Expert: Brenda Martin - 7/21/2010

Question
How do you personally talk to atheists? It seems pointless. I'm talking to someone right now, telling him that everybody knows that there's a God, except the atheists won't admit it. Of course, he denies this idea.

I know the Bible teaches that the creation itself will give us each the witness that there is a God, so do these atheists really feel this? Is that why they lash out at Christians? Because we are the witnesses for the Bible, and the Bible teaches that everyone is accountable to God, and that is unacceptable to atheists?

Answer
HI John you asked--"HOW DO YOU PERSONALLY TALK TO ATHEISTS?"

Here is a line of reasoning that you could use in helping others reach a conclusion. You could first ask: Did the universe have a beginning? Most would agree that it did. Then ask: Was that beginning without any cause, or was it caused? Most people sense that the beginning of the universe was caused. This leads to the final question: Was the beginning caused by some thing eternal or by some One eternal? With the issues thus presented clearly and logically, many can be led to conclude: There must be a Creator!

I often use some of these illustrations—

Physical universe: If you found a precision timepiece, would you conclude that it was formed by a chance blowing together of some dust particles? Obviously, someone with intelligence made it. There is an even more magnificent “clock.” The planets in our solar system, also the stars in the entire universe, move at a rate that is more precise than most clocks designed and manufactured by man. The galaxy in which our solar system is located includes over 100 billion stars, and astronomers estimate that there are 100 billion of such galaxies in the universe. If a clock is evidence of intelligent design, how much more so is the far more vast and complicated universe! The Bible describes the Designer of it as “the true God, Jehovah, . . . the Creator of the heavens and the Grand One stretching them out.”—Isa. 42:5; 40:26; Ps. 19:1.

Planet Earth: When crossing a barren desert, if you came to a beautiful house, well equipped in every way and stocked with food, would you believe that it got there by some chance explosion? No; you would realize that someone with considerable wisdom built it. Well, scientists have not yet found life on any of the planets of our solar system except the earth; available evidence indicates that the others are barren. This planet is, as the book The Earth says, “the wonder of the universe, a unique sphere.” (New York, 1963, Arthur Beiser, p. 10) It is at just the right distance from the sun for human life, and it moves at just the right speed to be held in orbit. The atmosphere, of a kind found only around the earth, is made up of just the right proportion of gases to sustain life. Marvelously, light from the sun, carbon dioxide from the air, and water and minerals from fertile soil combine to produce food for earth’s inhabitants. Did it all come about as a result of some uncontrolled explosion in space? Science News admits: “It seems as if such particular and precise conditions could hardly have arisen at random.” (August 24 and 31, 1974, p. 124) The Bible’s conclusion is reasonable when it states: “Of course, every house is constructed by someone, but he that constructed all things is God.”—Heb. 3:4.

Human brain: Modern computers are a product of intensive research and careful engineering. They did not “just happen.” What about the human brain? Unlike the brain of any animal, the brain of a human infant triples in size during its first year. How it functions is still largely a mystery to scientists. In humans, there is the built-in capacity to learn complex languages, to appreciate beauty, to compose music, to contemplate the origin and meaning of life. Said brain surgeon Robert White: “I am left with no choice but to acknowledge the existence of a Superior Intellect, responsible for the design and development of the incredible brain-mind relationship—something far beyond man’s capacity to understand.” (The Reader’s Digest, September 1978, p. 99) The development of this marvel begins from a tiny fertilized cell in the womb. With remarkable insight, the Bible writer David said to Jehovah: “I shall laud you because in a fear-inspiring way I am wonderfully made. Your works are wonderful, as my soul is very well aware.”—Ps. 139:14.

Living cell: A single living cell is sometimes referred to as being a “simple” form of life. But a one-celled animal can catch food, digest it, get rid of wastes, build a house for itself and engage in sexual activity. Each cell of the human body has been likened to a walled city, with a central government to maintain order, a power plant to generate energy, factories to produce proteins, a complex transportation system, and guards to regulate what is permitted to enter. And a single human body is made up of as many as 100 trillion cells. How appropriate the words of Psalm 104:24: “How many your works are, O Jehovah! All of them in wisdom you have made”!

WHY THEY LASH OUT AT CHRISTIANS?

Most people who have given up in the search for God have not done so because they have carefully examined the evidence for themselves and found the Bible to be untrue. Rather, many of them have been turned away by Christendom’s failure to present the true God of the Bible.

As the French writer P. Valadier stated: “It was the Christian tradition that produced atheism as its fruit; it led to the murder of God in the consciences of men because it presented them with an unbelievable God.”

Whether they have observed the hypocrisy of religion or not, many atheists simply cannot reconcile belief in God with the suffering in the world. Simone de Beauvoir once said: “It was easier for me to think of a world without a creator than of a creator loaded with all the contradictions of the world.”

BECAUSE THE BIBLE TEACHES THAT EVERYONE IS ACCOUNTABLE TO GOD, AND THAT IS UNACCEPTABLE TO ATHEISTS?

“The senseless one will no longer be called generous; and as for the unprincipled man, he will not be said to be noble; because the senseless one himself will speak mere senselessness.” (Isaiah 32:5, 6a) Who is “the senseless one”? As if for emphasis, King David twice supplies the answer: “The senseless one has said in his heart: ‘There is no Jehovah.’ They have acted ruinously, they have acted detestably in their dealing. There is no one doing good.” (Psalm 14:1; 53:1) Of course, confirmed atheists say that there is no Jehovah. In effect, so do “intellectuals” and others who act as if there were no God, believing that they are accountable to no one.

Ironically, a leading cause of atheism is religion. Historian Alister McGrath explains: “What propels people toward atheism is above all a sense of revulsion against the excesses and failures of organized religion.” Religion is often seen as a factor behind wars and violence.

So when we talk to Atheists we strive to find out what puts them off believing in God, & if it is what they see being done in the name of religion, then we explain that God & the bible are completely different from organized religion today, God does not approve of organized religion either.

All the best
Brenda