My friend Ray Comfort begins his amazing new book, “You Can Lead an Atheist to Evidence, But You Can’t Make Him Think,” like this: “To be an atheist is to play Russian roulette with all barrels loaded. An atheist can’t win. Of course, he feels and acts like a big player, until the trigger is pulled.”
That says it pretty well for me.
But think about it more deeply.
If ever there has been a lose-lose proposition, it has to be atheism.
What do I mean?
I know atheists are wrong. I’m as convinced of that as I am in my own existence.
But, just for the sake of intellectual exercise, let’s pretend we don’t know whether God really exists.
If you’re an atheist, and you spend your life denying God – even cursing Him, as many ironically do – and you turn out to be wrong at the end of life, then you will be one very sorry soul.
You lose.
However, even in the impossible scenario that you’re right – and there is no God – you are still a loser!
Why?
Because life without meaning is so empty. Because life without truth and justice and accountability is unfulfilling. Because, at the end of the day, in this case your life, you still wind up with nothing. This empty, unfulfilling life of injustice and misery is all there is.
Who would want to be an atheist?
Who would want to aspire to such a belief system?
Who would want to have no hope?
Now, that’s not my reason for my Christian belief. It’s not that I believe in God because I hope He’s real. I know He’s real and that gives me hope.
How do I know? Why am I so sure? What gives me faith?
Well, it’s like Ray Comfort writes in “You Can Lead an Atheist to Evidence,” “there are six bullets that aim right into the brain of humanity”:
- Creation: In Romans 1:20, we read, “For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse.” Please, someone explain Creation to me and explain how nothingness became something, then exploded and led, after billions of years, to the perfect teachings of Yeshua, a Jewish carpenter from Nazareth? Try to make sense of that for me. Try to explain Creation without a Creator. When we see a Rolex watch, it doesn’t take faith to know that someone made it. It would take far more faith to believe it “evolved.” Yet, the atheist makes the case that watch was created but the people who made it were not!
- Conscience: When people do wrong, even the vilest of people, they know it. Every human being has a conscience. Sometimes they become very dull. Sometimes people rationalize their bad behavior. But there’s always that twinge of guilt. Where does that come from? Why is it that every culture in the world recognizes it’s wrong to lie, steal and commit murder – even if the definitions are not always clear? That is evidence of a Creator. Conscience cannot be explained by evolution – and neither can Creation be explained by it.
- The Bible: If it is simply the work of man, how does one explain its endurance? How does one explain its popularity? How does one explain its influence? How does one explain its controversy? The answer is simple: It really is the Word of the One True Living God.
- The transformation of true believers: Look at who the Apostles were and what they became. How did 12 very ordinary, failed men turn the world upside down, as they clearly did? Why did so many of them refuse to renounce Yeshua – even unto death. Were they deluded? Were they crazy? Were they liars? Who would die a horrible death for a lie?
- The record of Yeshua: Almost everyone in the world admires His teachings. Yet, he taught that He was pre-existent – the actual Creator of the world. Was He deluded? Was He crazy? Was He a liar? Why would He die a horrible death for a lie?
- The spirit of God: It’s all around us – though sometimes hard to see in this fallen world. But it empowers people to do extraordinary things. It’s more powerful, in fact, than electricity or hurricane-driven winds or even the unimaginable heat of the sun – one of the smaller stars to be found in Creation.
If you agree or disagree with me, I challenge you to read Ray Comfort’s “You Can Lead an Atheist to Evidence,” which makes the case far more effectively than I ever could.
