Right is Might

Proving the existence of good, God, and meaning in life.
(c) 2006 by Jon Gill; re-posted 2011 from www.jonathangill.net

right - n. truth; goodness; that which is true, good, and correct;
adj. true; good; correct
might - n. power; authority

I saw a poster the other day on the wall of an Army compound that had a picture of tanks crossing the desert, and the words, “RIGHT IS MIGHT” above it. As much as this fit the category of propaganda posters from the last 100 years of America’s military recruiting (even having the guts to put “U.S. Army” at the bottom of it all) the simple truth of the statement hit me. While very few people agree that "might makes right", and the jury is still out for most people on whether what we did in Iraq was inherently “right” (this is not an essay on Iraq), the fact remains that “right is might” – that is, that which is inherently good also has inherent power.

There are two important corollaries to take from this truth, which in turn will show the original true. The first is:
(1) if inherent good is inherently powerful, that which is absolutely good is absolutely powerful.

The second is:
(2) the appearance of goodness or truth has power (or the appearance of power) to the degree that it appears true.

The third is a moot point: that which does not appear good or true has no power at all. The reason this last point is moot is because things that are inherently evil or false usually exist only with a great degree of verisimilitude – they would have been dismissed long ago if they had not.

POINT 1: Absolute good and absolute power.
When people are asked about the definition of "God", most of them agree that the idea of God is a supernatural, omnipotent being. Where they differ is on His character – is He good, or “good”? Is he father or daddy? Does He really love you, is He out to get you, or is He just out there? The question arises from skeptics (and also pondering teenagers trying to figure things out for themselves), “Can God make a rock so big that He can’t lift it?” The paradox presented, of course, is that if God is omnipotent, then He should be able to make that rock, but his omnipotence would then be immediately challenged by having a rock that he is unable to lift. The unfortunate conclusion, besides confusion, is usually the skepticism of the very idea of omnipotence. What follows the idea that no person or being can be omnipotent. That no one person, religion, or creed can ever have the truth. That truth is relative. That you should just do the best you can, because that’s all anyone can hope for. It’s sad that such ignorance can lead to such widespread ideas of hopelessness and vanity.

There are two things wrong with the question about God and His rock. The first is best explained in another paradoxical question: “What would happen if an unstoppable force struck an immovable object?” While the question boggles the mind, the intelligent person will figure out that if one exists, the other cannot. If there is an immovable object, no force is completely unstoppable. If there is an unstoppable force, no object is completely immovable. These truths are there in the very definitions of the words. Relate this to the God-rock conundrum, and we see that it is logically impossible for an omnipotent being to create something that can never exist, but that impossibility does not in any way limit that being’s omnipotence – God is still capable of creating anything that can exist, and doing anything that can be done. God is the unstoppable force, the rock is the immovable object. God would not be God if that rock could ever exist – and that is the very reason that atheists and skeptics raise the question in the first place, so that the very nature of God is questioned.

That brings me to the second thing wrong with the God-rock question, and how it relates to the original hypothesis: the nature of God. God is absolutely powerful, and God is absolutely good. God is incapable of sin, for sin is the disobedience of God’s law and design, and sin separates us from God. If God were to sin, He would cease to be God. He would separate Himself from Himself. It is His goodness, His perfection that defines who He is. (Some religions, such as New Age, Existentialism, and Latter-Day Saints, believe that God was first imperfect and then worked to become perfect, and that we are all on the same path. Well, good luck to you all.) Either way, the main thing that defines an all-powerful being is how perfectly good he is. Not only does no one want to believe that an evil being could be all-powerful, but even in movies and our culture we show that villain having some ultimate flaw that is his downfall. “Fallen” (or “fell” in the older times) is how we describe evil things, as if they are already beaten. And of course they are, for if good is omnipotent, evil can never be. Unlike good, which has inherent power, evil has only default power.

There is no yin and yang (a concept which entails the equality and inter-relatedness of good and evil) – light has always been more powerful than darkness, for darkness is merely the absence of light. Cold is merely the absence of heat, not an entity of its own. It is not cold that affects us, merely the absence of the heat we need to live and be comfortable. Darkness does not overtake the sunlight at dusk, the earth merely moves out of the sun’s light, allowing us to see light from far-away stars, and the sunlight reflecting off the moon and the planets. Darkness cannot overtake a lit room unless the light first goes out or is hidden - its power is only by default of the light source.

Most people believe that even the most evil person “still has some good in them”. Why? Is it because if there is no good left, there is no hope for redemption? Is it that they fear the supposed entity of evil, or rather because the complete absence of good leaves them and the afflicted person completely powerless to change him? There is only one being that is incapable of redemption, and he is only evil because he relinquished what good had originally been bestowed upon him. That brings me to my second point, but let me summarize this one: the only thing that can be absolutely powerful is something that is absolutely good. Any imperfect being will always have an area that can be exploited, their downfall, their weakness. An omnipotent being can have no weakness, and therefore can have no imperfections.

POINT 2: Evil, lies and verisimilitude.
The second (and third) point is that something that is imperfect or evil can only have power to the degree that it appears true and good, even if it lacks true inherent power. Verisimilitude (the appearance of truth) is powerful – we call it deception – and blatant lies are ridiculously impotent. If someone tells you, while outdoors, that the sky is green, you would laugh in their face because you can see quite plainly that it is blue (or grey, if you live in England). Even if you were indoors, such a story would be met with immediate skepticism, having never seen or heard of the sky being green before. In the same way, if someone came up to you and said that your grandma had died, while she is sitting there in the room knitting, you would dismiss it immediately as a falsehood, ridiculous. However, if you had not seen your grandma in quite some time, and the last time you did she was ill, the news would have much more of an impact upon you. It is the possibility of this truth that has the power – if it is true, you will be attending a funeral soon, remembering her life and all your memories of her. If it is untrue, you will still be feeling those emotions until you find it is false, at which point the news will cease to affect you, other than to chide the one that passed you the lie in the first place. Then think about how much more the lie could affect you if the bearer of the false news went to great lengths to pull off the prank. If he told you to go ahead and call someone to verify, and the person you called was in on the joke and played along, affirming the lie, you would trust with all your heart that it was true. Almost nothing but seeing your grandma alive would sway you away from believing the lie.

So, we see that not only does actual good and truth hold power, but falsehood can have power to the degree that it appears true. This is exactly the ploy that the enemy (the devil, or “Satan”, which means “adversary”) uses to gain power over human beings. He uses lies like “no one loves you” to bring depression, but the power only comes when you believe it. He will try to prove it to you, by reminding you of all the times you got picked last in kickball, all the times someone ignored you, all the times the world was cruel to you. Hence the final note, “goodbye, cruel world.” He uses lies like “you’ll never be everything you’ve tried to be”, to get people to either give up or to overexert themselves to a breaking point (whichever is your tendency). He even lies about God and himself, as he did from the very beginning. The serpent told Eve that God only wanted them not to eat from that tree because they would become like Him – that He was holding out on them, that He didn’t love them enough to give them everything. In truth, God only wanted them not to eat from that tree to keep them from an unnecessary knowledge of evil and lies, which would only tempt them further to become imperfect, fallen. The existence of the tree in the first place was for the purpose of giving mankind a choice, a free will. Without the option of disobedience, we are merely robots, and robots cannot love God or anyone else, which is ultimately our purpose. It turns out that the option, along with the serpent’s lie that appeared true, was enough to do mankind in. The naïveté of Adam and Eve was not a blatantly evil choice – it was merely their first introduction to the difference between true Truth, and the lie that appears true.

That one appearance of truth had enough power to bring down the ones who had walked, lived, breathed, and spoken with God in person. Choosing the lie over the truth brought imperfection. Imperfection brought fallibility. Fallibility brought impotence and death. Today we are utterly dependent on the only One who is good and perfect for our very life. We each have an expiration date, and during that time we can never hope to achieve perfection on our own – anything that has ever been imperfect will never be truly perfect. It must exist perfect at all times, unless is can be perfected by something or someone that is perfect. The only way we will become perfect is by choosing Truth over the lie, letting the Perfect One work to perfect us. By choosing Truth over the lie every day, we submit ourselves to the power of God, which is His truth and goodness. His absolute power and goodness works in us to make us like Him. Every good and perfect gift comes down from above, from the Father of Lights, in whom there is no shadow or turning (that is, He never changes or flickers). Every lie comes from the father of lies, the prince of darkness, the one whose light and truth were stripped from him because of his treason, and who wants nothing more than to create havoc and trouble on mankind as much as possible before he is destroyed. He has no real power – he cannot do anything you do not allow him to or he does not have a right or permission to do. His only power is his lies that appear true. The Bible says he prowls about “like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.” That does not mean he is a lion – no, Jesus is the Lion of Judah, the true king – but his lion mask is pretty scary to most people. Especially to those who have never met the real Lion. How would they know how to spot a fake lion if they’ve never seen a real one? The appearance of a powerful being, to a sufficiently naïve person, has enough power to scare and control. But, when the True Lion comes to fight the fake one, who will win? It is not a fair fight! The fake lion has no true power against the real one, and the power of the lie is also broken because the formerly naïve person has seen the truth.

The point.
And so it is with truth and goodness, with good and evil. Anyone who has been shown the truth needs not fear the lies – they have no power. Anyone who has never seen the truth will be captive to the lies until the truth comes. If no one can ever find the Truth, then there is no God, there is no good, and therefore there is no evil, no sin, and no punishment - and no hope and no point to life. But if there is any good in this world, there must be a source; and if there is a source of good, that source must be absolutely good. And if that source is absolutely good, then that source is absolutely powerful. And we know this omnipotent source of good as God. So if God exists, and He is absolutely good, then there is indeed a way to find the Truth, and the power of lies can be broken.

And if the power of lies can be broken, there is hope.

The Standard of Grace

Let me begin with a controversial theological statement:

The only standard to which those far from Christ ought to be held is their own.

Now, before you theological types rake coals over my head by saying, "don't preach liberal theology!" and, "Christ Himself said that He is the only way to God!", allow me to explain. This message (a foundation of the gospel) is not about what God will do from His throne on Judgment Day. Certainly He will be both Just and Merciful. This message is about how we should live, how we should act, how we should treat others.

I heard a controversial open-air preacher say once to an unbelieving crowd, "Of course you're fine with being fornicators, liars, and thieves. You're only doing what you see your father The Devil doing!" That got the crowd in a tiffy, of course. While I don't think his approach was full of grace (at all), at least what he said was true. Jesus said the same thing about His own Father, and those that are not sons of that Father are merely sons of darkness, doing dark things. The question then, unlike this preacher's tactics (and unfortunately, the attitude of much of the church today), is "what is our role as the adopted sons of God to those who are not in Christ?"

If I clarify the original controversial statement with the words "by us" after "ought to be held", then we've found our real place. Plenty of guilt-laden sinners responded to this preacher with Jesus's most famously quoted instruction: "Judge not lest you be judged!" Of course they stop there, and don't mention that it says "for by the measure you judge it shall be measured to you," and of course this preacher probably wasn't worried about being judged for being a godless sinner like his audience. I think that neither the guilty sinners nor the righteous preacher were ultimately correct. He was an admirable man, with an admirable goal, but he was missing something: grace.

We are held to a stricter standard. As Christians (literally, "little Christs"), we are held the standard of being like Christ. Of course, this is essentially impossible - even the Pharisees, who practiced their whole life keeping the entirety of the law AND the traditions that had been added "for good measure", were so far from being like Christ that they were more of a target than the sinners!

Of course, becoming like Christ is a process, and this process requires outside help. Grace (Greek: charis, a root for both "charity" and "charisma") is the help we need, to receive and to give.

The sons of darkness can only be held to the standard of darkness (which is no standard), and they will be convicted only by their conscience (which is God's law given to mankind, which keeps them accountable to the knowledge of good and evil). They will not be "converted" by our best preaching, and certainly not by our judgment. No, our job is first to live according to the standard we adhere to - that of Christ - which we can only do by receiving His grace (the energy to do what is right).

In this way, we can realize that we are no better than the lost sinner. In this way, we can meet those in darkness and they can see our light. In this way, we can meet a Buddhist and not be wary; we can meet an atheist and not be defensive; we can meet a homosexual and not be disgusted; we can meet a leper and embrace them; we can meet a Muslim and not fear. We can be the type of older brother who awaits his lost brother's return as fervently as the father, and who has compassion and runs to meet him while he is still far off. Not only meet him, but love him.

By grace, we are all saved. Through faith that He is full of more grace than we would ever give. Not of works, whether we labor lifelong or only at twilight. We cannot boast, for neither our adoption into light nor the return of the younger brother were on our own power. Grace is the only way any of us should be living or will be alive at the end.




There are plenty of questions I did not address in this post, such as "what about those who call themselves Christians but are not?" and "does this mean we should not speak the Truth to those that don't believe it?" The short answers to those are, respectively, "I Corinthians 5:9" and "no, but speak the truth in love, dripping grace." For further reading, see "The Prodigal God" by Timothy Keller.

gods by the dozen
A religion built around Self is the purest form of Humanism – and the death of us all.

"Man is certainly stark mad; he cannot make a flea, and yet he makes gods by the dozen."
~Michel de Montaigne

"The more I study religions the more I am convinced that man never worshipped anything but himself."
~Sir Richard Francis Burton

"Every man builds his world in his own image.”
~Ayn Rand

“Their ways are futile and foolish. They cut down a tree and carve an idol. They decorate it with gold and silver and then fasten it securely with hammer and nails so it won't fall over. There stands their god like a helpless scarecrow in a garden! It cannot speak, and it needs to be carried because it cannot walk. Do not be afraid of such gods, for they can neither harm you nor do you any good.”
~Jeremiah 10:3-5

"The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult; and left untried."
~G. K. Chesterton

Whose image?
Most Christians (and many others in the world) believe that God created man “in His own image” (Gen 1:26). Yet what have all of us done, since the beginning of creation, but the exact opposite? We have created “God” in our own image. As you can see by the title, I have left uncapitalized the word ‘gods’. This is because, of course, none of these gods are the true God. Skeptics like Rand, Burton, and de Montaigne, quoted above, recognized this far easier than do many Christians, even though they did not even believe in a God.
A quote from the movie “The Usual Suspects” says, “the greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn’t exist.” I disagree. I think his greatest trick – that is, the most widespread with the deepest consequences – was to convince man that men are gods, and God is man. The serpent in the garden used two tactics to bring about the downfall of man: he attacked the nature of God, and exalted the nature of man. He questioned God by saying “did God really say...?” He contradicted God by saying “you will not surely die!” He plants discontentment in the hearts of Adam and Eve, by convincing them that God is holding out on them – “if you eat the fruit, you’ll become like gods yourselves!” It is this temptation that is the breaking point. The truths of the serpent’s words were powerful even in their perverted state: man would indeed know good and evil – as God did – but unfortunately, they would not have the capacity to be responsible with this knowledge. It is our confusion of good and evil that has been the source of all death over the millennia.
This denial comes in stages: first, man recognizes that evil exists (the knowledge of good and evil). Then, he recognizes that he is helpless against that evil (recognition of our nakedness). Then, he hides himself from God – choosing prideful and fearful self-preservation over humble, faithful salvation. Finally, he sets himself up in a seat of power in his little bush, adorned in his fig leaves, denying God’s authority. This is his way of self-justification, denying that he is evil and in need.

Self as god.
There are millions of lies that man believes. However, the ones he is most willing to believe are the ones that tell him he’s better than he feels he is. The lie addresses the feeling of helplessness that we all feel because of sin, but it does not solve it. It covers it up like a chain of fig leaves – a stunningly insufficient garment indeed. Those that wear their fig leaves may feel comfortable enough all day long. They may feel confident that they have gotten away with eating the fruit, and that the serpent was right – they will not surely die. However, when evening comes, and God walks through the garden, suddenly they are afraid!
In what ways are we self-centered? There are those that are honest about it. The Satanists have but one commandment: “Do as thou wilt.” A Secular Humanist Declaration, the third installment of the Humanist Manifestos, states “secular humanism places trust in human intelligence rather than in divine guidance.” At least the latter is honest enough to admit that “human beings are prone to err.” There are a number of both humanist and mystical lines of thought that promote “self-actualization”, the drive to realize all of one’s potential. Certainly all these people would not shy away from the fact that they are “self-centered”, for they do not see it as a bad thing, but as an ideal to be desired.
At the other extreme, we have those that are trying to completely be rid of self. These are they that abandon themselves to the unknown, hoping to escape the prison of self. Unfortunately, the unknown awaits them. They do not reject self in humility, but rather in pride and striving. They do not do it in trust, but in fear. And so, as they leave themselves, they do not become servants of the God of mercy and faithfulness, but bound by the spirit of religious pride and fearful striving. If, for example, they find the struggle against their own flesh too great, where are they to turn? If they realize they are still human and not transcending as they ought, what do they have but hopelessness?

All sin is selfishness.
There isn’t a sin listed or implied in the Bible that can’t be boiled down to selfishness. When we serve ourselves, we sin. When we sin, we serve ourselves rather than God. Even when we serve a false god, we serve our own image, for we have re-shaped the True God into something small and unworthy, while we shape whatever other god we please into something powerful.

In the United States, we have a culture that works against unselfishness. We are individualistic, materialistic, anti-authority, entitled, and greedy. We honor success over character, productivity over relationship, and freedom over boundaries. A central tenet of our culture is “to thine own self be true”, which despite the language is not from the Bible, but rather from Shakespeare (in advice given to Hamlet). We are setting ourselves up for failure.
While every culture in the world (being a conglomerate of selfish people) nurtures the sin of selfishness, we find it especially hard to put God and others first because of what we’ve grown up valuing. Instead of submitting our cultural values to God, we change our entire theology to fit our selfishness. Apostasy comes in fast, and churches have lines of reasoning such as “God must be okay with homosexuality in our culture [even though He condemns it repeatedly in the Bible] because God made me/us/them this way.” When asked how they know God made them this way, they’ll say “that’s the way I’ve/we’ve/they’ve always felt,” or something to that effect. The entire theology is based upon feelings, and upon our own decision of what God approves of or doesn’t approve of. In another example (so as not to pick on only the liberal churches), Baptists can decide that God disapproves of rock music so severely as to send someone to Hell for listening to it, and Catholics can claim to have the authority to change the Sabbath day for the sake of tradition, worship the saints and Mary, and have graven images in their houses of God. Charismatics can claim that the Holy Spirit made them drunk enough that they couldn’t go to work the next morning, and United Methodists can change the words of the Bible and hymns to make sure we read and sing about Jesus, the “child of God” rather than the “son of God”, so as not to be sexist. All these false doctrines and heresies don’t just get written into the church law books by the sneaky devil – they are what happens when we re-create God in our own image, so that we feel better when He’s not walking through the garden. Self-righteousness is our fig leaf.

What does the Real God require of us?
If God is truly God, and has all authority, we should be accountable to Him. We are not God’s equals, we are His subjects. No amount of false doctrine or lukewarm living will change who God is – it will only change who we are, and how we will react when He comes. It also changes how we treat others: we either treat others well to make ourselves feel better or look better, or we treat others quite poorly because we already feel better than them.
We are all – Christian and atheist and everyone in between – concerned with ourselves first, and then our fellow man. We all know it’s a good thing to take care of your fellow man, because we all hold up the belief that the best things in life are what result in the happiness of mankind.
What does Jesus say about it? When asked what the greatest commandment is (asked by a lawyer to test/trap Him), Jesus summed up “all the law and the prophets” into two simple, easy-to-remember commandments:
1. “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and all your mind,” and
2. You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” (Matt 22:36-40)
We might look at the Ten Commandments and be encouraged, because we think we’ve kept most or all of them pretty well. We might look at them and dismay, because they’re just too hard (especially with the standards that Jesus raised them to in Matthew 5). But we can look at these two commandments and see that it’s as simple as JOY:
Jesus first;
Others second;
Yourself last.
Of course, it’s never that easy. We find ourselves drinking the YO-J pretty soon, if we’re not operating in the grace of God. Let’s just take it in steps. In order not to re-create God in our own image, we have to discover who He really is (and always has been). So,

STEP 1: (GET TO) KNOW GOD.
This requires all your heart (even the parts that don’t want to know Him because you’re afraid of what you’ll find), all your soul (your will and emotions, submitted and in check to Him), and all your mind (your intellect, thoughts, and reason – not abolishing it, but exercising it under control so that it is useful for good rather than for selfishness). The Deuteronomy verse that Jesus quotes (Deut 6:5) also adds that it will take all your strength – that means we should take control of our own body and its desires (see Rom 6:12-14 and 1 Corinthians 9:27).
If we work on this step as our first priority, the other steps fall into place. They are not necessarily sequential steps, since we’re always going to be able to learn new things about God, and grow closer in our relationship with Him. We will be able to work on this step while we do the others, but if we put this first, but we will see progress in each of the other two:

STEP 2: SEE OTHERS (WITH GOD’S EYES)
Step 1 is to love God, and Step 2 is, as Jesus said, “like it” – to love others. We already know that’s it’s a good thing, but we’re all baffled (when we forget step 1) how hard it is to really do – we can only do it for a little while, with a little effort, and we might even be doing it for other reasons. If we get the order right, though, we see that it’s because of how we see God (as He is) that we are able to see others the way He does (with true selfless compassion). If you did a study of all the prophets (as well as the Psalms and many other parts of the Bible), you’d find a central theme of fighting for the oppressed and caring for the needy (start in Isaiah 58 if you want specifics). This is part of who God is, and it will become part of who you are as you get to know Him.

STEP 3: BE YOURSELF (KNOW WHO YOU ARE)
God is not looking for you to reinvent yourself. After all, He did make you in His image in the first place. We have to be willing to get rid of some things that we’ve let define us, but we’ll find the things that He defines us by. We’ll find that our inner selves, our personalities, gifts and talents, strengths (and even weaknesses) are all created by God for His purpose and glory. I’ve already found great fulfillment in getting essays like this down, because I know He’s gifted me with teaching and with words, and helped me write things down for the benefit of others. You’ll find that it’s more fulfilling to be who you’re supposed to be in Christ, than to serve your own selfish ambitions – not just because you’ll be doing good things, but because you’ll be doing things that only you could do.
We have to let the first two steps come as a higher priority – if we know who God is, and we see others the way He sees them, we know what we can and should do with our lives. If we try to start with ourselves, and eventually move on to others, not only will we accomplish hardly anything for others and lose ourselves in the process, we’ll forget God. That is, until He comes walking in the cool of the day.
Man fears the just God: “I heard you, and so I hid. I was afraid because I was naked.” Yet what was God’s first question? It is not “what have you done?” – that comes later. The first question is “where are you?” His priority is not to judge us for what we’ve done, but first and foremost to be with us. He wants to see us succeed, to see us overcome evil with good, and to be who we are meant to be.

The cure to the religion of Self is not another religion. It is rather to “love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to love your neighbor as much as you love yourself.” Every culture, tribe, nation, and tongue on earth will find the way that God intended them to glorify Him, and it is the most fulfilling life that anyone can find. As we begin to live this way, the very love that He showed us will transform the world through us.

Salty Christians and Honest Atheists

Lately I’ve had a few discussions with atheists. These atheists are people I consider friends, and although we disagree on matters of faith, we’ve managed to find common ground on a lot of things. Both sides have overcome prejudices that we’ve either grown up with, or formed from bad experiences. For example, I’ve learned that not all atheists are hateful, spiteful people that resent the very notion of a god and all people who believe in a god. My atheist friends have learned that not all Christians are blind, science-hating drones that insist upon archaic beliefs in spite of evidence.

How did we arrive at these prejudices in the first place? Certainly it was a variety of ways, not the least of which was hurtful words and relationships. We have a way of separating ourselves from people that disagree with us, and in the process, vilifying the “opponent”. While there is a time and place for growing in one’s own fellowship of believers, it seems most Christians stop there because it’s comfortable. Many atheists, likewise, may have come from Christian backgrounds, but after testing out or adopting new ideas (in college, perhaps), they find themselves estranged from their families. Eyes of pity (when the pitied doesn’t want your pity) can be as hurtful as angry eyes, especially from loved ones. A recent study showed that atheists are the minority most distrusted by the general public[1], even though “no religion” is the fastest growing religious affiliation in the country.[2] In the midst of their “persecution”, I now see a great deal of (admirable) camaraderie among groups of self-identifying atheists.

So what shall we do? Let’s try something we don’t do often enough – try to see things from both sides. Understanding will at least help us show them that we care about their point of view, rather than pitying them because they don’t believe in a god. I’ll also re-examine what Christians believe, for the benefit of any of my atheist friends reading. After that, we’ll examine what God thinks (according to the Bible). This will not be an argument for or against the existence of God (anyone reading this knows that I already believe in God), but rather a look at the way we’d all benefit from treating each other.

Logic:

First, I’d have to say that I admire most atheists (the honest ones) for their skills in logic and reasoning, as well as their commitment to good science. The honest atheists, by definition, are technically “agnostic”, because they admit that they don’t know whether God exists. They admit that it would take faith to believe in a God, because it can’t be proved or disproved by logic or science. The atheist/agnostic is a naturalist – someone who only believes in the things which can be sensed, physically shown, and scientifically proven and/or explained. In fact, some atheists may appreciate the term “naturalist” more than “atheist”, so that they don’t have to identify themselves by what they don’t believe, but rather by what they do believe. He or she does not deny the possibility of supernatural beings, but has decided that anything that can’t be proven by our logical reasoning and scientific processes is just not worth believing in or trying to understand, let alone submitting one’s life to these unknown things. He or she has taken the collective understanding of the natural world to its logical end, resulting in a human-centered, science-exalting system of beliefs that excludes the need for a God or an externally-imposed code of absolute, immutable morality. They are not amoral, but rather claim to base their morals on the harms and benefits of mankind, living things, and the hope of furthering evolution.

Faith:

The honest Christian, on the other hand, is in many ways similar to the honest atheist. Any Christian would readily admit that believing in God takes faith. Christians are not inept at logic (contrary to some prejudices), but rather don’t hold it up as the most valuable use of our minds. While there are many people that were raised as Christians that have later abandoned God and become atheists, there are also numerous scientists that have held on to atheism and skepticism for years and years, only to end up convinced of God’s existence and the intellectual value of faith. Some of these, off the top of my head, include C. S. Lewis[3], Ray Comfort (author of God Doesn’t Believe in Atheists), Dr. Don Bierle (author of Surprised by Faith), Dr. Jobe Martin (author of The Evolution of a Creationist), and Dr. Francis Beckwith (author of Relativism: Feet firmly planted in mid-air). There are hundreds of others, of course, but the point is that it’s not whether it’s more intelligent to believe in a God or believe in no god – it’s a choice. Plenty of people have long been examining the same lines of logic and evidence, societal constructs, and natural patterns, and have arrived at opposite “conclusions”. Atheists have faith that logic and reason are sound and sufficient, that the universe is explainable and systematic; Christians have faith that God exists and is good, and that He’s in charge. Both Christians and atheists are capable of seeing human suffering, fighting injustice, thinking critically, advancing science, and getting along.

God’s opinion:

Let’s not water anything down – God doesn’t think highly of atheists. Psalm 14:1 says “The fool has said in his heart, ‘there is no god.’” While the tone of this verse seems to imply it, it does not necessarily state that everyone who doesn’t believe in God is a fool. It merely says that a fool tends to agree with atheists, choosing (in his heart, not his mind) to believe in no god rather than be held accountable for what that God calls sin. An honest atheist/agnostic may very well be a fool for now, but may come to the moment that they open their minds far enough to admit they were fools (see the list of great minds above). It’s not our place to beat atheists over the head with “you fool!”:

But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, 'Raca,' [empty-headed good-for-nothing] is answerable to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, 'You fool!' will be in danger of the fire of hell. (Matthew 5:22, NIV)

It’s God’s place, not ours. Let's just worry about not being fools ourselves! God will hold them accountable, without an excuse:

“But God shows his anger from heaven against all sinful, wicked people who push the truth away from themselves. For the truth about God is known to them instinctively. God has put this knowledge in their hearts. From the time the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky and all that God made. They can clearly see his invisible qualities--his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse whatsoever for not knowing God. Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn't worship him as God or even give him thanks. And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like. The result was that their minds became dark and confused. Claiming to be wise, they became utter fools instead. And instead of worshiping the glorious, ever-living God, they worshiped idols made to look like mere people, or birds and animals and snakes... Instead of believing what they knew was the truth about God, they deliberately chose to believe lies. So they worshiped the things God made but not the Creator himself.” (Romans 1:18-23,25 NLT)

Harsh? Well, it contradicts what I’ve heard a number of atheists tell me: “if there is a God, He’ll forgive me because all I’m doing is using the mind He gave me to the best of my ability.” Well, He'd forgive them right now, but not after it's too late. No, instead their mind has become “dark and confused”, and their idols are in the image of “mere people” and our limited form of reasoning. God is confident of His existence, and – whether any of us think it’s fair or not – He’s also confident that He’s given us more than enough evidence. He believes that atheists (and, it’s important to note, everyone that “pushes away the truth” – which includes even a large number of so-called Christians and other theists) are only hanging on to atheism to justify their way of life, which usually includes “do what you feel is right” as the central tenet. Living by your feelings will only lead to ruin.

However, it’s important to remember that God still loves and pursues atheists. There are atheists that have hardened their hearts, who will not listen to Christians, who will not believe even if they see miracles. However, there are the honest atheists, who are still seeking truth, and just haven’t let go of their own self-exalting values and taken hold of the hope and purpose that comes from trusting in God. God’s invitation is still open: “anyone who would come to God must first believe that He is, and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him.” An atheist left to his own line of reasoning may never “believe that He is” or ever “earnestly seek Him”. However, an atheist encountered by the body of Christ as He is represented by His people on earth – as long as they reflect Him properly – will have a much harder time rejecting all merit of faith and trust in God, and the merits of what you say about God and His truth. It is the kindness of God that leads men to repentance – not a miraculous sign, nor the soundness of an argument.

What should we do?

The Christian believes that trusting in the existence of God and following His ways are a win-win situation: if there is a God (and He is who He says He is), we have a responsibility to follow His rules for living, so that we can fulfill what we were created to do. If there is no God, at least you have lived a moral, selfless and fulfilling life that has helped others. The atheist believes that it is intellectual suicide to believe anything you cannot prove, but the honest atheist can at least see the human benefit of such a belief even though he or she does not share it.

The problems have come from (1) how Christians have treated atheists, and (2) how well Christians have lived up to what they say they believe. How Christians represent their God tells atheists all they need to know about the nature of God. If someone who is supposed to be salt and light has lost their saltiness and hidden their light (e.g. inside a church-box), what good are they? If a Christian dismisses an atheist’s value as a person because of what lies the atheist decided to believe, they have lost their own value as an ambassador of Christ. Certainly there are atheists that can be antagonistic, those that blow off Christians no matter what they do, those that have hardened their hearts. But there are also those honest atheists, waiting to see God on earth – many have told me “I wish I could believe in God”, and some have even admitted that they probably don’t believe in God only because they’d have to submit to Him.

Let’s give them a taste of what our God is like, and why He not only exists, but is worthy of all praise and honor forever! If we don’t give them truth to taste, who will God hold more accountable – those that never had the truth, or those that hid it from them?

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[1] http://www.asanet.org/cs/root/topnav/press/atheists_are_distrusted

[2] http://www.americanreligionsurvey-aris.org/

[3] Biography and bibliography here: http://personal.bgsu.edu/~edwards/biobib.html

Shabbat Shalom!

Peace to you!

I have decided that it would be worth my while to regularly (hopefully as close to weekly as I can) blog about things that I think God wants us to hear. Many of these will be in the form of a (hopefully short) teaching or insight. Others may be a special word for that week, or an opinion column on an important issue - and hopefully, not just my opinion, but an examination of scripture on the matter. Some topics may be long enough that they have to be broken into two or more weeks, in which case we will have a series. Some broader topics I can see discussing in the near future: Authority, Truth, Peace, Sabbath Rest, and Selfishness.

My hope is that this blog not only helps keep me doing what I think God wants me to do (examine the Word, understand it, and teach it), but also brings you a piece of peace for your Sabbath. I plan to update on Saturdays (the Biblical Sabbath), not only because I have the time, but because it's a good time to refocus on the things that really matter, and for us to grow in our knowledge of Him. I hope you enjoy it! Entry 1 will probably arrive within the next 2 weeks.

Thanks for listening!