I Don’t Have Enough Faith to be an Atheist Part #5: Overwhelmed with Thankfulness

“Only a rookie who knows nothing about science would say science takes away from faith. If you really study science, it will bring you closer to God” (James Tour, Nanoscientist). The more a person studies the existence of life on earth and possibility (or impossibility) of life on other planets, the more one realizes how fragile life is.

The Anthropic Principle states that the universe was perfectly created to sustain life. If the percentage of oxygen on earth was slightly higher fires would spontaneously erupt; slightly lower, we’d suffocate. If the gravitational force were changed by 0.00000000000000000000000000000000000001% (37 zeros) the sun would not exist, and neither would we. If the earth’s tilt was slightly different or if the distance to the sun was altered, life would not be possible.

 Astrophysicist Dr. Hugh Ross cited 122 characteristics about our universe that are finely-tuned to allow life to exist; if any one of these were altered ever so slightly, life would not exist. The odds of this happening on any one planet are one in 10138 that’s one chance in one with 138 zeros following it (Hugh Ross, Why I Believe in Divine Creation, p. 138-141).

Based on these few statistics, the probability of life randomly occurring, or this universe spontaneously forming in such a precise manner is impossible! Our universe has a highly complex design! The Anthropic Principle points to the existence of God, the Master Designer.

Clearly it takes more faith to believe in atheism, the Big Bang theory and evolution than it does to believe in the existence of a Designer who carefully laid out the universe so life could exist!

Why did God want to create life in the first place? Let me ask you this, why do you want to have children? I know that for my wife and me, it’s because we want to love them. God is the same way. He has so much love He wants to share it. So He chose to create this world, life, and us humans who are made in His likeness. In fact, you could say that we are His masterpiece (Eph. 2:10).

What’s more, God did not hide, but, He made Himself evident to us not only through His Word, but also through Creation (Rom. 1:20). He wanted His love for us evident to all (Psalm 103:11), which is why He sent His Son to the Cross (John 3:16-17).

Therefore, our only natural response should be to give thanks to the LORD for His unfailing love and His wonderful deeds (Psalm 107:15; Rom. 1:21). I hope He is one of the blessings you name as you gather together this Thanksgiving.

In His service,

            Matt

I Don’t Have Enough Faith to be an Atheist Part #4: Random Chance or Thoughtful Design

Mount Rushmore is one of the most intriguing sculptures in the world. It is a monumental feet of majestic beauty. This sculpture honoring 4 of our country’s distinguished presidents consists of an enormous 60 feet in height. It took 400 workers 14 years to carefully craft into the side of that mountain their designer’s art work. 

Now, what if Mount Rushmore’s history was not recorded, and someone looked at it and told you that those 4 presidents’ faces were created by natural water erosion over billions of years? Would any sane person believe them? Absolutely not! Why? Simply because Mount Rushmore shows clear evidence of design. The same could be said of the Great Wall of China, the Statue of Liberty, airplanes, automobiles, computers, and numerous other things.

However, what about our universe? Does our world show evidence of design? ABSOLUTELY! Take the basic building block for life, DNA. Consider what a highly unlikely source admits about DNA: “The message [contained within the DNA] found in just the cell nucleus of a tiny amoeba [the simplest form of life] is more than 30 volumes of the Encyclopedia Britannica combined, and the entire amoeba has as much information in its DNA as [do] 1,000 complete sets of the Encyclopedia Britannica!” (Richard Dawkins, The Blind Watchmaker: 1987, p. 17-18, 116). Atheist, Richard Dawkins, by the way, is “one of the most respected scientists in the world and the biggest draw in secularism” (according to the richarddawkins.net website).

Thus, even atheists recognize the thoughtfulness of design found in our universe. The late Isaac Asimov, one of the most prolific authors and professors of biochemistry said, “In man is a 3 pound brain which, as far as we know, is the most complex and orderly arrangement of matter in the universe” (Smithsonian: June 1970, p. 10). And Dr. Richard Dawkins said, “We have seen that living things are too improbable and too beautifully ‘designed’ to have come into existence by chance” (The Blind Watchmaker: 1987, p. 43).  

So why would people, even those who are incredibly intelligent, as these men are, reject the obvious conclusion of intelligent design? Romans 1:25 gives us the answer: “They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.”

All who reject the evidence which is so blatantly clear desire to live in their own sinfulness rather than concede to the truth. Sadly, these individuals are missing the thoughtfulness of our Designer. God loves them, as He does all people, and thoughtfully created the universe by design (Psalm 104:24). Likewise, you are not here by accident, but by careful and thoughtful design. You are fearfully and wonderfully made in the very image of God (Gen. 1:26; Psalm 139:14).  

In His service,

            Matt

I Don’t Have Enough Faith to be an Atheist Part #3: How Could a Good God Exist Since There is Evil in the World?

This is one of the most haunting questions we face. Why is there evil in the world if God exists? Why isn't He doing something about it? Some explain it like this, “If God is willing to prevent evil and injustice in the world, but is unable; then He must not be powerful enough to deal with it. If He is powerful enough to stop it, then He Himself must be not be willing. Since He is neither unable nor willing to do anything about it; then why call Him God?”  It is because of this reason that some question God’s existence.

When answering this dilemma it must be noted that the Bible does affirm the existence of evil (Psa. 40:12; Jer. 15:18). In fact even God’s own Son, Jesus was known as “a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering” (Isa. 53:3).

Believe it or not, the existence of evil actually proves that God exists. It doesn't matter where you go in this world, unless someone is insane, they will all agree that child molestation is wrong, even if they have done it. All will agree that murder is wrong, even if they have done it. And all agree that rape is wrong, even if they have done it. This inward acknowledgement of evil would not be present if mankind was just the byproduct of evolution through natural selection and survival of the fittest. If that was the case then Hitler was justified in what he did. However, anyone who is sane will recognize that that is just not the case. This recognition of evil is known as the Moral Argument and is proof of God’s existence in every culture.

So why does God allow evil to exist? It is because of mankind’s own freewill choice. God created the universe to be very good (Gen. 1:31). And God warned Adam and Eve what would happen if they chose to sin, yet they did it anyways (Gen. 2:17). When they sinned, corruption, disease, evil of all kinds and death came into the world. Therefore, we all suffer because of someone else’s choice. And this same principle can be seen today when a person decides to drink and drive and they take innocent lives. Furthermore, there are numerous other ways which our world suffers as a result of someone’s freewill choice.

Thankfully though, our good God has done something about the evil which is experienced in this world. He sent His Son to die for us that whoever receives Him, as Scripture teaches, will have eternal life. And Jesus promises that when He returns all the things which caused us grief in this life will be no more. God will wipe every tear from our eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things will have passed away (Rev. 21:1-7). It is my prayer that all of us look at the evil which exists in our world today and look forward to that day when all things will be made new (Rev. 21:5).

In His service,

            Matt 

I Don’t Have Enough Faith to be an Atheist Part #2: Flawed Documents or God’s Word

When most atheists look at the Bible they think that they are looking at a book which is filled with errors. At the outset it is easy to understand how one might come to the conclusion that it is just a compilation of flawed documents. I mean come on; the original New Testament (NT) writings did not survive the past 2,000 years. The NT (originally written in Greek) was just hand copied over and over again down through the centuries. Have you ever played the game telephone? If you have, you know that what the message started out as was not what it ended up as. Thus, how could NT today be even close to what it was some 2,000 years ago? This resulted in over 5,400 early copies of the Greek NT manuscripts which we have today. Let’s examine the evidence of those 5,400 copies. 

The results from comparing these 5,400 copies reveal that they are “98% identical!”ⁱ The majority of these differences have no significance: like spelling mistakes, slight word order differences or the like. That brings the accuracy to an astounding 99.5%! No other writing from history has that many manuscripts (the closest is Homer's Iliad with 643 manuscripts) with that high of accuracy. Furthermore, contained within these minute differences, one finds not a single theological change in the NT. “Simply put, if we reject the authenticity of the New Testament on textual grounds we'd have to reject every ancient work of antiquity and declare null and void every piece of historical information from written sources prior to the beginning of the second millennium A.D.” ⁱⁱ

So what difference does all of this make? It means that the Bible is trustworthy. It is God’s Word period! It is a book which is not based on fairy tales but rather historical facts. It is a Declaration of Independence. “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery” (Gal. 5:1).

Christ has freed us from the punishment which sin requires (Rom. 6:23). We are free of guilt and shame (Rom. 8:1). We are free to come to the Father with our requests (Heb. 4:16). We are God’s children and coheirs with Christ (Gal. 4:6; Rom. 8:15). We are free to love others (Gal. 5:13). It is on account of our freedom in Christ that our lives produce the fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22-23). And Christ has freed us as Christians to be able to truly live (John 10:10).

We are free to think. Atheism is a blind faith. It is believing something which has no rational or historical evidence supporting it. While on the other hand, the historical evidence supporting the NT is rock solid. Therefore, this month as we celebrate the freedoms which we have in this country, we as Christians can also celebrate the freedoms which we have in Christ. “So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed” (John 8:36).

In His service,

      Matt

ⁱ Daniel Wallace, "The Majority Text and the Original Text: Are They Identical?" Bibliotheca Sacra, April-June, 1991, 157-8.

       ⁱⁱ Stand to Reason, “Is the New Testament Text Reliable?” by Greg Koukl; available from http://www.str.org/articles/is-the-new-testament-text-reliable#ANCHOR19; Internet; accessed 3 June 2013. 

I Don’t Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist Part #1: Who’s Your Daddy?

Throughout our society there is a commonly held belief that mankind evolved from apes and that apes came from something else and so on all the way back to a single cell organism and then to nonliving chemicals. However, science itself proves that that is impossible! The scientific law of bio-genesis states that without exception life always comes from life! Furthermore, scientific observation proves that all living organisms reproduce other organisms after their own kind. Hum, that is exactly what the Bible teaches.  

Just consider the evidence for yourself. Have you ever seen in real life a cat with a snail’s shell or an elephant with wings? How about finding apples growing on corn stalks or carrots hanging from trees? Or what about giraffes swinging from trees with monkeys’ tails? Or turtles with antlers? Of course you haven’t seen these things, no one has. That is simply because life is about who your daddy (and mommy) is.  

In spite of what the scientific law of bio-genesis proves, atheists refuse to believe it. That is called blind faith. It means believing something which has no evidence supporting it. It is this quantity of faith which is far beyond the level of faith required to believe what the Bible teaches. And as we will see over the next several months, creation and science point to the rationality of the Bible and confirms its teaching. Thus, the basis of Biblical faith just makes sense! 

Therefore, this month as we celebrate Father’s Day we honor our human daddy because of the life which has been passed on to us. We honor him for the instructions, love, corrects, provisions, companionship and the millions of other things he has passed on to us.

I recognize that for many of us Father’s Day may be a very difficult time because our earthly father wasn't the man whom we needed him to be. Thankfully though, there is a Father whom every one of us can rely upon (2 Cor. 6:18). God the Father is our Creator; He is ultimately responsible for giving us life (1 Cor. 8:6).  He loves us (Psalm 103:13). He provides for our needs (Acts 17:24-28; Phil. 4:19). He gives us our needed correction because He loves us (Heb. 12:5-6). And He is a closer Friend and Companion than we could ever ask for (Deut. 31:6).  It is because of who our Father is that we can all celebrate Father’s Day regardless of how good of an earthly father we have. And it is because of this that we can even wish our human dads, “Happy Father’s Day!”

In His service,

      Matt