atheist Archives - Institute for Nouthetic Studies | Biblical Counseling https://nouthetic.org/tag/atheist/ Welcome to the Mid-America Institute for Nouthetic Studies, founded by Jay Adams. INS provides training and resources for biblical counseling. Wed, 24 May 2023 12:07:22 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.1.1 https://nouthetic.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/cropped-Favicon-32x32.png atheist Archives - Institute for Nouthetic Studies | Biblical Counseling https://nouthetic.org/tag/atheist/ 32 32 No Sensible Person Is an Atheist https://nouthetic.org/no-sensible-person-is-an-atheist/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=no-sensible-person-is-an-atheist Wed, 24 May 2023 06:00:54 +0000 https://www.nouthetic.org/blog/?p=3508 An agnostic? Well, I can see how this is at least a tenable position for an unbeliever. After all, Paul wrote about the impossibility of such persons to understand or welcome the things of the Spirit of God (1 Corinthians). If your eyes are closed and you admit it, as the agnostic in a sense ...

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]]> An agnostic? Well, I can see how this is at least a tenable position for an unbeliever. After all, Paul wrote about the impossibility of such persons to understand or welcome the things of the Spirit of God (1 Corinthians). If your eyes are closed and you admit it, as the agnostic in a sense does, so be it. That’s respectable. But an atheist? Now, he’s a different kind of cat. Who can make such an untenable boast as that there is no God? The Psalmist answers, “The fool has said in his heart ‘there is no God’” (Psalm 14:1).

Why is an atheist a fool?

In answer, let me simply suggest one reason: no one knows enough to be an atheist.

If, for instance, God is a spirit, how would you be able to ascertain His whereabouts or non-whereabouts? You can’t see or feel a spirit. As of late, even with all of our electronic marvels, I haven’t yet seen a spirit-detector for sale. How can he know that there is no God?

Secondly, supposing he was able to go everywhere in search of God, how would he know that God wasn’t just one jump ahead of (or behind) him? To make the affirmation with any reasonable basis for it, he would have had to be everywhere at the same time to discover that God wasn’t there. But, of course, that would mean he is omnipresent and omniscient (and probably omnipotent) to be able to be there. But then, if he were all of these, he’d be God—and hardly be an atheist.

Now, I don’t want to let the agnostics off too easily. There are two kinds of agnostics. One doesn’t know, and one who doesn’t care. I don’t have much respect for the second. He doesn’t care enough to find out so he can tell his children whether there is or not. Shame on him. The other kind doesn’t know, but it troubles him immeasurably. He should keep on seeking: “Seek and ye shall find.” There’s hope for him.

 

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