The Spirit's Nest Ministries

Today’s “new atheists” seek to deprive you of your belief system in order to elevate their own. Atheists believe in mans’ superiority, rather than the superiority of God. “A man says, in his heart, there is no God.”[1] “A man is right in his own eyes.”[2] An evolutionary atheist is a person who uses the gifts God has given him to prove there is no God. Today’s “new Atheists” not only consider you less intelligent than they are, but also consider you their enemy. They have forgotten that they were only allowed to exist in our country because of the tolerance of our Christian nation.

Intellectualism often exalts ‘the man over God’ world view. Faith is not based on intellectual prowess, but rather the ability to establish faith in your life. This is not based on IQ levels, but rather the leading of the Holy Spirit. All are welcomed by God, through faith in His Son: the brightest as well as the least bright because “God is no respecter of persons”.[3] God is a respecter of the willing. Intellectualism often blinds people in their search for the meaning of life because “none is so blind as he who will not see”[4]. The underlying thinking, that centers most in the unbeliever’s life when they reject Jesus, is that if Jesus is Lord – they are not. The Bible is the best selling book in the world for some reason. Surely not everyone can be buying them to put on the coffee table in order to look religious.

Religion is an all encompassing word. On the other hand, Christianity is an all exclusive word. Christianity is the only religion that offers a personal relationship with God. No other religion has this relationship. All other religions, because they are made up out of the mind of man, cannot have this relationship due to the lack of a foundation in the One True and Living God.

Thomas Jefferson said: “question even the very existence of God”. He did not add; and you will find none. Rather he was saying study and discover for yourself. God said: “seek me and I will show myself to you”[5]. As you twist the lens barrel of the camera, the image comes into focus. As you study the Bible, the image and Word of God comes more into focus. It takes effort to aim the camera and adjust the lens to get the sharpest image. It also takes effort to understand the Bible, and as it comes into sharper focus and understanding, you realize it is worth the effort. A clearer image of God’s love can only be obtained through the study of His word.

Lee Strobel and Dr. Ivan Panin are excellent examples of atheists, out of many, who set out to prove the Bible was wrong and only proved to themselves the validity of the Bible. Lee Strobel set out to disprove the Bible and, in his research, discovered that it had to be true. Atheist-turned-Christian Lee Strobel, the former award-winning legal editor of The Chicago Tribune, is a New York Times best-selling author of more than twenty books and has been interviewed on numerous national TV programs, including ABC, Fox, PBS, and CNN.[6] Dr Panin was a scholar in Greek and Hebrew as well as a doctor of pure mathematics. His original mindset was to prove the Bible was a hoax. He found a uniformity and structure, through comparison of hundreds of ancient biblical manuscripts, which are only found in the Bible, in Genesis through Revelation. Dr. Panin came to know the Lord Jesus.[7]

Atheists believe that there is no God, but eventually must respect that God knows their thoughts. They believe that the believing people of the world are inferior to them in intellect and knowledge. Atheists cannot prove a negative; therefore their battle is within themselves. Their best claim to refute a Creator God is evolution which has no basis in scientific fact. It doesn’t even qualify as a theory under scientific terminology. Christians claim a personal experience with God. Do atheists claim a personal relationship with nothingness?

The drastic reduction of the level of education in the United States can be directly attributed to the rise of atheism and secularism. The early basis for education in our country was to teach children to read the Bible and to prepare people for ministry. The Bible has been removed from our public educational system. Ignorance breeds ignorance. Alexis de Tocqueville[8], a French historian and political thinker, visited our country soon after the revolution. He wrote quite a bit about the United States. He was especially impressed with the level of our literacy and was impressed by the way our Christianity held us together. Lack of ability to read and understand the Bible can account for the educational and moral decline of the country.

In essence, Abraham, concerning Hell, said that if a man won’t listen to the word of God and the prophets, he won’t listen to a man who has returned from the dead.[9] Jesus returned from the dead, and even though there were over five hundred witnesses to that fact, there are still those who won’t listen and believe.

What can we do for the benefit of atheists? We are instructed, by the Bible, to love them as God first loved us. Our God is a God of love: He loves them as part of His creation, and we should follow His example. We are instructed not to judge them as they may someday come to be saved like us[10]. We are instructed by the Lord to pray for them and treat them kindly; helping and feeding them if necessary.[11] We are to be the salt and light of the world. Jesus said: He did not come for the righteous but for the sinner[12].

[1] Psalm 14:1, Psalm 10:4

[2] Proverbs 21:2, Proverbs 28:11

[3] Acts 10:34

[4] Ezekiel 12:2, Deuteronomy 29:4, Romans 11:8, Luke 10:23

[5] Luke 11:9, Deuteronomy 4:29, Jeremiah 29:13, 1 Chronicles 28:9, 2 Chronicles 15:2

[6] http://www.leestrobel.com/Bio.php

[7] http://www.biblebelievers.org.au/panin2.htm

[8] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexis_de_Tocqueville

[9] Luke 16:31

[10] Luke 6:37, 1 Corinthians 5:12

[11] Romans 12:17-21

[12] Luke 5:32, Matthew 9:13, Mark 2:17