The Existence of God: Two False and Opposing Views

There has been, throughout history, a belief in God in our country. We even have “In God We Trust” on our money. There is, in recent years, a growing opposition to God or anything having to do with Him. There are two major opposing views to God:

Atheism: Webster’s definition of atheism is as follows: 1: a: disbelief in the existence of God or any other deity b: the doctrine that there is neither god nor any other deity… 2: godlessness in conduct.

So an Atheist is someone who denies or doesn’t believe in the existence of God. I want to follow this by sharing five categories, types or aspects of atheists.

1. Theoretical. This is the intellectual belief that there is no God. There are a lot of people today who claim to fall into this category. Though there are many who make this claim, I do not personally believe there are nearly as many who are real, true, die hard atheists. I mean those who, down deep within themselves, are convinced, without a shadow of doubt, that God does not exist. Someone whose disbelief in God’s existence will remain in nearly any situation or circumstance.

My dad was a WW II veteran. He spent nearly five in the South Pacific during the war. They had a saying (I’m sure they had first hand experience of) that holds true today. “There are no Atheist in foxholes.” The point of this is, when a person is in a foxhole with gunfire and bombs exploding all around them, they seldom doubt the existence of God. They are, in fact, usually calling out to Him for help.

There also are not and will not be any Atheists in the presence of God. I gave my life to Jesus in prison when I was young man. I hadn’t been there long before committing my life to the Lord. There was another young man who vowed to be a staunch Atheist. After we had been there a short time, a man doing a life sentence came to visit us. This man had been living for Christ for some time since his incarceration. He talked with many of us for a while about the things of God. Before leaving he wanted to pray with us. We all joined hands as he prayed. The young atheist was there as well. As he began to pray, you could sense the presence of God. All of a sudden the young atheist began to weep. He had been in the presence of the invisible God and touched by Him. Needless to say, he was no longer an Atheist. A few days later he was miraculously released on what they called shock probation. His change was real.

There will not be one Atheist in the presence of God on the day of Judgment. When they stand before God, at the great white throne judgment, they will not be in doubt of His existence any longer (Revelation 20:11-15). The Bible says, on that day every knee will bow and every tongue confess Jesus to be Lord to the glory of God the Father (Philippians 2:10-11). Sadly, at this time it will be too late.

2. Foolish. “The fool hath said in his heart, there is no God” (Psalms 14:1a). All Atheist fall under this category. It is foolish not believe in God. But it is worse than that. They are an Atheist because they are first a fool. Their disbelief in God stems from their sinful and foolish nature. It is interesting that most who proclaim themselves to be Atheist do so because of what they espouse as intellectual reasons. The Bible says, “Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools” (Romans 1:22).

3. Corrupt. “The fool hath said in his heart, there is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that does good” (Psalms 14:1). “They are corrupt.” They are an Atheist because they are corrupt and so by nature. All fall into this category. Let’s face it, most don’t want to change. This includes us all. We usually don’t want to change until faced with problems or circumstances where we feel we have to change. As with anyone, it is easier not to believe in or make a commitment to God. Once we believe in and commit our life to Him, we must be willing to change and do things His way. We want to remain corrupt in our thinking, our actions or both. If we believed we would have to change.

4. The Practical Atheist. Many Christians fall under this category. We have an intellectual belief in God, but in our practice or lack thereof we deny Him. James tells us that, faith without works is dead (James 2:14-19). Our walk doesn’t match our talk. We deny Him by our life. This doesn’t mean we are to be legalistic – God forbid (Romans 11:6; Galatians 2:21; 3:1-3; 5:4). On the other hand, our faith must be put into action in order to demonstrate true belief in God to the world (James 2:14-19; Mark 2:5; Matthew 7:21-27; 1 John 3:16-18).

5. The Rebellious Atheist. “The fool hath said in his heart, there is no God” (Psalms 14:1a). Someone once said, this could also be translated, “The fool has said in his heart, no God.” How many of us have ever said no to God? How foolish is that? Obedience is the key to the blessings of God (Joshua 1:8; Psalms 1:2-3; James 1:25); it reveals He is really Lord (Matthew 7:21-23); it determines our ability to whether the storms of life (Matthew 7:41-27); it reveals if we really know Him or not (1 John 2:3-5); if we really love Him (John 14:21-24); and so much more.

We often cover our disobedience with tradition and superficial spirituality. It was Peter who said, “Not so Lord”, when told by God to eat meat that was considered unclean (Acts 10). Notice his words,“Not so Lord”. What a contradictions of terms.

Saul was told to go into battle and totally destroy the Amalekites and all they had. He returned with the best of their flocks. When confronted by Samuel, he said he kept them to sacrifice to the Lord his God. He thought he could cover up his disobedience with a spiritual act. As a result, he was rejected as being king (1 Samuel 15). It is the fool who says no to God.

Agnosticism. The Greek gnosis means knowledge or knowing. Agnosticism means you don’t know. The man that discipled me said Agnostic in Latin is Ignoramus. That really sums it up. It is interesting to me that most people who claim to be an Agnostic consider themselves to be intellectual. For them to say, I’m an Agnostic, they are saying, I don’t know, I don’t think it’s possible to know, I’m just an ignoramus.

I think many who claim to be Agnostic don’t really understand what it means or what they are saying. The point is wouldn’t you really like to know one way or another? The Bible says, You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart” (Jeremiah 29:13 NASB). I dare you to seek Him with all you have and see if He will not reveal Himself to you.

In the next two teachings on the “Existence of God” we will see that the Bible assumes the existence of God, and discuss why we should attempt to prove His existence if the Bible doesn’t. We will then proceed with a few arguments for His existence.