God doesn’t believe in Atheism. Actually, God doesn’t believe atheists exist at all. Now perhaps I am being overly snarky, and to my atheist friends who are reading this, please don’t be offended, I love you all, but I do want challenge you to really think about your position.
To be an atheist is to be a person who is doesn’t believe in a god or gods, and rejects entirely the possibility of a metaphysical reality. It could also be said that an atheist has a very naturalistic perspective when it comes to the nature of man. In other words, humans don’t possess an immaterial aspect to their being; emotions such as love, sadness, joy are all products of a chemical process developed by evolution, for the purpose of human flourishing.
Atheism differs from agnosticism because agnostics don’t reject the existence of God entirely, they simply do not know if God exists. As the late Carrie Fisher, (I’m a big Star Wars fan, by the way) once said that she was an “enthusiastic agnostic who would be happy to be shown that there is a God.” The atheist, however, doesn’t share the same sentiment as Princess Leia, unfortunately.
Now, this might come as a shock to you, but everyone knows God exists. God has clearly revealed himself in creation, and has manifested his glory by his handiwork. Psalm 19:1 says, “the heavens declare the glory of God.” God is not silent when it comes to his existence. Moreover, the Scriptures teach that God’s invisible attributes, such as his power and nature have been clearly shown to people by God himself ever since the creation of the world, so that no one, including those who don’t believe, will have any excuse (Rom. 1:19-20).
Furthermore, and I have written on this already, the very pursuit of transcendence or the seeking after glory, shows us that there is a God. As the author of Ecclesiastes 3:11 says that “God has placed eternity in the heart of man.” So the longing that you and I feel for something that is outside of ourselves, is placed there by God, with the intention of drawing us back to him.
If God has displayed such revelation about his existence and his power, why do people disbelieve? As I wrote last week, it is not because of a lack of evidence. Simply put, people just don’t want to believe that God exists. To acknowledge that there is someone greater in the universe, means that you have to be accountable to Him, and people just don’t want to answer to anyone else but themselves. In fact, Romans 1:18 speaks of the unbeliever knowing God's existence, yet suppressing that truth by their unrighteousness, so it is not matter of whether or not God has revealed himself, rather he has, and people don’t like it.
Suppressing the truth of God’s existence is like trying to submerge a beach ball in a large swimming pool. You have to actively push it down into the water, because if you don’t, the beach ball is going to come popping up to the surface. Deniers of God have to actively wrestle, dare I say fight against the overwhelming reality that surrounds them. Every day they have to wake up, look outside and condition themselves to reject clear and amazing revelation that God is real. If they stop wrestling, the knowledge of God will surface and they will have to come to grips with the One they have been denying. What a stressful existence that would be to constantly be at war with creation itself, and your own person, all proclaiming loudly that God is real. It is no wonder, in my experience at least, I have never met a joyful atheist.
God is real, the Bible says so. Not only that, creation and the atheist themselves are a testimony to the working of an all-powerful, all-loving Creator. With the news of many abandoning their faith and becoming atheists, I would say this to them: abandon fighting against the Truth, and find rest in God.