The absence of belief

I have learned two things recently. First, it is now impossible for me to relate to the absence of belief in God.  I am trying and I just can't.  I have come to realize that I always believed; I simply denied the feeling to the depth of my soul.  In spending time recently examining arguments for and against the existence of God I have become increasingly convinced that atheism is a totally indefensible world view. It is, to put it simply, nonsensical, completely without merit, and in its purest form impossible.  Atheism is the denial of God's existence.  One can never hope to prove that God does not exist.  The atheist has to accept that he/she simply believes that God does not exist.  The same way that you can never prove that unicorns do not exist.  You cannot prove a negative, only disprove a positive.  Can you ever prove that God does exist?  I can, and so can any other believer.  The atheist has as much faith that God does not exist as the believer has that God does exist.


The Bible says that the just will live by faith (see Habakkuk 2:4, Romans 3:28, Galatians 3:11, Hebrews 10:38, etc). Not to be a clanging cymbal, but I say that the atheist will die by their faith and they are actually ok with that.  In fact it makes them happy.  The thought makes me incredibly sad. Here's what Soren Kierkegaard said about disbelief:

"People try to persuade us that the objections against Christianity spring from doubt. That is a complete misunderstanding. The objections against Christianity spring from insubordination, the dislike of obedience, rebellion against all authority. As a result people have hitherto been beating the air in their struggle against objections, because they have fought intellectually with doubt instead of fighting morally with rebellion."

I think Kierkegaard gets a bad reputation because he is now called the co-father of existentialism with Nietzsche, who declared that, "God is dead," however it is difficult for me to read that quote and not see the author as a devout Christian. How could an atheist admit to disobedience and rebellion against an authority they profess does not exist? I digress.

I have also learned something else. The goal of every Christian is, ultimately, not to see the whole world accept Jesus as their lord and savior, although that would definitely make us happy. I would argue that our goal is to simply spread the love of Christ. We do this by attempting to faithfully spread the gospel of Jesus (see my last post from Oct 09; it's the gospel). As a former atheist/agnostic/disobedient denier I understand that reason and argumentation alone does not turn a nonbeliever into a full on lover of Jesus; the conversion requires the work of the Spirit of God in the heart of the individual. By faith alone we are saved; not by losing or winning an argument. Reason alone does not draw one to God, it only affirms and cultivates a relationship which already existed. The gospel of Jesus is not a message which can be argued or reasoned by logic, but must be transmitted through love. By showing the love of Christ for others we facilitate and encourage the dissemination of His message. The real work is done by God Himself. Hallelujah.