Atheist Obstacles

“I will believe if God will appear to me.”

A proud and ignorant sinner who says this has no understanding of the nature of His Creator. No man has ever seen the essence of God. (When God “appeared” to certain men in the Old Testament, He manifested Himself in other forms, such as a burning bush or “the Angel of the Lord.”) When Moses asked to see God’s glory, God told him, “I will make all my goodness pass before you, ... [but] you cannot see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live” (Exodus 33:18–23). If all of God’s “goodness” were shown to a sinner, he would instantly die. God’s “goodness” would just spill wrath upon evil man.

However, the Lord told Moses, “It shall come to pass, while my glory passes by, that I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and will cover you with my hand while I pass by.” The only way a sinner can live in the presence of a holy God is to be hidden in the Rock of Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 10:4).

A favorite argument of the atheist is that God’s existence cannot be disproved. This is true. As mentioned earlier, one must be omniscient to disprove God’s existence. However, one should also be omnipresent (dwelling everywhere at once) to be absolutely sure that God doesn’t exist (although it could be argued that one who is totally omniscient wouldn’t have to be omnipresent).

It is because the atheist is neither omniscient nor omnipresent that he then takes an illogical leap by concluding that there is no God, because it cannot be proved that He doesn’t exist. Such reasoning is absurd. Why would anyone try to prove that God doesn’t exist when it can be proved that He does? Creation proves scientifically and absolutely to any sane mind that there is a Creator. His existence is axiomatic.

The atheist also has a problem with both answered and unanswered prayer. Here’s a scenario that no doubt happens daily somewhere in the world. A young boy becomes deathly ill. The entire family gathers for prayer. However, despite earnest and sincere prayer, the child tragically dies. The family’s explanation for the death is that God took the child to heaven because He wanted him there. The atheist views that as “unanswered prayer.” Or, if the child miraculously recovers, the family hails it as an evident miracle. God obviously answered the family’s prayers by saving the child from death. The atheist maintains that it wasn’t answered prayer but that the child recovered because his body healed itself.

Was the recovery a miracle? Perhaps. Then again, perhaps it wasn’t. Only God knows. The fact is that we have no idea what happened. However, one thing we do know is that answered or unanswered prayer has nothing to do with God’s existence. Let me explain. Let’s say my vehicle has a mechanical problem. What would be my intellectual capacity if I concluded that it had no manufacturer simply because I couldn’t contact them about the dilemma? The fact of their existence has nothing to do with whether or not they return my calls.

Neither does God’s existence have anything to do with the fact that some have experienced miracles, seen visions, or supposedly heard His voice. The sun doesn’t exist because we see its light, or because we feel its warmth. Its existence has nothing to do with any human testimony. Nor does it cease to exist because a blind man is not aware of its reality, or because it becomes cloudy, or the night falls. The sun exists, period.

God’s existence isn’t dependent on the Bible or its authenticity, the existence of the church, the prophets, or even creation. God existed before the Scriptures were penned, and before creation came into existence. Even if the Bible were proved to be fraudulent, God would still exist.

Adamant atheist April Pedersen writes, “The human trait of seeking comfort through prayer is a strong one.” This is true. However, April fails to see that human nature itself is very predictable. If men will not embrace the biblical revelation of God, their nature is to predictably go into idolatry. “Idolatry” is the act of creating a god in our image, whether it is shaped with human hands (a physical “idol”), or shaped in the human mind through the imagination. Those who create their own god then use it as a “good-luck charm” to do their bidding. The idolater calls on his god to win a football game, a boxing match, the lottery, and, of course, to win a war. Idolatry is as predictable as it is illogical.

Idolaters (of which there are billions throughout the world) are deceived into thinking that their imaginary god really does exist. They assume that Almighty God changes like pliable putty to whatever they visualize Him to be. Such a thought is ludicrous. It is like standing before an oncoming steam roller and imagining it to be cotton candy. Our imaginings don’t change reality. God doesn’t change just because we change our perception of Him. The Bible says, “I am the LORD, I change not” (Malachi 3:6). However, there is something even more ludicrous than the imaginings of idolaters. It is that trait of human nature that is just as predictable—the intellectual suicide of the atheist.

By the way, I sent April Pedersen “Atheist’s Obstacles” for her thoughts. This was her reply: “Thank you for sending this! It’s worded with impeccable logic ... It’s nearly impossible to find holes in your premise that in order to claim there is no God, one must be omniscient. It’s impossible for anyone to be omniscient. And you addressed the issue of “unanswered” prayers well too, where God exists independently regardless of our views of prayers, and is independent of the Bible as well ... So that explains what people are praying to when they pray at ball games and the like ... They have created a false god as they want to see him, without even knowing they have fallen into this self-centered trap ... an idol...”