I am a man of faith. My faith is in Jesus Christ as the resurrected Son of God and my Saviour. I have staked my life and eternal destiny on Him . Where my faith is on a scale from little to great is for Christ to judge, but this I know: I do not have enough ‘faith’ to be an atheist (I know I am using ‘faith’ in a loose way – Biblical faith is not an ‘each-way bet’ or ‘believing the unbelievable’. Faith and knowledge go together as Paul said I know whom I have believed.)
We need to understand that atheism is not like being in opposition – deny, deny, deny. It is a system of affirmatives, not just a system of denials about God. It is these necessary affirmations that make me too skeptical to be an atheist.
To be an atheist I am asked to believe that something was made by nothing and from nothing. If there is ever an established axiom it is this –from nothing comes nothing. Yet this is what atheism presently denies (years ago atheism affirmed that matter is eternal to try and get around this problem but now it gives matter an age and thus a beginning). This is not science. It is argued that atheism rests upon science and Christianity (creationism) rests upon faith. But if God created the world then that is the scientific position on that issue! I am not prejudiced against science at all, a pursuit mandated by God at the beginning. Science boasts of being open-minded to truth but on this issue it excludes the possibility of God without a fair trial on the basis it is not scientific. I am told I should believe that nothing gave rise to the universe – I just don’t have enough ‘faith’ to accept that!
I am also told that dead matter, having been produced by nothing, gave rise to living matter. Where is the evidence for such a feat? All science points in the opposite direction. Pasteur’s simple experiment demonstrated that dead matter does not give rise to life and no other experiment to this day has demonstrated life can come from dead matter. All life comes from pre-existing life is a fact that cannot be challenged, but atheism asks me to believe the opposite – I don’t buy it. What experiment could be done to demonstrate it?
I’ve seen quite a few explosions in my life and they have been produced by the ignition of gas or explosives. They have all produced chaos, and not a one has produced design or order. Atheism asks me to believe (at least at the present until the ‘big-bang’ theory gets replaced by another theory) that this ordered universe is the result of one great big explosion, but as to what was there to ignite and the source of the ignition, I am asked to accept that on faith. I’m too skeptical for that.
The list goes on …and on. I’m asked to believe that this non-moral matter that somehow came into existence gave rise to man who comprehends and practices morality. He speaks of good and evil, but if we are but molecules in motion what has good and evil got to do with anything? Where did good and evil come from? What is the objective measure of such things? The old maxim is true: If there is no God then anything is permitted, but I can’t find anyone who is willing to live by that. Non-conscious matter somehow gave rise to consciousness; a creature that thinks, plans, reflects etc. etc. I agree with George Wald, Professor emeritus of Biology at Harvard University, who admitted evolution is impossible. (Nevertheless he was a believer in evolution because he could not countenance Creation). Me, I cannot believe the impossible.
The postulate that an all-powerful, all-intelligent God created the universe and all it contains is a one-time event that cannot be duplicated is true, but it makes sense to me because the atheistic alternative is too big a leap in the dark for me to contemplate. Atheism attributes to ‘blind chance’ and ‘blind Freddie’ what Theism attributes to God! If the universe is too great a task for God to create, how can blind chance and nothing do it?
Napolean said, those that do not believe the Bible end up believing anything. It would seem that this statement is true with regard to atheism. Atheism is not a product of science, nor of superior intelligence, but of the will of man who does not want to be governed by God.