Atheistic,
anti-God arguments abound. This article
presents several of these arguments, along with Christian responses. These
responses are offered in the spirit of love with the hope that those who are
truly seeking answers will realize that they do exist for these challenges and
that believing in God is not unreasonable.
Atheist
Argument: The Argument from Poor Design contests the idea that God created life
on the basis that life forms, including humans, seem to exhibit poor design.
Response: And
what would be a better design? Since God
is all-powerful and all-knowing would it not be reasonable to believe that He
created us the best way that He himself saw fit? Once again, this atheistic argument
spotlights the arrogance of humanity. We
somehow think that we know better than God; we think that we could have done a
better job than God. This begs the
question, “How would we have done it?”
We cannot create a single life, let alone all the plants, animals, and
humans in the world. We have never made
a planet, nor can we, yet we feel that we have the right to criticize God’s
creation. We must keep in mind something
else; the world we observe today has suffered the degenerative effects of
thousands of years of sin and corruption.
What we see in the world around us is not in the same condition as when
God created it. God deemed the universe
“very good” when He first made it (Genesis 1:31). I Timothy 4:4 tells us, “For everything
created by God is good” (NASB). God
created everything just as He wanted it; it is due to the effects of sin that
we have so much heartache, disease, death, etc. in the world today.
Atheist
Argument: The Problem of Evil contests the existence of a god who is both
omnipotent and omnibenevolent by arguing that such a god should not permit the
existence of evil or suffering.
Response: God
created us and endowed us with freedom.
However, freedom is not real freedom if we do not have choices. God gave us the ability to choose; we can
choose good or we can choose evil. The
first humans chose to disobey God and sin entered our existence (Genesis 3;
Romans 5). Our sinfulness is the root of
evil and suffering. If we really care
about it, why don’t we change? We have
no one to blame but ourselves. The Bible
tells us that God can change our very nature if we will simply repent of our
sins and live for Him, “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature;
the old things passed away; behold, new things have come” (II Corinthians 5:17
NASB). When a person is changed by God
in this manner, he or she no longer surrenders to the sinful lusts and
temptations that so often cause people to act in a less-than-loving manner.
Atheist
Argument: The Problem of Hell is the idea that eternal damnation for actions
committed in a finite existence contradicts God’s omnibenevolence or
omnipresence.
Response: This
argument does not take into consideration how God views sin. He sees sin as a serious enough offense that
He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to die on a cross in order that our sins could
be forgiven (John 3:16-17). Love, or
benevolence, is not God’s only quality.
God is also concerned, among other things, with justice. When one understands that God has done all
that is required for us to stay out of Hell, and that the only reason anyone
goes to Hell is because of their own choice to reject God’s offer of salvation,
it is clear that the sentence of eternal damnation ends up being a self-chosen
destiny. We should also keep in mind the difference between ‘torment’ (which is
part of the biblical doctrine of Hell) and ‘torture’ (which is not part of the
biblical doctrine of Hell). J. Warner
Wallace explains, “The Bible says those who are delivered into Hell will be
tormented, and the degree to which they will suffer is described in dramatic,
illustrative language. But, the scripture never describes Hell as a place where
God or His angels are actively “torturing” the souls of the rebellious.
“Torture” is the sadistic activity that is often perpetrated for the mere joy
of it. “Torment” results from a choice on the part of the person who finds
himself (or herself) suffering the consequences. One can be in constant torment
over a decision made in the past, without being actively tortured by anyone”.
[1]
Atheist
Argument: The Anthropic Argument states that if God is omniscient, omnipotent,
and morally perfect, He would have created other morally perfect beings instead
of imperfect humans.
Again, I am
amazed that some, who deny the existence of God, are arrogant enough to believe
they can claim they know what a good and holy God would, or would not, do. What these people are really doing is setting
themselves up as a higher authority than God (at least in their own minds). The truth is that God could have created
humans any way He wanted; however, He chose to create the humans He
created. It was His choice. Now, because humans have a choice, they can
choose wrongly. We often do choose
wrongly, does this mean that there is no God?
Just because your car breaks down does that mean that no one designed
and built your car? Certainly not. Our bad choices are not evidence against
God’s existence.
Atheist
Argument: The Argument from Non-belief contests the existence of an omnipotent
God who wants humans to believe in him by arguing that such a god would do a
better job of gathering believers.
Response: The Bible teaches that everyone receives the
knowledge that God exists. God made it unavoidable that everyone knows of His
existence. The Bible tells us that, “The heavens declare the glory of God, and
the sky above proclaims his handiwork” (Psalm 19:1 ESV). The handiwork that
points to an incredibly intelligent source is apparent all around us. One would
have to be willfully ignorant to attribute all the intricacies found in nature
to random chance. We see this reinforced
in the biblical book of Romans, “For what can be known about God is plain to
them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely,
his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since
the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are
without excuse” (Romans 1:19-20 ESV).
The Holy Spirit
is even now touching the hearts of people so that they might realize their
sinful condition, the inevitable coming judgment, and their need of a
Savior. Jesus told His disciples that
the Holy Spirit would come, “And when he comes, he will convict the world
concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: concerning sin, because they do
not believe in me; concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and
you will see me no longer; concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world
is judged” (John 16:8-11 ESV). The Spirit works on the conscience of every
individual; making it clear to each person that there is such a thing as sin,
that we are responsible to a Creator, and that we will be judged someday.
Contrary to the premise of this atheist argument, God has made it impossible
NOT to know He exists. However, He has
given us each a choice whether to acknowledge Him or to reject Him. Atheists may not believe in God, but, according
to the Bible, they cannot say they never knew they should.
“For God so
loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in
Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into
the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him”
(John 3:16-17 NASB).
Resources:
[1] http://coldcasechristianity.com/2013/why-would-god-punish-finite-temporal-crimes-in-an-eternal-hell/
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