Why atheists work so hard at unbelief (they know God’s real and they’re furious about it)
Of all the weird atheist demonstrations, one of the weirdest has to be the one I wrote about today on Herman’s site. It took place in Utah, where about 75 atheists protested outside a Mormon gathering demanding “the right to resign from the LDS church.” I had no idea the Mormons were holding them in stocks and chains refusing to let them leave.
Now granted, I am not a Mormon and I’m not intimately familiar with the inner workings of the LDS church, but as far as I know, anyone who no longer wants to be part of a church can just stop going. There might be formalities involved with ending membership, and they might try to persuade you to stay, but ultimately it’s up to you.
But this begs a larger point about atheists, and I’m sure you’ve heard it raised: If you don’t believe that something exists, why do you spend so much time talking and thinking about it? There is no God? If that’s the case, then why do you constantly talk about God? Atheists are the ones running billboards saying, “There’s probably no God, so relax and enjoy your life.”
You first.
The constant demonstrations, the constant legislative demands, the constant Internet debates with believers . . . why are you working so hard at the task of not believing in something?
Now, there are two particular Scriptures that come to mind to help explain this. The first is John 3:19-20:
19 And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20 For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed.Put simply, non-believers argue with believers because they don’t want to be held to God’s standards of righteousness. They want total freedom to indulge in evil. That’s why they actually attempt to evangelize on behalf of atheism through billboards, demonstrations and so forth. If they don’t believe, but you do, you might try to make God’s standards of righteousness prevail throughout society, and that’s what they really fear. This explains all the hysterical yelping about “dominionism” and so forth. Let any law be passed with something biblical as part of the justification, and watch them launch into conniption fits. If God said He would give you life and power but you could make any moral choices you wanted, they would all believe in Him.
But in a more basic, innate sense, here is why they cannot just relax and “enjoy their lives” without thinking about the God they insist does not exist. Come with me to Romans 1:18-21, and pay particular attention to words I’ve put in bold:
18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, 19 because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. 20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, 21 because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened.What we see here is that that God has set the knowledge of Him in the heart of every person He ever created. You are born with the knowledge that God created you. It takes some maturation to understand that information, of course, but it is in you from the moment you’re conceived. It’s the first thing you know, because God programs it into you. It is, as v. 19 says, manifest in you.
That being the case, you have to work not to believe in God. It requires a serious effort. You have to fight your core spiritual nature. Note that v. 21 says those who rejected God “became futile in their thoughts.” The word “became” is key. They weren’t always futile in their thoughts. They didn’t start out that way. They had to become that way. And that required the very active task, identified in v. 18, of suppressing the truth. If you just do nothing, your default state of mind is to believe in God because God puts the knowledge of Him in you from the time He creates you.
Not believing in God requires active rebellion on your part. It’s something you have to keep working at. Now I’m sure that over time, you can partner with Satan to make it so deeply embedded in your spirit that you become trained to disregard your knowledge of God. But that doesn’t mean the knowledge isn’t there. It just means you’ve gotten really good at disregarding it. That explains why some atheists never stop talking about their atheism, and some get quite angry at the very God they claim doesn’t exist, like Bill Maher recently calling God a “dick” and a “psychotic murderer.” Really, Bill. Why spew such rage at . . . nothing?
The truth is, they know perfectly well that God exists. They’ve known since they were conceived. They know God is real and they’re angry at Him, because they don’t want to live in the way He calls them to. They hate His laws. They hate the workings of His Kingdom. They might even have wonderful anointings on their lives, and they hate their anointings, because they come with callings do things they don’t want to do. They might even hate the blessings God releases into their lives because they feel unworthy of them. In general, they hate God because they have an agenda for their lives that is not the same as His, and they are angry with Him for not cooperating with them.
What a miserable existence. The truth of God, and the glory of His righteousness, is set in your heart. If you are alive, this applies to you. Stop working so hard trying to suppress the very first piece of knowledge you ever possessed, and bask in the love of Jesus triumphing over all that darkness you used to love. Because it only leads to destruction, and that’s a shame when God’s plan for you is the very eternal joy you’ve got yourself convinced would be so horrible.
No comments:
Post a Comment