Believe Or Not Believe Three percent of our population professes to be unbelievers. Atheists deny the existence of God. Agnostics cannot make up their minds if God exists. Infidels reject Christ and Christianity and skeptics doubt the existence, claims and prerogatives of God, Christ and the Bible. Though few in number, unbelievers are very vocal and evangelistic and occupy strategic positions in academia, journalism and the entertainment media. Why Some Refuse to Believe. A few may be doubters by nature, but the overwhelming majority are converts, won primarily while enrolled in schools of higher learning. There, unbelieving professors preach their unbelief to their captive audience. Denial of God is generally preceded by a wish. Francis Bacon wisely observed, "Atheism is rather in the life than in the heart of man." Rebels feel confined and restricted by the thought of a Higher Power to whom they must answer, so they deny His existence. Plato rightly wrote, "Atheism is a disease of the soul before it becomes an error of understanding." David said, "The fool said in his heart, "There is no God" (Psalm 14:1). The Hebrew term for fool is literally, "the man with a withered soul." Similarly, the denial is literally, "No God for me!" Jeremy Collier observed, "Atheism...is the result of ignorance and pride, of strong sense and feeble reason, of good eating and ill living..." Jacque Maritain wrote, "Absolute atheism is in no way a mere absence of belief in God. It is rather a refusal of God, a fight against God, a challenge to God." Voltaire said, "The atheists are, for the most part, impudent and misguided scholars who reason badly, and who, not being able to understand the Creation, the origin of evil, and other difficulties, have recourse to the hypothesis of the eternity of things and of inevitability." Why There Are So Few Atheists. "There are so few atheists in the world because it takes more credulity to accept the atheistic position than most men can muster" (G. Kennedy). "To be an atheist requires an infinitely greater measure of faith than to receive all the great truths which atheism would deny" (Addison). Many who think they are unbelievers experience sudden conversion in the face of suffering or terror. Pity the Unbeliever. "To see rare effects, and no cause, a motion, without a mover; a circle, without a center; a time without an eternity; a second, without a first; these are things so against philosophy and natural reason, that he must be a beast in understanding who can believe in them. The thing formed, says that nothing formed it; and that which is made, is, while that which made it is not! This folly is infinite" (J. Taylor). "Atheism is the death of hope, the suicide of the soul." An atheist is one step beyond the Devil, for even devils believe in God and tremble (James 2:19). "An atheist is a disbeliever who prefers to raise his children in a Christian community" (P. Tuseth). At death, an atheist is all dressed up with no place to go. In their unbelief, such folks cannot hope to be saved. "Without faith it is impossible to be well-pleasing unto (God)" (Hebrews 11:6). "Except you believe" in Christ you cannot be saved (John 8:24). God has given us solid grounds for believing. "The heavens declare the glory of God" (Psalm 19:1). The creation manifests God to us (Romans 1:19-20). Faith will come by reading the Word of God (Romans 10:17). Be thankful for the privilege to believe.
Posted on: Tue, 30 Jul 2013 20:37:33 +0000