A Goody From Woody

Here we go again! Driving around our city of Indianapolis you’ll observe a number of billboards. They tell us:

“You don’t need God – to hope, to care, to love, to live.”

Nearly every major city in the USA has seen the godless messages. The messages are rooted in atheism, agnosticism, humanism, skepticism, and free thought organizations.

They tell us you can be “Good without God”, “Be good for goodness sakes” and “Don’t believe in God? You’re not alone.”

The Center for Inquiry is behind our billboards in Indy, D.C. and Houston. Ronald Lindsey, organization president said, “We are not trying to convert anyone by this campaign, if conversion implies persuading people there is no God. We are trying to prompt people to consider and converse about some of the myths surrounding the nonreligious, in particular the myth that life without God means a joyless, meaningless, selfish, self-centered life.” (A kind of friendly or gentle atheism.)

And just for the record, no doubt you missed the Humanist (atheistic) Conference April 7-11 in Cambridge, Massachusetts. So you didn’t hear Richard Dawkins, Steve Wozniak or Rebecca Goldstein—I know you are sorry you missed that opportunity!!!

So how do you respond to an atheist? The natural response would be to tell your friend, co-worker or whomever, “Let me tell you about the evidence for God, the origin of the universe, miracle of life, design, matter, energy, space and time and the supernatural.” You know whole libraries are full of these arguments for the existence of God.

Before you talk to an atheist why not prepare yourself to ask questions. (I got this idea from Jesus in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.)

Tell the person to start the Q & A that you know they do not believe in God because they have examined some of the evidence available to them. The problem they have is their worldview! They believe the only thing that is true is the physical or material world.

So ask questions from the physical world. You might want to tell him that two people strongly convinced of their position of absoluteness can still have a civil conversation.

First question: 1. “How many needles or spines on all the porcupines in Asia? I believe we can safely assume you do not know the answer.” The second question is: 2. “What is the weight of all the sand on Marco Island, Florida? Probably you don’t know that answer either. It seems reasonable that there may be some things that you do not know.”

We can agree some people pretend they know everything. So now the field is level—no one knows 100% of all the knowledge that is available. The only one whom I believe is all knowing is God (omniscient), but you don’t believe that.

Thomas Edison, one of the great scientists of the past, said, “We do not know a millionth of one percent about anything”. Let’s pretend your friend the atheist knows one percent knowledge of all the knowledge in the universe. But that would still mean that 99% of the knowledge you still do not know. And in that 99% of knowledge you might find ample evidence to prove the existence of God. If you are not supercilious (haughty, contemptible) you would have to admit there could be evidence for God.

To look at this from another angle, let me make an absolute statement, such as, “There is no silver in Kentucky.” What is needed to prove this statement? I need absolute information that there is no silver in Kentucky—under any rock or mountain, stream or river. If we find one nugget under any tree my statement would be false. On the other hand, for one to say, “There is no silver in Kentucky,” I didn’t need all knowledge. I just need one nugget of silver that I find there.

To say “there is no God,” is to make an absolute statement. I need evidence to prove my statement. So my research will require me to study my world, my universe, before I can conclude “there is no God.”

Only a person who has absolute knowledge can make an absolute claim.

For those interested I would recommend places to read. Ray Comfort’s little book God Doesn’t Believe in Atheists (www.livingwaters.com) and the other is Cornelius Van Til’s paper Why I Believe in God (www.reformed.org/apologetics).

Lastly, when talking to any non-Christian please remember you are an evangelist, an ambassador for Christ. Love and charity and kindness really matter. And if you don’t know your Bible well enough to contradict the physical arguments let me recommend you read:

1. Bible ( not a paraphrase)—read and study!

2. Only One Way – Richard Phillips

3. Scaling the Secular City – JP Moreland

4. When Skeptics Ask – Norman Geisler and Ronald Brooks

5. I Don’t Have Enough Faith to Be An Atheist – Norman Geisler

6. Unshakable Foundation – Norman Geisler and Peter Bocchino (my favorite)

My absolutely last word for today: the word “fool” in the Bible does not mean some person that is not gifted intellectually. It has the meaning that they have used their intellect wrongly (which makes it a moral problem.) In the Bible the word “fool” primarily is the person who casts off the fear of God and thinks and acts as if he could safely disregard the eternal principles of God’s righteousness.

Psalms 14:1 “The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God.’ They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds, there is none who does good.”

1 Peter 3:15 “But sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence.”

God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—our Triune God Bless You,

Woody