Roughly eighty-four percent of the world’s people are affiliated with a religion while only seven percent are confirmed atheists (the majority in China), leaving nine percent undecided about spiritual matters. These figures are surprising because it seems atheists receive more notice than their numbers warrant. Perhaps that is because of the difficult questions they ask to those with a spiritual belief. These questions, which form their framework for disbelief, are few in number but are hard to answer for most people of faith. Yet Christians have good answers to all of them.
For example, ‘Why is there no evidence of a spirit world?’ Galileo Galilei, a 16th century scientist, once said
“I do not think it is necessary to believe that the same God who has given us our senses, reason, and intelligence wished us to abandon their use, giving us by some other means the information that we could gain through them.”
From this idea, the atheist expects concrete evidence of a spirit world and if there is none, he concludes it must not exist. A Christian response would be that the spirit world isn’t concrete and our five senses weren’t made by God to detect it. But one day God will make the spirit world evident to us. The Bible says in Revelation 1:7,
“Behold, he [Jesus] cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him…”
The atheist will scoff at this answer but it is rationally sound. Man’s history is full of discoveries that went previously undetected by him until somebody invented a device to aid his senses. (A few examples are germs, electricity, and binary stars.) One day, God will enable man to see the spirit world. I Corinthians 2:9 says
“…Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.”
A second question is ‘Why is it necessary to suggest a God?’ Carl Sagan, a highly publicized atheist of the 1980s, offered an answer. He said
“You can’t convince a believer of anything; for their belief is not based on evidence, it’s based on a deep-seated need to believe.”
He would say there are two kinds of people, those who will believe without evidence and those like him, who require it. Romans 1:18-20 is a proper Christian response to him–
“For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness; Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. For the invisible things of him since the creation of the world are clearly seen, being perceived through the things that are made, even his everlasting power and divinity, that they may be without excuse.”
The objects we see on the earth are the evidence Sagan required but those like him suppress it with extremely unlikely ideas like macroevolution. It is ironic that he also said,
“Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.”
since macroevolution has very little proof. Not realizing that his own words condemn his powers of observation, he is the proverbial man who can’t see the nose on his face because it is right in front of him. So, because the best explanation for the existence of Creation is a creator, it is necessary to suggest a Creator God.
‘If there is a God, why is salvation necessary?’ This is a third question posed by atheists. Albert Einstein, a famous physicist, said
“A man’s ethical behavior should be based effectually on sympathy, education, and social ties; no religious basis is necessary. Man would indeed be in a poor way if he had to be restrained by fear of punishment and hope of reward after death.”
A Christian would agree with Einstein but add that man is in a poor way and needs restraint because what he should do is often what he doesn’t do. The Bible confirms this in the pre-Flood account of Genesis 6:5–
“And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.”
Atheists like to think that man’s increasing knowledge is making him better but four thousand years after the Flood, Jesus said in Matthew 15:19-20,
“For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies: These are the things which defile a man…”
Man doesn’t get better on his own and that is why God’s salvation is necessary.
A fourth question posed by atheists is ‘Why is one belief any better than others?’ Thomas Jefferson, one of the founding fathers of the United States, concluded,
“I have examined all the known superstitions of the world, and I do not find in our particular superstition of Christianity one redeeming feature. They are all alike founded on fables and mythology.”
Here the Christian can find no common ground. Jefferson’s examination of spiritual beliefs was either superficial or biased by his preconception that all religious beliefs originate from ignorance and fear. Those who really understand world religions would say that Christianity is unique in that it offers a personal relationship with the Creator God. In contrast, some other faiths, like Islam, say it is impossible to know God. Furthermore, the personal relationship isn’t dependent on doing good works. It is based on our trust in a promise from God, not a story devised by men. When Gene Roddenberry, the atheist creator of the ‘Star Trek’ science-fiction series said,
“We must question the story logic of having an all-knowing all-powerful God, who creates faulty Humans, and then blames them for his own mistakes.”
he demonstrated the basic flaw in atheism, misconception or ignorance of Christianity. The Bible says that God created a perfect man who devolved into sin by man’s choice. And rather than blame mankind, God devised a way to restore every man to perfection based on a simple test of faith, trust in God’s promise to repair him. Roddenberry was ignorant of what the Bible says.
Another important question that keeps atheists from accepting Christianity is this, ‘How can a good God allow evil in the world?’ Epicurus, a Greek philosopher before the Roman empire, said,
“Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil? Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God?”
A Christian would quote Acts 17:30-31, where the Apostle Paul was speaking to Epicureans–
“And the times of this ignorance [worshiping idols] God winked at; but now commandeth all men everywhere to repent: because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man [Jesus] whom he hath ordained…”
This verse tells us that God will stop evil in the world one day. And II Peter 3:9 tells us why he delays judgment–
“The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise [to judge the world], as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.”
In other words, God allows evil to continue while waiting on everyone who will accept his promise of restoration, not because, as Epicurus thought, He is malevolent. I John 1:5 speaks directly against this accusation,
“This then is the message which we have heard of him [Jesus], and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.”
Once again, the atheist suffers from misconception or ignorance of the Bible. While many of them are famous for their intellect, when it comes to Christianity, they are out of their depth.
There is one remaining question, which may be the underpinning of most atheists’ rejection of Christianity, “If a personal god exists, why doesn’t He answer me?” This is reflected in an adage of unknown origin,
“Two hands working can do more than a thousand clasped in prayer.”
A Christian can’t really say why a specific prayer appears unanswered but the Bible does make it clear that we have no right to question what God does or doesn’t do. Job 40:2 says,
“Shall he that contendeth with the Almighty instruct him? he that reproveth God, let him answer it.”
The passage is meant to illustrated that if we knew as much as God knows, we could explain why some prayers appear unanswered but since we are uninformed, we shouldn’t assume God doesn’t care about our needs. It is more likely that the answer to this question is in James 4:3–
“Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.”
Simply put, if you don’t believe in a personal God, why should he answer any of your questions?
In conclusion, this essay is to show believers that the Bible has good answers for the difficult questions of an atheist. It will not influence an atheist unless the Spirit of God is working in him to listen; because once a man takes a stand on his beliefs, his pride makes him reluctant to admit he was wrong. Paraphrasing Edward Gibbon, an 18th century critic of organized religion,
“Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by the rulers as useful.”
Gibbon put himself in the catagory of ‘the wise’, which is the typical stance of an atheist. The Bible describes him in I Corinthians 2:14,
“But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.”
As a believer, never think that you have the weaker argument, that scientists have disproved the Bible by claiming the earth is ancient. Their tests have unproven assumptions that reduce their conclusions to speculation. Your argument is strong, and when that is so, your opponent will attack you personally. Jesus told us this in John 15:20,
“Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you;”
It seems, for every challenge from an unbeliver, the Bible has anticipated him.
