Not believing in God doesn't make Him not exist and is not evidence that He doesn't exist: He exists whether one believes it or not. The Bible starts out: "In the beginning God...." It assumes God and makes no attempt at proof; however, we don't kiss our brains goodbye in believing, nor believe despite the evidence, but there is compelling and convincing evidence enough for one who wants to believe and is willing to do His will--man doesn't have intellectual problems, which he feigns as smokescreens and objects, but his problem is moral and a matter of surrender to God.
The act of believing something doesn't make it true, and disbelieving something doesn't make it false. Man simply doesn't want to believe, though he can believe; he's in a state of moral rebellion and defiance against God (Jer. 17:9 says, "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked, who can know it?"). Answer this: If there were no God, would men be angry at Him?
The fool has said in his heart that he doesn't believe in God per Psalm 14:1. Jesus said some are "slow of heart to believe," (cf. Luke 24:25). Note that he has a problem in his heart or will; it's not really an intellectual thing, for all his doubts could be answered and he'd still refuse to believe. To address the issue one must ascertain what God he is referring to (the Judaeo-Christian one?) or is it some generic deity or default God? What if someone said, "I don't believe in words!" You would think it was absurd because he was using words to say it. "In the beginning was the Word: Words make up thoughts and thoughts come from a thinker or a mind and the higher the thought the higher the mind--eventually we face the Ultimate Mind or the Supreme Thinker of the cosmos.
If there was no Higher Mind, there would be no thoughts, and all ideas would merely be random atomic reactions without rhyme or reason and helter-skelter. We know that the cosmos appears to be one gigantic mathematical equation according to astronomers. There are purpose and order to it, or you could call it teleological. If there were no minds, there would be no thoughts and we couldn't use thought to disprove God's existence and couldn't even trust thought--without God, life makes no sense, and everything reasonable is up for grabs.
I make no exhaustive attempt to rationalize God, as it were, but to show the fallacy of such denial and its logical conclusion--there's no purpose in anything and everything is meaningless. Fools and infidels are seldom convinced by argument; however, God has set eternity in the hearts of man (cf. Eccl. 3:11) and every culture and tribe or people group recognizes some form of divinity or deity--how did this happen, if not based in truth? The deepest and most profound inquiry one can make is whether there is a God and how this affects him. What do we owe God in return for all His mercy, grace, and goodness?
If there is no God, where did this idea come from, known as ontological proof, and if there is no morality or standards of right and wrong, where did we get this from? There seems to be some person behind the universe who we can relate to that is the source of noble and good behavior, such as courage, integrity, good faith, altruism, love, unselfishness, fair play, truthfulness, and honesty, etc. Surely, there is a personality behind everything that cares a lot about right and wrong, just as if they were scientific or mathematical laws.
Everyone believes in and worships something (we are referred to as Homo religiosis and Homo divinus, religious beings or divine). We worship what we admire and if we don't worship God, we will find something or someone to worship. To deny that you worship something is to say you worship yourself, and some megalomaniacs do. Humanism is the philosophy of deifying and exalting man, and dethroning God--it is religion minus God. It implies man is the measure of all things and, we start with man and understand the cosmos, not with God; however, Scripture says, "In the beginning God...."
Instead, we begin with God and explain everything. You cannot come to a clear and coherent understanding of reality and metaphysics without accepting a Higher Being and someone who is transcendent or out there removed from creation and controlling, guiding, and preserving it. You can tell a lot about a person by knowing what he admires; if not God, there must be something to fill the void and vacuum created, that can only be satisfied with a personal relationship and fellowship with the Lord. Augustine said our hearts are restless till they find rest in God.
The fool has said in his heart that he doesn't believe in God per Psalm 14:1. Jesus said some are "slow of heart to believe," (cf. Luke 24:25). Note that he has a problem in his heart or will; it's not really an intellectual thing, for all his doubts could be answered and he'd still refuse to believe. To address the issue one must ascertain what God he is referring to (the Judaeo-Christian one?) or is it some generic deity or default God? What if someone said, "I don't believe in words!" You would think it was absurd because he was using words to say it. "In the beginning was the Word: Words make up thoughts and thoughts come from a thinker or a mind and the higher the thought the higher the mind--eventually we face the Ultimate Mind or the Supreme Thinker of the cosmos.
If there was no Higher Mind, there would be no thoughts, and all ideas would merely be random atomic reactions without rhyme or reason and helter-skelter. We know that the cosmos appears to be one gigantic mathematical equation according to astronomers. There are purpose and order to it, or you could call it teleological. If there were no minds, there would be no thoughts and we couldn't use thought to disprove God's existence and couldn't even trust thought--without God, life makes no sense, and everything reasonable is up for grabs.
I make no exhaustive attempt to rationalize God, as it were, but to show the fallacy of such denial and its logical conclusion--there's no purpose in anything and everything is meaningless. Fools and infidels are seldom convinced by argument; however, God has set eternity in the hearts of man (cf. Eccl. 3:11) and every culture and tribe or people group recognizes some form of divinity or deity--how did this happen, if not based in truth? The deepest and most profound inquiry one can make is whether there is a God and how this affects him. What do we owe God in return for all His mercy, grace, and goodness?
If there is no God, where did this idea come from, known as ontological proof, and if there is no morality or standards of right and wrong, where did we get this from? There seems to be some person behind the universe who we can relate to that is the source of noble and good behavior, such as courage, integrity, good faith, altruism, love, unselfishness, fair play, truthfulness, and honesty, etc. Surely, there is a personality behind everything that cares a lot about right and wrong, just as if they were scientific or mathematical laws.
Everyone believes in and worships something (we are referred to as Homo religiosis and Homo divinus, religious beings or divine). We worship what we admire and if we don't worship God, we will find something or someone to worship. To deny that you worship something is to say you worship yourself, and some megalomaniacs do. Humanism is the philosophy of deifying and exalting man, and dethroning God--it is religion minus God. It implies man is the measure of all things and, we start with man and understand the cosmos, not with God; however, Scripture says, "In the beginning God...."
Instead, we begin with God and explain everything. You cannot come to a clear and coherent understanding of reality and metaphysics without accepting a Higher Being and someone who is transcendent or out there removed from creation and controlling, guiding, and preserving it. You can tell a lot about a person by knowing what he admires; if not God, there must be something to fill the void and vacuum created, that can only be satisfied with a personal relationship and fellowship with the Lord. Augustine said our hearts are restless till they find rest in God.
Pascal said there is a "God-shaped vacuum only God can fill!" The only way to have fulfillment in life is to know God because this is our purpose and meaning in life: "The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever" (The Westminster Shorter Catechism). We are made for God and exist for His purpose; He doesn't exist for ours.
When someone says he doesn't believe in God, he is acknowledging God in his assertion: Who said there was a God? How did you find that out? Like one saying he doesn't believe in words saying them or in the air while breathing it! Where does he reckon he came from, why is he here, and where is he going? The answers to life's fundamental questions cannot be satisfactorily answered apart from personal knowledge of God. God, according to AA, is any Higher Power (not necessarily a supernatural one), and everyone has one! We are responsible to obey what we know, and if we do, God will show us more.
When someone says he doesn't believe in God, he is acknowledging God in his assertion: Who said there was a God? How did you find that out? Like one saying he doesn't believe in words saying them or in the air while breathing it! Where does he reckon he came from, why is he here, and where is he going? The answers to life's fundamental questions cannot be satisfactorily answered apart from personal knowledge of God. God, according to AA, is any Higher Power (not necessarily a supernatural one), and everyone has one! We are responsible to obey what we know, and if we do, God will show us more.
God isn't obligated to prove Himself to anyone; He owes no one anything and has given sufficient evidence, for all creation has His imprint and fingerprint in DNA, the missing link of intelligence. Why can't man produce life? The missing link is intelligence and God has a monopoly on it--His knowledge is perfect. If we made life someday in a petri dish or test tube, it would only prove that it must be by intelligence and design. The design of the cosmos only proves a Designer and all the order seen everywhere only proves an Orderer!
The beginning or the Big Bang only proves a Beginner! The scientific theory of an eternal universe is untenable. Who got the ball rolling and fired the shot of the Big Bang? As the Greeks called God, the unmoved mover or first cause. Paul said on Mars Hill in Acts 17:29, ESV: "... In Him, we live and move and have our being...." He is the necessary one to exist, while nothing else needs to exist for reality to exist. We aren't necessary, the earth isn't necessary, but God is because for something to exist there must be something necessary to exist or nothing would exist and it would be that nothing was necessary or had a cause. The law of causality or of cause and effect says all effects must have a cause, and everything that begins to exist has a cause; God isn't an "effect" and didn't begin to exist, being eternal, and therefore has no cause outside Himself. The Big Bang had a beginning and therefore had a cause to bring it about.
Atheism is a bankrupt religion (and it was declared a religion by a federal court), and it cannot be defended, it raises more questions than it answers since logicians will tell you that you cannot prove a universal negative, because you'd have to be everywhere at the same time (like proving there are no little green men), and only God could do this--so it's logically absurd and a contradiction. The only motive for being an atheist (cf. Psalm 10:4) is because one doesn't want to be responsible and accountable to a God, living without a Lawgiver, Judge, and Ruler to control his destiny. They believe they are only animals because they want to act like animals! Soli Deo Gloria!
The beginning or the Big Bang only proves a Beginner! The scientific theory of an eternal universe is untenable. Who got the ball rolling and fired the shot of the Big Bang? As the Greeks called God, the unmoved mover or first cause. Paul said on Mars Hill in Acts 17:29, ESV: "... In Him, we live and move and have our being...." He is the necessary one to exist, while nothing else needs to exist for reality to exist. We aren't necessary, the earth isn't necessary, but God is because for something to exist there must be something necessary to exist or nothing would exist and it would be that nothing was necessary or had a cause. The law of causality or of cause and effect says all effects must have a cause, and everything that begins to exist has a cause; God isn't an "effect" and didn't begin to exist, being eternal, and therefore has no cause outside Himself. The Big Bang had a beginning and therefore had a cause to bring it about.
Atheism is a bankrupt religion (and it was declared a religion by a federal court), and it cannot be defended, it raises more questions than it answers since logicians will tell you that you cannot prove a universal negative, because you'd have to be everywhere at the same time (like proving there are no little green men), and only God could do this--so it's logically absurd and a contradiction. The only motive for being an atheist (cf. Psalm 10:4) is because one doesn't want to be responsible and accountable to a God, living without a Lawgiver, Judge, and Ruler to control his destiny. They believe they are only animals because they want to act like animals! Soli Deo Gloria!