Questioning the Faith of Atheism

Most people consider their opinion as the truth. However, their opinion may change, but the truth never changes. I wrote this essay about atheism based on the book by Ray Comfort called "God Doesn't Believe in Atheists: Proof the Atheist Doesn't Exist" (creative title, don't you think?). I reference page numbers in case you want to verify the information. I will admit the essay is a bit long, but if you would take the time to read it, I think you will find it very interesting and full of valuable information. =D I don't go into a lot of detail, but I give the gist of the inconsistencies with atheism as presented in the book. Please give me your thoughts!

Questioning the Faith of Atheism

“It has been rightly said that the ‘atheist’ can’t find God for the same reason a thief can’t find a policeman” (God Doesn’t Believe in Atheists, p. 15). Admitting the existence of God is automatically admitting the requirement to obey His commands. Not only is the belief of atheism an inconsistent argument, but no atheist can possibly exist. With evidence of design all around us betraying the idea of God’s nonexistence, the only logical conclusion would be that God does exist, and that we have a responsibility to do what He says.

Atheism is the belief that God does not exist. However, disproving the existence of an entity such as God, requires of the atheist both omniscience and omnipresence. Every person knows that he does not possess even a small percentage of the world’s knowledge. He is not familiar with every grain of sand across the earth and he can’t tell you the exact number of water molecules in any given cloud. Thomas Edison once said, “We do not know a millionth of one percent about anything” (p. 14). Therefore, wouldn’t it be possible that, in the large percentage of information the atheist doesn’t know, there could be all the evidence to prove God’s existence? Ray Comfort used a great analogy: to say there is gold in China does not require all knowledge. One merely needs to know that one article of gold exists somewhere in China. However, saying that there is no gold in China requires absolute knowledge of every tiny part of China. The only thing needed to disprove that statement is one gold earring or one pebble of gold underground (p. 15). Similarly, to say that there is no God, one would have to possess all the knowledge of the universe and simultaneously exist everywhere in the universe—thereby being God. The atheist can only truthfully say that, because he does not know everything, he believes that God does not exist (p. 15).

Since atheism denies God’s existence, evolution is the only other alternative for answering the question of our origin. However, we would find it absurd to believe that any man-made object arose by chance. For example, if you see a painting hanging on a tree in the forest, you automatically know that it had a painter, even though the painting is made up of earthly elements (p. 5). Every aspect of creation shows evidence of design—from the apple that gives you its luscious flavor and produces apple trees from the seeds in its core, to the banana that is color-coated to give you an indication of when it is perfectly ripe, too early, or too late (p. 18, 19). The human hand, for example, is obviously designed for holding. The human lungs are designed for filtering air with its 300 billion capillaries (p. 32). Even without seeing the wristwatch’s designer, no one would question the fact that it was designed, and that it didn’t evolve by chance. Even if we never saw the builder of a building, we know he exists because of the building we are looking at (p. 20-21). How could we want better evidence for the Creator than the creation right in front of us?

Every creature is programmed with information that it couldn’t have put there itself. For example, whenever we sneeze, we automatically close our eyes. Chance can’t account for why the hair on our head is different from the hair on our eyebrows. Imagine if both grew at the same rate! Even though a baby snail has a small shell, as the snail grows, its shell becomes larger. He never discards it for a new one (p. 31-32). How could creatures have programmed information if they were just the product of chance?

In fact, nature itself reveals the unlikelihood of the transitional processes required for evolution to occur. Blood clotting, for example, is a twelve-step process, every step of which is needed to occur—in that order. However, the first creatures would have bled to death, if blood clotting had evolved over time (p. 33). Even the eye cannot be reduced to anything less than it is, making its evolution impossible. This fact Charles Darwin himself recognized: “To suppose that the eye could have been formed by natural selection, seems, I freely confess, absurd in the highest degree” (p. 34). If a tornado went through a junkyard, we know that a fully working airplane would not be formed (p. 35). The chances of such mutational advancements by transitions are countless times less than the chances of an impossibility.

Atheists also have trouble accepting the existence of God simply because His existence is not able to be disproved. However, one’s perception of God does not give any credibility to his viewpoint. Simply because it appears to the atheist that some prayers are “unanswered” and that answered prayers could have been coincidental, they say that God does not exist. On the other hand, inability to contact the manufacturer of a vehicle does not prove their nonexistence. Someone’s perception that the sun does or does not exist has no effect on whether or not it really does (p. 46). In the same way, God’s existence cannot be disproved by one’s perception of whether or not prayers are answered.

Regardless of your viewpoint, statistics show that you have a 100% chance of dying sometime in your lifetime. Whether or not you believe in God, you will face death. Consider this analogy: a plane was secretly hijacked during flight. The pilot quickly wrote a note telling the passengers to put on the parachute under their seat, since he knew that if the White House did not give in to their demands, the hijackers would force everybody off the plane. As the note was passed along to each passenger, some refused to believe that there was a parachute under their seat. Some considered it a joke that the plane was hijacked, and others that the plane even had a pilot in the first place. But some put on the parachute, knowing that the least they could lose was their pride at the possibility of saving their lives. Finally, when everybody was forced off the plane, only those who had parachutes survived (p. 47-48). By not taking heed to the instructions of the Pilot, you are risking your eternal future. Even if you don’t believe there is a Pilot, reality is not changed by your belief. By not believing that there is even a parachute, you are deriding the One who wants to save you. The Law that will judge you will not spare you unless you have “put on the Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 13:14). You will fall to your death if you do not accept the reality of Jesus as your Savior.

“This life is the shadow of death” (p. 58). In other words, our whole life is leading up to our death—it is in death’s shadow. Think of how much you would sell your eyes for. Would even a million dollars be worth it? If your eyes, the “windows of the soul,” are priceless to you, then think about how important the soul is that sees through them. Jesus is offering eternal life for you, yet many hold back because of earthly pleasures. For some, their stumbling block is money. Others hold back in fear of what others will think about them. Still others think that they are “good enough” to enter heaven. Nonetheless, God’s standard is so high that He sees hatred as murder and lust as adultery. Perfection is His standard, and Jesus is the only Man who ever was without sin. Therefore, the only way to be free from eternal death is to accept Jesus—the Source of eternal life.

In summary, the faith of atheism is a self-destructive argument based upon the nonexistence of God. As an absolute negative, it cannot be substantiated. Evolution, the backing force of atheism, is an improbability that can be discredited simply by the evidence of design in the world around us. The overwhelming evidence demonstrates that there is a God, and that we must find out what He wants us to do—to accept the free gift of the Savior Jesus Christ, who alone can save us from eternal death.