So yesterday I talked about there being no such thing as an atheist. An atheist’s position is not scientific superiority or intellectual rationalism. It is about suppression of truth. That is to say, an atheist is in a state of suppression. It says that clearly in Romans 1, verse 18. Because the ungodliness and unrighteousness of men is that they suppress the truth. For what may be known of God, verse 8 and 19, is manifest to them, for God has shown it to them. For since the creation of the world, his invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse. So we’re talking about atheism as a willful unbelief. Now, be careful with that, because this is not a judgment. This is not to say that an atheist is worse than you are, more sinful than you are, for the fact is that we are innately sinners. all of us atheists. That is to say, our human nature is in a willful suppression of God. That is why our human nature, as is, cannot be saved. In fact, not as is at all. It simply cannot be saved, period. It has to go. It will go at the coming of Jesus Christ. Our life of faith is the opposite of atheism. for it opens up to a loving, caring, compassionate and merciful God who sacrificed himself, substituting for our judgment in the person of his Son, Jesus Christ. So don’t expect, as I said before, anything good coming from your human nature. It won’t happen. Our human nature has been inherited from Adam. And remember what Adam did. He disobeyed God. He walked away from him. God had said, don’t touch that tree. You can have everything in the garden except that tree of the life of the knowledge of good and evil. For in the day that you touch it, you will surely die. But Adam and Eve listened to Satan’s voice, where the devil said through that serpent, has God really said you may not touch of any of those trees in the garden? Well, God hadn’t said that. He said only that one tree you may not touch. And so, as I pointed out the other day, yesterday and the day before, Satan makes a statement that misrepresents what God says. Now fortunately, Eve did not listen to that. She said, no, we may eat of all the trees of the garden, but not the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. lest we die. And Adam responded, rather Satan responded, the serpent responded, you will not surely die. So what we learn from the scriptures about Satan is that first he misquotes God, misrepresenting what he has said, in that God appears to be restrictive and mean instead of generous and And then he denies the consequences of what God says about what will happen if we do such and such. And so instead of our coming to believe that that tree is dangerous and should we touch it we will die, that tree is actually quite good and should we touch it we will live and become like gods. So this becomes the inversion of good and evil. That is to say that God appears evil because he’s restrictive and selfish and mean, and Satan, this wonderful serpent who guides us, appears to be generous and in our best interests and telling us what will be good for us. And so we look at the tree, we consider it good and attractive and… It smells good, might taste good, and will certainly make us wise and like God. We will have a divine quality about us, which we thought we didn’t have in the first place. So we take it and eat it. Now that inversion of good and evil, that distortion of reality, has been the inheritance of mankind ever since. And therefore, when we today think of God, our emotional reactions, not necessarily our cognitive ones, are that God is restrictive and mean and dangerous and is not in our best interest. Now, you can say what you like about what you think about God, but that is how you intuitively respond in your human nature. That is why you cannot expect anything good coming from your human nature, because your human nature is, in fact, an atheist. That is to say, it is a willful unbeliever. Let’s remember this in verse 20. Just think of it. No one in this world would look at a piece of machinery and think that it had automatically come together with all its parts to make it work by accident. We automatically know and assume, we don’t even question it, that somebody made it. And this is the obvious, rational conclusion or rather rational response to the intricate nature of creation. Well, you say, if it’s the rational response, then why don’t we… Believe it, because we have become irrational, because humanity has entered a domain of insanity, and that is the condition of humanity, and it remains the condition of humanity, and it is only when God gives us faith… to redirect our minds’ faith in the love of God, in the mercy of God shown to us through Jesus Christ. It is only when we then see God’s glory in his mercy towards us and we receive that faith that our minds become free and rational again and recognize the glory of his creation. Says the psalmist, Psalm 104, “‘Bless the Lord, O my soul! O Lord my God, you are very great! You are clothed with honor and majesty, who cover yourself with light as with a garment, who stretch out the heavens like a curtain. He lays the beams of his utter upper chambers in the waters, who makes the clouds his chariot.’ who walks on the wings of the wind, who makes his angels spirits, his ministers a flame of fire, you who laid the foundations of the earth so that it should not be moved forever, you covered it with the deep as with a garment, the waters stood above the mountains, at your rebuke they fled, at the voice of your thunder they hastened away, they went up over the mountains, they went down into the valleys, to the place which you founded for them, You have set a boundary that they may not pass over, that they may not return to cover the earth. He sends the springs into the valleys, they flow among the hills, they give drink to every beast of the field, the wild donkeys quench their thirst, by them the birds of the heavens have their home, they sing among the branches, he waters the hills from his upper chambers, the earth is satisfied with the fruit of your works. You see, this is a beautiful faith description of the Creator and how he has made all the earth so beautiful. But the scientist comes along and says, Oh, the birds don’t sing because they’re happy. They sing to declare their territory because they’re warning their enemies not to come any nearer because this is my territory. Look, as it occurred to you that not only do birds sing to declare their territory, but God has made them sing to give joy to him, to give joy to the world. I’m telling you, you need to get back to the simplicity of a child, to believe that his creation is full of joy, that he makes it pragmatic, he makes it useful, he makes it purposeful. Yes, birds declare their territory, but they do so with a song in their heart because God made it that way, because he wants to give human beings joy. The truth of the matter is this, that we, when we have faith, have faith like children. And that is utterly humiliating to the world. We don’t want to be like children who are stupid and think silly things and have crazy fantasies. Yes, we do. Because unless your faith, unless your hearts become as little children, you will in no way enter the kingdom of heaven. The fact is man has suppressed God and thinks himself wise in that idea. To think that evolution replaces God is an absurdity. To think that an intelligent mind must be replaced by sheer chance so that everything comes together without any forethought or design is utter insanity. And yet we believe it. We believe it because we have suppressed God, and we are so accustomed to suppressing God that we just are not surprised by our suppression anymore. Now, I’m not judging you by this. I’m not condemning you by this. I’m wanting you to understand how your human nature works. When we worry, when we say, where is God because I’m sick and he’s not helping me or I’m financially busted and he’s not coming through for me, when these things, this doubt comes in, it is because of our atheistic mind. Do not trust your mind. Go to the book of Matthew, chapter 5 and 6 and 7. Look at the Sermon on the Mount and learn from Jesus how to trust in our Heavenly Father who knows your needs, who clothes the lilies of the valley with beauty. and who has such care and intimacy, intimate care and concern for his creation, that he knows even when two sparrows fall to the ground. This is knowledge that is utterly incomprehensible to the rational mind.
SPEAKER 01 :
Yet you and I, are given the gift of faith.
SPEAKER 02 :
That gift of faith comes from God and it reveals the intimacy of fellowship with him, the intimacy of his care for us, the intimacy of his embracing of all creation and watching over it like a loving mother bird, like a loving creator. So, you can understand why the wrath of God is revealed, can’t you? It’s not because God is bad, not because he’s mad all the time, not because he hates the world that he created. On the contrary, he loves it, and love is the motivation behind wrath, because when we are wrathful and when we suppress God, God is so grieved by our suppression of this source of life and joy and hope, and therefore he rises up against our suppression, because our suppression means our death. That is how it is.
SPEAKER 01 :
Though all those who hate God, all those who do not believe, love death, they have a death wish in them. We are killers of our own selves, but God is life.
SPEAKER 02 :
And so, when you address an atheist, be compassionate, be understanding, ask him what led him to come to that belief, but then gently reveal to him that that belief is actually willful, because something in the back of his mind, something in his childhood, led him to reject God. Maybe abuse, maybe church strictures which were so unreasonable that he couldn’t take it anymore. And so, remember that when you talk to an atheist, you are an atheist delivered yourself. Thank you for joining me, everyone, today. Colin Cook here and How It Happens. This broadcast is available to you online anytime. Simply download a free app, soundcloud.com, and key in How It Happens with Colin Cook when you get there. And would you kindly consider a donation? This is listener-supported radio. A week’s programs cost $200. And so, if you could make any donation, small or large, send it to FaithQuest, P.O. Box 366, Littleton, Colorado, 80160, or online at faithquestradio.com. Thanks so much. See you next time. Cheerio and God bless.
