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I am a born-again Christian, who is Reformed, but also charismatic, spiritually speaking. (I do not speak in tongues, but I believe glossalalia is a bona fide gift not given to all, and not as great as prophecy, for example.) I have several years of college education but only completed a two-year degree. I was raised Lutheran and confirmed, but I didn't "find Christ" until I was in the Army and responded to a Billy Graham crusade in 1973. I was mentored or discipled by the Navigators in the army and upon discharge joined several evangelical, Bible-teaching churches. I was baptized as an infant, but believe in believer baptism, of which I was a partaker after my conversion experience. I believe in the "5 Onlys" of the reformation: sola fide (faith alone); sola Scriptura (Scripture alone); soli Christo (Christ alone), sola gratia (grace alone), and soli Deo gloria (to God alone be the glory). I affirm TULIP as defended in the Reformation.. I affirm most of The Westminster Confession of Faith, especially pertaining to Providence.

Thursday, February 16, 2017

Confronting Atheists

"Two things amaze me:  the starry skies above and the moral law within."  (Immanuel Kant)

A word to the wise is sufficient:  You cannot rationalize God nor conclusively prove His existence, though you can show evidence and facts leading in that direction--it will take a step of faith to know Him--"Taste and see that the LORD is good" (cf. Psalm 34:8).  However, God has entered history in the person of Christ and proved it by His resurrection; but history is by its very nature nonrepeatable!  Note also that you cannot argue someone into the kingdom and infidels are seldom convinced by argument.   They have feigned intellectual problems which are a smokescreen to hide their moral rebellion, in which they don't want to be accountable to God for their lifestyle--it's a matter of the heart, not the mind!

Atheists think they have you cornered without any recourse of logic when they flatly deny there is a God, by saying simply, "I don't believe in God!"  Something can be true whether believed or not--their denial doesn't alter reality.  They have no way of defending their position any more than any other universal negative, which is impossible to disprove, like saying there are no little green men.  Only God knows all and is everywhere and can make such a claim.  Atheism is a bankrupt philosophy and has no basis in fact--if he asks you to prove God, just retort that he cannot disprove Him either--both sides require faith, it just depends on which set of presuppositions you are willing to have as your starting point.

Everyone has faith, but faith in God is God-given, not achieved and not everyone has this gift, but if they seek after God He will make Himself known to the sincere, but not to the triflers.  The atheist has to realize there is objective as well as subjective truth, and that God fits in the category of absolute truth, and it doesn't matter whether you accept it or not, it's true for everyone and for all time, everywhere; as for me, I don't have enough faith to be an atheist!

Denying God is like denying there's a designer when you see a design, or a creator when you see a creation, or an artist when you see art, or an orderer when you see order, or a planer when you see a plan or purpose.  Purpose is a dirty word to the atheist, who refuses to see a purpose in living and in creation--everything is one big fluke of nature.   If I said I don't believe in air because I don't see it, you'd think I was crazy, because you can see what it does!  People often wonder where is God when they should be wondering where isn't God.  They ask why there is evil if God is good when they should be asking why there's so much good if there isn't a God.  And why doesn't God stamp evil out if He is good?  None of us would be left!

There are many reasons to believe in God:  The law of causality or of cause and effect, i.e., the First Cause or Unmoved Mover; the teleological nature or purpose of the cosmos; the Anthropic Principle is seen on earth, whereby it is perfectly suited for man, often called the fine-tuned universe;  over 2,000 predictive prophecies that were fulfilled; changed hearts upon conversion and knowing Him; the moral code within man's conscience, which shows God cares a lot about right and wrong; the resurrection of Christ which was either the biggest hoax and fake news event in history, or its most wonderful blessing; the answer to the beginning of the cosmos in having a Beginner; the movement of history according to God's plan heading toward a consummation in Christ, which will be fulfilled in Revelation's prophecies; the movement and experience of the Holy Spirit and miracles He brings about; and answers to questions like the origin of life which science cannot measure.

You cannot use science to prove or disprove God any more than using a Geiger Counter to measure voltage.  You can't put God in a test tube!  There is no laboratory condition to make a scientific experiment for God either and thus the scientific method is wholly inappropriate and inadequate.  Believing in God is a matter of faith, not knowledge, and this is what pleases God--faith.  This is ultimately a philosophical question because it's out of the domain of scientific endeavor.   We are meant to walk by faith, not by sight and all must take the leap of faith to get to know Him personally.

Denial of God is a wholly irrational proposition, and anyone would see this unless he had the prejudice that there is no God already in his mind and has a closed mind--you must be willing to go where the facts and evidence lead to ever arrive at truth!  Only believing in God can satisfy a needy heart as Pascal said, "There's a God-shaped vacuum in our heart only God can fill."  Augustine also said likewise that our hearts are restless till they find their rest in God!   Remember in conclusion that there is no ultimate intellectual conflict--the battle is in the heart and the heart of the matter is that it's a matter of the heart as it is written:  "The fool has said in his heart, There is no God..." (cf. Ps. 14:1). In other words, they are in a state of moral rebellion against God and His Law.

The Bible never apologizes for its assumption of God, making no effort at proof.  People know it but they suppress it or muffle it.  The problem is that God hides Himself and must be sought diligently to be found.  Though God is neither visible, tangible, nor audible, He can be experienced and known.  The point to ponder is that all knowledge begins in faith; It's not a matter of faith vs. reason, but which set of presuppositions you start with via faith.  Faith in science is still faith! Evolution is touted as the inescapable fact that is the key to all knowledge--the Bible says the fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; nevertheless, today's militant atheists are dedicated to eradicating Christianity from the open marketplace of ideas and any mention of Him in the public forum--they not only deny God's existence, they are anti-God and are radicalized to promote atheism.  Soli Deo Gloria!

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