EX-Atheist

Last week Monday, one of my friends who I invited to church with me a while back saw me at school and asked, “Hey Davon! Are you still into that whole church stuff?” I told him, “Yeah. I am. God is always first in my life. Why, what’s up?” He said, “I don’t see how you can do it. I’ve been trying to believe in the whole God thing, but I just can’t understand it. Is it wrong for me to just give up on searching for God?” Then the Holy Spirit had me to ask him, “Do you like being lied to?” He thought about it and said, “NO.” Then I said, “In this world, there are many lies. Media lies to us, people lie to us, and religion lies to us. There is only one truth in this world. And that truth is found in God. If you don’t like being lied to, then keep searching for God so you can know the truth.”

Then I asked him, “Would you consider yourself to be an atheist?” He said, “I don’t know. What is that?” I replied, “There are four different kinds of people in life: Atheists, Agnostics, Skeptics and Believers. An atheist is a person who doesn’t believe in the existence of God. An Agnostic is someone who can’t prove God, but they can’t disprove him either, so they are just in the middle. A skeptic is someone who believes in God, or a higher power, but they are confused about the bigger picture. They have many questions and doubts about the validity or authenticity of the spiritual things. And a believer is someone who is strong and firm in their belief of God. They have a personal relationship with God. You told me that you don’t believe in God. So are you atheist?”

He hesitated. “Well,” he said, “I don’t want to call myself an atheist.” “Why not?” I asked. “If God doesn’t exist, then you shouldn’t feel bad about being an atheist.” “But what if God does exist?” he feared. “It is better to believe in him and be safe than sorry.” I took what he said into consideration then said, “Some people believe in God to secure their spot in heaven because they are afraid of going to hell. That is what it means to be safe than sorry. But I don’t believe in God because I want to be better safe than sorry. That type of belief comes from doubt. I believe in God by faith.”

“But you can’t see God,” he said. “How can you have faith in something that you can’t see?” “Faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen,” I answered him. “Gravity is the force of attraction that pulls objects down to the center of the earth. You can’t see gravity, can you?” I asked. “No,” I continued, “but you know it’s there. You can’t hear gravity, you can’t touch gravity, you can’t smell gravity and you can’t taste gravity. But you have faith in it. You don’t believe in it because you would rather be safe than sorry. You believe in it because science has proven it to be real.” “Okay,” he said. “But how can you prove God?” “The proof of God is found in all of creation,” I answered.

“Romans 1:18-20,” I showed him in the Bible, says, “The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.”

Verses 21-23 continue to read, “For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles.”

“Man created buildings, cars and roads, but who created the natural elements that these things were made out of? Man can plant a tree, but who created the seed? You have on a pair of Air Force Ones. Nike designed those. Everything in existence started from somewhere. Every creation has a creator. Every design has a designer. Everything has a genesis, or a beginning. Undoubtedly, something outside of mankind has to be responsible for designing the heavens, the stars and the planets. Something outside of mankind is responsible for creating the natural elements of the Earth and even our own being. Science attributes this all to the Big Bang, and I believe in the Big Bang. I just know who bang-bang-banged it — God! In the Beginning, God spoke, “Let there be light.” And BANG!! There was light.

God is Spirit and no man has ever seen him, except the only begotten one who comes from God, Jesus Christ. However, the proof of the invisible God is found in His very much visible creation. Nothing that has been made would be here if it weren’t for God. We just don’t want to give him glory or credit for it because we don’t want to be held accountable to him if he is real. That is why we worship lifeless idols, as well as each other, instead of the one and only true and living God.

God is real. And man is without excuse.

Many of us would NEVER say that we are atheists. As a matter of fact, most of us believe that God, a supernatural being, or a higher power does exists, but at the same time, we live our lives as if we are our own god.We neither glorified him as God nor thought about the consequences and the eternal judgment of our sins. But now we have a genuine relationship with our creator, Jesus Christ. We no longer just “believe” in him intellectually, but we now show it through our actions! We are believers not just by title, but by lifestyle. We are EX-Atheists.