On Faith and Atheism
Last week, I was reading the extensive comments on Mike Adams’ latest article, and witnessed therein an intense but civil debate between a Christian and an atheist.1 Christianity vs. atheism is an age-old debate, but this instance brought to mind some facets I had not previously considered, at least not long enough to write them down.
I believe with every fiber of my being and all the thoughts hidden away in the deepest corners of my mind that God exists in the Trinity and that He created all things. And that because I believe that His Son Jesus died for my sins, and because I trust in Him and follow him to the best of my abilities, thereby hiding all my sins from God, I will one day sit at the feet of Jesus singing Holy, Holy, Holy in perfect pitch and harmony with all my Christian friends, family and brothers and sisters in Christ. (Those who know me well know that my singing in perfect pitch and harmony will be in itself a rather large miracle.) But can I prove the existence of God to anyone? No. Does that bother me? Well, to be perfectly honest, yes, a little. After all, we all desire in varying degrees to be able to “prove” ourselves right to the doubters among us. It’s just human nature. But then, if anyone could prove the existence of God, faith would have no meaning.
I found it attributed to the self-proclaimed atheist Carl Sagan: “Absence of proof is not proof of absence”2. Having to acknowledge that the existence of God cannot be proven is not proof that God does not exist. Asserting otherwise is like saying that we have identified all the planets of the sun, and therefore they are the only ones which exist. There may be other planets; we just don’t presently have proof or even evidence of their existence. The fact that we can’t prove that other planets exist doesn’t alter the truth of how many sun planets there really are. What this means in the abstract is that if atheists were really truthful to themselves, they’d have to at least acknowledge being agnostic rather than atheist. They can’t prove that God doesn’t exist, therefore they must acknowledge that God could exist. I think being the brilliant man that he was, Mr. Sagan understood this, but that his dogma of only working in the scientific domain sadly prevented him from accepting God on faith.
However, with that said, I choose to accept God on faith. Why did I make that choice? It all makes perfect sense to me. There is a fantastically large body of evidence for the existence of a creator. Many books have been written on the subject, so I’ll simply defer to them. In addition to the evidence, conceptually the existence of God gives meaning to our lives. Even if I could somehow ignore all the evidence, what if I considered “What if there were no God?” How would I feel about that? If there is no God, why am I here? Am I just an organism with no soul that was formed out of the soil and to the soil will return? What about all the emotions, thoughts and experiences I’ve known? Are they meaningless because they’ll pass away when I die? Sorry, but this just doesn’t work for me. How horrible our existence would be if that is all there is? So I choose to believe in God who not only created us but who gives meaning to mans’ existence, activities, hopes, fears, emotions and yes, love. Unconditional love is arguably the most powerful emotion. Love cannot exist without choice. God created man for fellowship and love. For the fellowship and love to have meaning and value, mankind must be able to choose to reject God. Therefore God created the Tempter with the same opportunity and ability to reject Him as we have, allowing man to follow him rather than God. I choose God.
Finally, there is a fact, and I use “fact” loosely, because I can’t prove it in the way that a scientific theory can be proven, that once an individual is saved by believing in Christ, he receives unassailable proof of God’s existence through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. I know this, first because I read it in the Bible, but more importantly because I’ve experienced it first-hand in my heart. This is perhaps a conundrum for the Christian who wants to share his salvation experience the same way he has experienced it. God’s spirit within me, which is a fact to me to the same extent of the knowledge that if I drop a ball from the roof it will fall to the ground, is all the proof I need that God is real. And most amazingly, contrary to scientific proofs, this is an individual observation which I cannot demonstrate or prove to anyone else, but which to me is truer than anything else I know. The best way I can think of to further illustrate this phenomenon is with an example. Suppose your adventure guide leads you to a rickety-appearing footbridge over a 500 foot gorge. He directs you to lead the way across. You say, but give me some evidence that it will bear my weight. He says “Trust me”. You then ask again saying, but give me a sign, you go first. And he says, many have crossed before you, and none were lost. And you say, isn’t there a better way across the gorge, and he says, no, this is the only way. This dialog goes on for many minutes, and finally, you decide to step across on faith. You take the first step and the bridge holds. With each step, you gain more confidence. When you finally reach the other side, you know that the guide was truthful, and that the bridge is sound. Such it is that the mere act of stepping out on faith in Jesus Christ brings the assurance that your faith has been rewarded with eternal life, a “proof” that you didn’t have and couldn’t have had before you took the leap of faith.
In summary, here’s my witness to the atheists and agnostics among us:
1. By God’s divine plan, I cannot prove that God exists. If I could, faith would have no meaning.
Last week, I was reading the extensive comments on Mike Adams’ latest article, and witnessed therein an intense but civil debate between a Christian and an atheist.1 Christianity vs. atheism is an age-old debate, but this instance brought to mind some facets I had not previously considered, at least not long enough to write them down.
I believe with every fiber of my being and all the thoughts hidden away in the deepest corners of my mind that God exists in the Trinity and that He created all things. And that because I believe that His Son Jesus died for my sins, and because I trust in Him and follow him to the best of my abilities, thereby hiding all my sins from God, I will one day sit at the feet of Jesus singing Holy, Holy, Holy in perfect pitch and harmony with all my Christian friends, family and brothers and sisters in Christ. (Those who know me well know that my singing in perfect pitch and harmony will be in itself a rather large miracle.) But can I prove the existence of God to anyone? No. Does that bother me? Well, to be perfectly honest, yes, a little. After all, we all desire in varying degrees to be able to “prove” ourselves right to the doubters among us. It’s just human nature. But then, if anyone could prove the existence of God, faith would have no meaning.
I found it attributed to the self-proclaimed atheist Carl Sagan: “Absence of proof is not proof of absence”2. Having to acknowledge that the existence of God cannot be proven is not proof that God does not exist. Asserting otherwise is like saying that we have identified all the planets of the sun, and therefore they are the only ones which exist. There may be other planets; we just don’t presently have proof or even evidence of their existence. The fact that we can’t prove that other planets exist doesn’t alter the truth of how many sun planets there really are. What this means in the abstract is that if atheists were really truthful to themselves, they’d have to at least acknowledge being agnostic rather than atheist. They can’t prove that God doesn’t exist, therefore they must acknowledge that God could exist. I think being the brilliant man that he was, Mr. Sagan understood this, but that his dogma of only working in the scientific domain sadly prevented him from accepting God on faith.
However, with that said, I choose to accept God on faith. Why did I make that choice? It all makes perfect sense to me. There is a fantastically large body of evidence for the existence of a creator. Many books have been written on the subject, so I’ll simply defer to them. In addition to the evidence, conceptually the existence of God gives meaning to our lives. Even if I could somehow ignore all the evidence, what if I considered “What if there were no God?” How would I feel about that? If there is no God, why am I here? Am I just an organism with no soul that was formed out of the soil and to the soil will return? What about all the emotions, thoughts and experiences I’ve known? Are they meaningless because they’ll pass away when I die? Sorry, but this just doesn’t work for me. How horrible our existence would be if that is all there is? So I choose to believe in God who not only created us but who gives meaning to mans’ existence, activities, hopes, fears, emotions and yes, love. Unconditional love is arguably the most powerful emotion. Love cannot exist without choice. God created man for fellowship and love. For the fellowship and love to have meaning and value, mankind must be able to choose to reject God. Therefore God created the Tempter with the same opportunity and ability to reject Him as we have, allowing man to follow him rather than God. I choose God.
Finally, there is a fact, and I use “fact” loosely, because I can’t prove it in the way that a scientific theory can be proven, that once an individual is saved by believing in Christ, he receives unassailable proof of God’s existence through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. I know this, first because I read it in the Bible, but more importantly because I’ve experienced it first-hand in my heart. This is perhaps a conundrum for the Christian who wants to share his salvation experience the same way he has experienced it. God’s spirit within me, which is a fact to me to the same extent of the knowledge that if I drop a ball from the roof it will fall to the ground, is all the proof I need that God is real. And most amazingly, contrary to scientific proofs, this is an individual observation which I cannot demonstrate or prove to anyone else, but which to me is truer than anything else I know. The best way I can think of to further illustrate this phenomenon is with an example. Suppose your adventure guide leads you to a rickety-appearing footbridge over a 500 foot gorge. He directs you to lead the way across. You say, but give me some evidence that it will bear my weight. He says “Trust me”. You then ask again saying, but give me a sign, you go first. And he says, many have crossed before you, and none were lost. And you say, isn’t there a better way across the gorge, and he says, no, this is the only way. This dialog goes on for many minutes, and finally, you decide to step across on faith. You take the first step and the bridge holds. With each step, you gain more confidence. When you finally reach the other side, you know that the guide was truthful, and that the bridge is sound. Such it is that the mere act of stepping out on faith in Jesus Christ brings the assurance that your faith has been rewarded with eternal life, a “proof” that you didn’t have and couldn’t have had before you took the leap of faith.
In summary, here’s my witness to the atheists and agnostics among us:
1. By God’s divine plan, I cannot prove that God exists. If I could, faith would have no meaning.
2. I cannot prove that God exists. You can’t prove that he doesn’t. It’s a futile argument.
3. The emotion of love between God and man could not exist unless man is given a choice. Again, this was by God’s divine plan.
4. Because of my faith, I have the unmistakable presence of God’s Spirit in my heart, which gives me absolute surety that not only does God exist, but that through Christ, he has saved me. But I can’t offer scientific "proof” of that “fact” to anyone.
Sadly, for whatever reason, and there are many, atheists and agnostics have a real aversion to stepping out on faith so that they may have the assurance they need. And even more sadly, they have nothing to loose and saving their souls to gain. In the Texas lottery, this is called a winning ticket.
References:
1. Better is One Day in Your Courts, Mike Adams, 8/20/09
http://townhall.com/columnists/MikeAdams/2009/08/20/better_is_one_day_in_your_courts
2. The Quotations Page, Carl Sagan (1934 – 1996)
http://www.quotationspage.com/quotes/Carl_Sagan/
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