Atheists, Agnostics and Believers

Atheists, Agnostics and Believers

Browsing the internet this morning I came across an article titled “Why I left Atheism” (http://www.doesgodexist.org/AboutClayton/PastLife.html). It was written by a scientist, and reads much like you would expect an article composed by a scientist to read; rather long and boring. It was not the first such article I’ve read, having become interested in the subject lately, but this one in particular posed some interesting questions and points for me. I decided to put my own opinion on paper, and to help define what each of the classifications means to me.
The easiest way to start this journey is, I suppose, to debunk the silliest classification among the three; agnosticism. Dictionary.com defines agnosticism as an “intellectual doctrine or attitude affirming the uncertainty of all claims to ultimate knowledge”. Well gee, that makes a lot of sense. By that logic there is NO ultimate knowledge. There is absolute truth such as: the sun does create heat, or air contains oxygen. But I suppose where it relates to God, some may think that it is a reasonable argument. My issue is that if you do not believe, or do not know, that the Bible is the Word of God and has relevance today, you would be a fool not to investigate it. If you are truly uncertain, then there must be some level of curiosity in you, or you would just declare yourself an atheist. But if you believe that there is a chance that what the Bible says is true, then you should certainly make up your mind before you die, or before the rapture. Either way, you don’t know when that day will come, so there should be a sense of urgency to do your research. If you have not, you are either lazy, or scared of what you will have to do once you have made that decision. You will either have to fully declare yourself and atheist, thereby spitting in the face of God, or you will have to change the way you live and the things you do, and put yourself in submission to God and His will. Being afraid of change seems a little insignificant since we are talking about your eternal soul, so if I were you, I’d get right on that.
Atheism is a little more difficult for me. I’m not a biblical scholar, (yet) nor am I a highly educated philosopher. An atheist has made his decision. He is, or had better be, firm in his belief and decision. He has attempted to educate himself on the subject, and has amassed some ammunition to support his argument. My belief and salvation is based on faith, because I had not begun the study on the subject. Personally, how the earth was created was never really in question for me.
In the article I mentioned above, the author tells of 2 different occasions in his college years where he approached a professor in 2 different areas of study and asked them to explain how matter was created from nothing. He wanted to know how his professor believed the world was originally created; was it the big bang, or something else. Both of his highly esteemed professors answered that it was not within the realm of science to answer that question. In other words, all of the scientific knowledge and technology we have today could not answer that question. Answering that question was the job of philosophers or religion.
I found that interesting. To me, that is the most important question. Every thing else related to science and philosophy hinges on that answer. Sure, we can understand pollination, and break down DNA, and know the structure of a molecule, but we can’t explain how the plants, the DNA, and the molecule got here in the first place. Why do we even teach evolution in science classes anyway? It’s only a theory, and it’s a theory originating from philosophy, not science! That tells me that an atheist is basing his opinion and gambling his soul on someone’s best guess. And yet, most atheists think that believers are ignorant, superstitious and foolish. Really?
What does atheism have to offer? If there is no God, there is no afterlife. So this is it. You can spend your whole life chasing pleasure and happiness, but you will only find one of them. It is impossible to be happy if you have nothing to live for. Again I go back to Dictionary.com where it defines happiness as “good fortune; pleasure; contentment, and joy. Pleasure, by definition, is temporary. Good fortune doesn’t last forever either. You could be the luckiest person on the planet, but even you will run out of it at some point. That leaves contentment and joy. Those things don’t come from circumstances. Circumstances change. The only way a man can be truly content is if he is fulfilling a purpose. To follow the bends in the river of life, floating along in whatever direction it takes you may be relaxing, but it can’t make you happy. Life is ugly, and you can only enjoy the view for a short time. An atheist cannot be truly happy because he has to believe that there is nothing else. The pain, loss and suffering that come with life is the absolute best that there is, and when it’s over, it’s over. Like a movie that fades to black after the last scene.
In contrast, Christianity contends that life on Earth is the absolute worst. Even the best of what life has to offer pales in comparison to what the Bible says Heaven will be to those who believe. Not only is the afterlife something to look forward to, but our current life offers fulfillment and purpose. Service to God comes in many different forms, and we were created for it. A God that loves us, and created us for a specific purpose would not put us into a service that makes us miserable. I’m not called to drop everything and move to Zimbabwe. Those that are do it because, ultimately, they want to. I was called to do this. To write about what I’m experiencing and going through. Ironically, I was doing this long before I made a decision to develop a relationship with Christ, because I love doing it.
Christianity is not scary. It’s not hard. In fact, each day that goes by, I realize that it is far easier than living without it. The benefits are incredible. God has given us the opportunity to tap in to all of the power and knowledge that he possesses. Wisdom, discernment, healing, faith, and so many more are gifts that He gives us that can be used for His service, but for ourselves as well. Most Christians don’t even use these gifts, but they are available to us.
We have the promise of an incredible future of wealth and power beyond this life, as well as a fulfilled and happy life here, and an atheist believes that this is as good as it gets. Lord Kelvin, a very famous British scientist once said “If you study science deep enough and long enough it will force you to believe in God.” I believe that. Like I said, I’m no scientist, but I have spent several hours reading and studying scientific arguments from both sides, and I’m convinced that any objective scientist can not make as strong an argument against God as one can for Him. Do the research for yourself.
What ever you do, don’t claim to be agnostic for more than another day or two. You really will look silly.