The Heart of a Fool

The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” Psalm 14:1 NIV

Interestingly, there are a lot of people in today’s world who make the claim that God does not exist. Even more arresting is the claim that most of these people make, along with the one above, that their belief is based on science. They claim that there is no evidence God exists, so there is no reason to believe in him. They typically, then, go on to attack our Christian faith based on the false notion that not only do they have the high ground philosophically, but that science also backs them up. Unfortunately, too many Christians simply don’t know how to handle these false claims.

The truth is, nothing about these contentions is true. The claim that God does not exist is simply false on its face. He does exist and has revealed himself to mankind in a way that allows us to know him in a personal relationship. The claim that there is no evidence for the existence of God is also an empty assertion. And finally, the belief that their position is based on science is a purely delusional contention. Let’s look at these three claims and how we, as Christians, should deal with them.

Assertion That God Does Not Exist
The claim that God does not exist is nothing more than an empty assertion. It means nothing if they are not able to back it up. There are two ways they can approach this.

First, they can offer positive proof that God does not exist. This approach, however, always falls flat. Even rabid Atheists don’t generally try to go this route because they recognize it is impossible to prove a negative.

The second way they try to make this point is to use their naturalistic beliefs to show that Naturalism is true. This also falls flat and we will get into more detail concerning this approach in the next two sections.

As Christians, we understand that God actually is real and we know him. Ultimately, the proof for the existence of God is personal, not scientific. Evidence for the existence of God certainly can be found in science and logic, but the final confirmation is necessarily personal because God himself is personal. No amount of nay-saying can change what is real into what is not real. The fact that Atheists don’t know God and refuse to acknowledge his existence is not evidence that he doesn’t exist.

There Is No Evidence for the Existence of God
When Atheists say there is no evidence for the existence of God, they don’t really mean that there is no evidence for the existence of God. What they mean is, there is no evidence that they are willing to accept. Here is the story behind the story on that one.

A naturalistic worldview, which is the basis for Atheism, begins with the belief that everything which exists is contained within the natural universe. As such, all of reality is subject to being understood and proven using natural science. Since a belief in God falls outside of those parameters, there cannot possibly be any “evidence” that God exists. In other words, the only thing that counts as “evidence,” for them, is what can be demonstrated by experimental science.

While Atheists try to assert this mantra, the truth is they can’t even live up to this demand themselves. There are categories of evidence which fall outside of experimental science (such as logic and human experience) which even they use on a daily basis. The assertion that there is no evidence for the existence of God is a false claim which is ultimately meaningless because even they cannot get away from using other kinds of evidence as they live life.

Atheism Is Based on Science
The final claim that Atheists try to make is that their belief is based on science while Christian beliefs are based on superstition. The elephant in the room, on this one, is that there is no part of belief in Atheism which is based on science. What they try to do is equate Naturalism with science, then claim since we don’t believe in Naturalism we don’t believe in science. In fact, this is a completely false claim. Naturalism is a belief system which asserts that all of reality is contained within the natural universe. Science, on the other hand, is a methodology for studying the natural universe. The two are not the same in any respect, and any attempt to equate them is simply a lack of understanding of the meaning of the two concepts.

Of all people, Christians believe in using the scientific method. We believe that God created the world in an orderly fashion based on natural laws. And because of that, the universe can be studied and understood. Christians are no more anti-science than we are anti-life. It is simply an absurd assertion to say we are. In fact, modern science was invented by Christians based on belief in an orderly universe. Naturalism, on the other hand, while it has tried to hijack science for itself, is based on a belief in randomness and chaos. It believes that, contrary to any science we know, the order we see in the universe somehow emerged out of chaos. Naturalism is a belief system, not an expression, in any sense, of science.

The main problem with Atheism is that it proposes a way of understanding the structure of reality which has no connection with the way human beings actually experience it. It tries to assert a way that reality exists which has no logical or scientific support. On top of that, the utopian dream that it promotes is completely contrary to the way human experience is actually expressed in real life.

So, the next time an Atheist tries to put down your Christian faith because it is based on “superstitious beliefs,” turn the tables on them. Show them how it is their beliefs which are based on unsupportable beliefs. That’s the way it really is.