for the following reasons:

I. Atheism Denies the Facts of Reality

The entire creation manifests the existence of the one true God.

The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork (Psalm 19:1, ESV).

For [God’s] invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So [sinful humans] are without excuse (Romans 1:20, ESV).

It’s as if the mountains and stars and trees and animals and people we see have a big label that says, “Made in Heaven.” Consider the complexity of the modern computer. How did the computer come into being? As you and I watch what a computer can do on the screen and as we look at the chips and motherboards and wiring carefully configured in the case, we would never in a million years conclude that it all came together by accident. Rather, we would rightly assume an intelligent designer(s).

Isn’t it only logical to conclude the same about mankind? The human genetic code is a million times more complex than any computer chip. Should it not be obvious that we were created by intelligent design? And yet, those who deny God tells us that it all came about by accident and evolution. It was as if someone took a wheel-barrel full of assorted computer components, dumped them into a wash machine or dryer, turned it on, let it spin for, say, several million years, and, finally, out came an Apple MacBook Pro! You say, “That’s absurd.” That’s my point. To deny God is to deny reality.[1]

II. Atheism Destroys the Basis for Morality

“Reality” refers to what is. “Morality” refers to what should be. Even the most openly avowed atheist believes that there are things people should or should not do. When someone steals his wallet or sleeps with his wife or cheats him on a business transaction, even the atheist is ready to declare, “Crime,” “Wrong,” “Immoral.” But if one denies the existence of a Holy God who has revealed his Law as a standard for moral behavior and who will hold men accountable some day for their behavior, then that person has denied any basis for morality. Such a person no longer has any right to make moral judgments about theft or adultery or fraud or even terrible crimes, such as Hitler’s extermination of the Jews!

Some may retort, “We don’t need the Bible. Society or culture determines what right or wrong.” That’s what Hitler said. And much of Germany’s society and culture at the time of the Holocaust found a way to justify Hitler’s actions. Others may argue, “Morality is based on whatever preserves life.” But why should morality be based upon the preservation of life? What about survival of the fittest? Isn’t that why Hitler sought to exterminate the Jews—to preserve the superior Arian race? Still others may say that morality is whatever makes a person happy—“Whatever floats your boat is right.” But there are some people who seem to find great joy in harming others. They like to take real guns to real high schools and take the “virtual” out of the video game. On the basis of “Whatever floats your boat,” how can we condemn them? Do you see the absurdity? Once you and I say in our heart, “There is no God,” we destroy any real basis for morality.[2]

III. Atheism Demolishes any Hope of Immortality

To deny God is to demolish any hope one might have for salvation and eternal life. This is true from a purely logical point of view. To be without God is to be without hope (Eph. 2:12). To deny God is to deny the gospel of Christ, and to deny the gospel of Christ is to deny one’s only hope for salvation and eternal life (John 6:68). Why would anyone want to demolish his only hope? Atheists may pretend like they don’t care about eternal life, but Ecclesiastes 3:11 declares that God “has put eternity” in everyman’s heart. That’s why the atheist wants to avoid death. And yet, by rejecting God atheism rejects his only hope for life beyond the grave. The atheist is like a cancer patient who not only refuses to take the medicine offered to him by a doctor, but he takes it an flushes it down the toilet. He seeks to demolish his only hope of salvation.[3]

This is also true from a biblical point of view because, according to Scripture, God will judge those who deny Him. Psalm 53, a slightly modified version of Psalm 14, describes the fear of judgment with which atheists live:

There they [those who say in their heart, “There is no God,” v. 1] are, in great terror, where there is no terror! For God scatters the bones of him who encamps against you [God’s servant]; you put them to shame, for God has rejected them (v. 5, ESV).

Some may remember that on August 27, 1995, Madalyn Murray O’Hair the famous atheist who lobbied to have prayer removed from the public schools mysteriously disappeared. Subsequently, in January 2001, police discovered the bones of O’Hair decomposing in a field in Texas. As it turns out, she had been murdered by one of her own atheist co-workers who cut her body into dozens of pieces with a saw.

God is not mocked. He will not leave the atheist unpunished.

Now do you see why it’s foolish to be an atheist? Atheism flies in the face of reality. It undermines the basis of morality. And it demolishes the only hope for immortality. What then should we do in light of the folly of atheism?

1. Let the unbeliever repent of this sin and believe in God.

You may be open about your unbelief. Or you may be a professing believer when in reality in your heart you deny God. The fact that you have no serious regard for God’s word and the fact that you love the world more than God’s people and the fact that you hardly pray or worship God at church all testify that the overall attitude of your heart is atheism. Perhaps you realize that now. What should you do? Don’t view your unbelief as a virtue. Don’t pride yourself on being a freethinker and “authentic.”  Rather, see your unbelief as sin. Repent of that sin. Believe the gospel.

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16, NKJ).

2. Let the professing Christian beware of this sin

There are still pockets of unbelief in our heart. Consequently, it’s possible for a Christian at times to think, and speak, and act, as if he were an atheist. Even King David who wrote Psalm 14 would have to testify to that fact in light of his fall into adultery with Bathsheba. We must beware. Husbands, we may be tempted to treat our wives as if there were no God. Children, you may be tempted to lie to your parents as if there were no God. Employee, you may be tempted to offer your employer shoddy work, as if there were no God. Church member, you may be tempted to attend church and spend your Lord’s Day as if there were no God. Heed the words of Hebrews 3:12-13:

Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin (ESV).

3. Let the child of God thank God for the precious gift of faith!

Some of us can still remember what it was like to live without God in the world. But then the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness commanded the light of the gospel to shine in our dark heart (2Cor. 4:6). By grace we were saved through faith and that faith did not originate with us but was “the gift of God” (Eph. 2:8). Thank God for his saving grace! Never cease to be amazed with the glory of the gospel and the blessing of salvation.

Notes

[1] For more extended and sophisticated arguments for the existence of God on the basis of the inherent design of creation, see Michael Behe, Darwin’s Black Box: The Biochemical Challenge to Evolution (The Free Press, 1996); William Dembski, Intelligent Design: The Bridge between Science & Theology (Inter-Varsity, 2007); Phillip Johnson, Darwin on Trial, 2nd ed. (Inter-Varsity, 1993). Let me also recommend an excellent post by my friend Dennis Bills entitled, “What Evolutionists Fear Most.”
[2] For a fuller development of the moral argument for the existence of God, see John Frame, Apologetics to the Glory of God (Presbyterian & Reformed, 1994), 93-102.
[3] This argument is analogous (though on a much simpler level) to Blaize Pascal’s “wager” in his famous Pensees. Peter Kreeft provides a positve assessment and appraisal of the wager as an argument for God’s existence: http://www.peterkreeft.com/topics/pascals-wager.htm