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Faces of Unbelief Categories of Atheists (--Source Unknown) 1. Angry Atheists -- those who either consciously or sub-consciously blame God for personal tragedies or human tragedy in general (death, wars, suffering, hunger, etc. ) which is proof positive to them that there is NO God. 2. Amused Atheists -- those who consider themselves 'Enlightened' and transcend other humans who exhibit 'Faith' and consider them simpletons, while considering themselves intellectually and morally superior. 3. Behavioral Atheists -- a prime example are homosexuals, who find themselves in contradiction to natural law and blame their deviancy on God or anything other than chosen behavior. These Atheists are against any concept that does not endorse their behavior -- if God endorsed Homosexuality, Homosexuals would be the most strident believers in God. 4. Argumentum ad ignorantiam Atheists -- those that hold something is false only because it hasn't been proved true (God), or that something is true only because it has not been proved false. 5. Atheistic Contrarians -- those humans who are always against anything that is commonly held, if 99% of humans were Atheists -- they would believe in God. 6. Marxist Atheists -- those who believe that Government by humans and for humans, must have the highest allegiance and anything else (God) must be secondary and therefore inferior or non-existent by definition. They believe that men can make a Utopia on Earth without any spiritual help. 7. Amoralistic Egoism or "Individual Atheist" -- those who believe their freedom to do anything (freely chosen" supersedes any guideline, creed, commandments or moral restrictions, placed on them by God, or anything or anyone else. (Our President and our congress) 8. Narcissistic Atheists -- those who believe that anything they do not know or are capable of knowing is therefore false and patently intellectually dishonest. Introduction: There are many different ways people can end up at the same place. In this lesson we want to look at some of the various ways people get to the point of being atheists and humanist. I) Skepticism A) Skeptic is a person who doubts there is a God. 1. A skeptic is one who holds to "the doctrine that true knowledge or knowledge in a particular area is uncertain and who has doubts concerning basic religious principles." 2. The skeptic does not accept anything they have not personally experienced or validated. 3. Thomas is one that was a skeptic, not believing what others had told him about the resurrection of Jesus, John 20.24, 25. B) To the skeptic everything must be proved scientifically 1. Can one prove scientifically in the existence of God? 2. Can one prove scientifically the Genesis account of creation? 3. Can one prove scientifically the miracles in the Bible? 4. Can one disprove all the above scientifically? The skeptic does not know and cannot say. C) The fallacy is not everything is physical in nature and not everything can be seen in a lab 1. Reductionism -- you take a complex entity and say the whole is merely one portion. Remember the story of the four blind men feeling an elephant? Each made a logical statement based on a limited experience. 2. Not everything is physical in nature and even the physical is dependent on other things. Love and morality are two examples. 3. Was Jesus not raised from the dead because Thomas had not seen Him? John 20.26-29 II) Infidelity A) Infidel is the person who not only refuse to believe in God himself, but also is intolerant of, and actively opposed to, those who do. 1. There are those that rejected the Gospel of Christ and did not want others to accept it either, Phil. 3.18 2. They persecuted Christians. Some believed they were doing the will of God, 1 Timothy 1.13 3. Some are simply opposed to God, Acts 13.45 4. Often reason and logic has little to do with infidelity although they may try to use reason and logic to convince others to be infidels. B) Famous infidels 1. Voltaire, beginning in 1765 attacked Christianity. a. Tried to find contradictions and inaccuracies in the Old Testament. b. Denied miracles in the Bible, God answering prayers, the messianic prophecies. c. "It took 12 men to originate the Christian religion, but it will take but one to eliminate it. Within fifty years from now the only Bible will be in museums" d. Not long after his death, the Geneva Bible Society purchased Voltaire's house and used his printing presses to print French New Testaments. 2. John Dewey born in Vermont in 1859. Earned a doctorate at John Hopkins, in 1884 began teaching at the University of Michigan. Became chairman of the department of philosophy, psychology, and education at the University of Chicago. a. There is hardly a school in America that has not felt his influence b. Wrote "A Common Faith" in which he made it clear that he wished to be scientific at all cost. If science neglects something, the something is nothing. Because he viewed religion as unscientific it was nothing. c. No such thing as morality nor absolutes 3. Madalyn Murray O'Hair was a devout atheist and fought against religion. a. Murray v. Curlett lawsuit in 1963 was responsible for having prayer taken out of public schools b. To quote Murray "I love a good fight. I guess fighting against God and God's spokesmen is sort of the ultimate, isn't it?" -- from "Where's Madalyn?", Time, 1997, February 10 III) Deism A) Deism -- from the Latin, deus, meaning god. 1. Gained popularity as a means to answer problems with atheism and agnosticism. a. The atheist cannot disprove God's existence b. The agnostic says we do not know God exist but someone else might know He does exist. 2. Deism says God exist , He is to be worshipped, and there will be a future judgment. B) But 1. God does not interact or reveal Himself to mankind. a. Like a watch maker that simply winds up the watch and then leaves it alone. b. No need for prayer, for there is no divine intervention 2. Denies Jesus being the Son of God 3. Denies miracles and prophecies in the Bible and the Bible itself 4. "God didn't need to reveal anything about himself in a holy book like the Bible or the Koran. Nature itself is the only revelation God needs. A rational man could find out all that he needed to know about God from nature." -- Ideas and Consequences, Hoover, 1976, p. 13 IV) Answers To The Skeptics, Infidels, and Deist A) An all powerful God has the ability to reveal Himself to mankind 1. This is through inspiration resulting in revelation, Hebrews 1.1; 2 Timothy 3.16 2. The purpose of revelation is to enlighten mankind, so we may know and understand. Ephesians 3.3; 5.17 B) An all powerful God has the ability to perform miracles as proof of His existence and His revelation 1. Ability of prophets to prophecy, perform miracles. Hebrews 2.2-4 2. He established the laws of nature and He can break those laws. C) An all powerful God can send His Son to earth to reveal the will of God 1. John 1.15 John bore witness 2. John5.36 the works of Jesus bore witness 3. John 5.39 the scriptures bore witness 4. Hebrews 1.2 God deals with mankind through His Son Conclusion: It is ridiculous for the skeptic to say I don't know if God exist or not and then reject the one whom God sent. It is dishonest for the infidel to say I have decided I don't believe in God and neither should you. It is absurd for the Deist to say God exist, wants our worship, but does nothing. Has not told us how to worship Him, or How to please Him. A powerful and loving God can reveal Himself, send His Son to die for us, and judge us according to His Word. (Much of this material was taken from an article, "The Many Faces of Unbelief" by Bert Thompson
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