Of course, all logicians know you cannot prove a universal negative: you can neither prove the existence of God with smoking-gun evidence to the unwilling unbeliever nor disprove Him to the willing believers. The only way to prove a universal negative is to be God (knowing all and being everywhere present). They don't offer proof there is no God, and evidence is hard to come by, but just offer their objections to Christianity and try to attack its credibility or freedom from hypocrisy. To be sure, no one can deny God due to lack of evidence!
There are plenty of motives to be an atheist: one doesn't have to shun hell, be accountable, regard sexual taboo or restriction, be judged, do the will of God, or worship in organized religion. In short, it's just very inconvenient! But man is basically a religious creature that will worship someone or something regardless of religious affiliation or not. Many atheists won't admit it, but they are embittered and believe God has done something unfair to them and they blame Him: the Bible says in Prov. 19:3 that when man ruins his life he blames God, but ironically we know he gives Him no credit for success while thinking he's a self-made man at that! Why are they angry at Jesus; what did He do? Even Pilate found no fault in Him! Jesus died as the innocent Lamb, but His cruel death was not the end of Him--He lives in our hearts through the kingdom of God.
One anecdote has an atheist in Ireland and being asked whether it was the God of Protestants or the God of Catholics that he didn't believe in! Blame sectarianism! They wondered the same question during the Civil War when both sides claimed to be praying to the same God for victory. Even during WWI, they had a truce to celebrate Christmas. How can this be brotherhood when we quarrel and even go to war? We shall judge the world and angels; how is it we cannot settle petty disputes? People say they cannot believe in "such a God" or a God who allows such and such a disaster--these are objections, not evidence. When people say the Bible contradicts itself, it really contradicts them!
I venture to posit that most atheists disbelieve out of ignorance and of rejecting a God they know nothing of or have false impressions of it like erecting straw men in arguments. In other words, if they knew the One that lightens every man and loves them enough to die, they would change their minds about the only God of love. Even Napoleon called Christ the Emperor of Love. Christ wants to conquer hearts through the Spirit and He has commissioned us to spread the Word, the gospel of God that is love. Even Christians are known to be willing to die for a church they will not attend, much less must be the opinion of the church be to the outsiders--Spurgeon said that it has so little influence on the world because the world has so much influence on the church!
Most Americans don't realize that Buddha didn't believe in God and that Buddhism denies a supernatural Creator-God. They are basically ancestor and Buddha worshippers. It used to be that belief in the Christian God was the default position in academia, but now the so-called intelligentsia has succumbed to Postmodernism, New Age thinking, and Secular Humanism as an alternative takes on God and interpretation of reality. It is generally believed that Darwin killed God and now God is dead and no longer relevant. But science has not undermined the Bible or Christianity. Christianity has always succeeded in out-thinking the skeptics and can answer their objections. It is a fact, that after two millennia, no objection is going to bring the downfall of this virulent faith and Christianity's God will not die.
The sad truth is that you must be oriented and aware of the truth to be living in reality and to know how to live. Truth, according to John Locke, is what corresponds with reality. The truth is becoming no more relevant as the personification of truth itself, Jesus, is being rejected--now they try to brainwash students into thinking it's only relative or cannot be known. When we remove God from the equation we lose our bearings on reality and are thrown off course and the foundation of society becomes destroyed. George Bernard Shaw said that "no society has survived the loss of its gods."
The atheist often attacks believers as having blind faith, but that means not knowing why you believe. Most atheists have blind faith because it's a bankrupt faith that cannot be proved with sound evidence--and most atheists don't know why they even don't believe, they're just bitter. John Stott said we must cater to their intellectual integrity [and answer objections], but must not pander to their intellectual arrogance. Both positions require faith, either in God or in science and man's reasoning. It's not a matter of faith versus reason, but which set of presuppositions one begins with. Soli Deo Gloria!
There are plenty of motives to be an atheist: one doesn't have to shun hell, be accountable, regard sexual taboo or restriction, be judged, do the will of God, or worship in organized religion. In short, it's just very inconvenient! But man is basically a religious creature that will worship someone or something regardless of religious affiliation or not. Many atheists won't admit it, but they are embittered and believe God has done something unfair to them and they blame Him: the Bible says in Prov. 19:3 that when man ruins his life he blames God, but ironically we know he gives Him no credit for success while thinking he's a self-made man at that! Why are they angry at Jesus; what did He do? Even Pilate found no fault in Him! Jesus died as the innocent Lamb, but His cruel death was not the end of Him--He lives in our hearts through the kingdom of God.
One anecdote has an atheist in Ireland and being asked whether it was the God of Protestants or the God of Catholics that he didn't believe in! Blame sectarianism! They wondered the same question during the Civil War when both sides claimed to be praying to the same God for victory. Even during WWI, they had a truce to celebrate Christmas. How can this be brotherhood when we quarrel and even go to war? We shall judge the world and angels; how is it we cannot settle petty disputes? People say they cannot believe in "such a God" or a God who allows such and such a disaster--these are objections, not evidence. When people say the Bible contradicts itself, it really contradicts them!
I venture to posit that most atheists disbelieve out of ignorance and of rejecting a God they know nothing of or have false impressions of it like erecting straw men in arguments. In other words, if they knew the One that lightens every man and loves them enough to die, they would change their minds about the only God of love. Even Napoleon called Christ the Emperor of Love. Christ wants to conquer hearts through the Spirit and He has commissioned us to spread the Word, the gospel of God that is love. Even Christians are known to be willing to die for a church they will not attend, much less must be the opinion of the church be to the outsiders--Spurgeon said that it has so little influence on the world because the world has so much influence on the church!
Most Americans don't realize that Buddha didn't believe in God and that Buddhism denies a supernatural Creator-God. They are basically ancestor and Buddha worshippers. It used to be that belief in the Christian God was the default position in academia, but now the so-called intelligentsia has succumbed to Postmodernism, New Age thinking, and Secular Humanism as an alternative takes on God and interpretation of reality. It is generally believed that Darwin killed God and now God is dead and no longer relevant. But science has not undermined the Bible or Christianity. Christianity has always succeeded in out-thinking the skeptics and can answer their objections. It is a fact, that after two millennia, no objection is going to bring the downfall of this virulent faith and Christianity's God will not die.
The sad truth is that you must be oriented and aware of the truth to be living in reality and to know how to live. Truth, according to John Locke, is what corresponds with reality. The truth is becoming no more relevant as the personification of truth itself, Jesus, is being rejected--now they try to brainwash students into thinking it's only relative or cannot be known. When we remove God from the equation we lose our bearings on reality and are thrown off course and the foundation of society becomes destroyed. George Bernard Shaw said that "no society has survived the loss of its gods."
The atheist often attacks believers as having blind faith, but that means not knowing why you believe. Most atheists have blind faith because it's a bankrupt faith that cannot be proved with sound evidence--and most atheists don't know why they even don't believe, they're just bitter. John Stott said we must cater to their intellectual integrity [and answer objections], but must not pander to their intellectual arrogance. Both positions require faith, either in God or in science and man's reasoning. It's not a matter of faith versus reason, but which set of presuppositions one begins with. Soli Deo Gloria!
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