Why Atheists are ‘Fools’

Phil Jensen

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StalinThey say there are no atheists in the foxhole.

Even fewer when death is certain.

None once the final curtain falls.

Rick Kriebel 2016

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God’s Word declares, “The fool hath said in his heart ‘there is no God’” (Psalm 14).

For three decades, until his death in 1953, Josef Stalin was the mass-murdering atheist dictator of Soviet Russia.

He was also a fool.

Woodrow Wilcox

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In his 1994 book, “Can Man Live Without God,” famed Christian apologist Ravi Zacharias recounts a story he heard firsthand from British Journalist Malcomb Muggeridge “that stirred [him] then and still does even yet.”

Muggeridge had collaborated with Svetlana Stalin, Josef Stalin’s daughter, on a BBC documentary about her God-hating father. She recounted his last act of defiant rebellion against the Creator: “[A]s Stalin lay dying, plagued with terrifying hallucinations, he suddenly sat halfway up in bed, clenched his fist toward the heavens once more, fell back upon his pillow, and was dead.”

“[H]is one last gesture,” observed Zacharias, “was a clenched fist toward God, his heart as cold and hard as steel.”

In my experience it is something common among atheists: an inexplicable, incongruent and visceral hatred for the very God they imagine does not exist.

Indeed, Romans 1:20 notes, “For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.”

Yet excuses they make.

Psalm 19:1 likewise observes: “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.”

The manifest intentionality and fine-tuning of all creation reveals design of breathtaking complexity. The Creator is of incalculable intelligence and infinite splendor. As I see it, atheism provides a case study in willful suspension of disbelief – all to escape, as the God-denier imagines it, accountability for massaging the libertine impulse.

Wouldn’t the atheist “suspend belief”? you might ask.

No, the phrase is properly “suspension of disbelief.” It is defined as “a willingness to suspend one’s critical faculties and believe the unbelievable; sacrifice of realism and logic for the sake of enjoyment.”

In the case of the atheist, or the “freethinker,” as they paradoxically prefer, that which is unbelievable is that somehow everything came from nothing – that there is no uncaused first cause; that God does not exist, even as knowledge of His being is indelibly written on every human heart and proved by all He has made.

Be they theist, atheist or anti-theist, on this nearly all scientists agree: In the beginning there was nothing. There was no time, space or matter. There wasn’t even emptiness, only nothingness. Well, nothing natural anyway.

Then: bang! Everything. Nonexistence became existence. Nothing became, in less than an instant, our inconceivably vast and finely tuned universe governed by what mankind would later call – after we, too, popped into existence from nowhere, fully armed with conscious awareness and the ability to think, communicate and observe – “natural law” or “physics.”

Time, space, earth, life and, finally, human life were not.

And then they were.

Writing in the Wall Street Journal, Christian author Eric Metaxas notes, “The fine-tuning necessary for life to exist on a planet is nothing compared with the fine-tuning required for the universe to exist at all. For example, astrophysicists now know that the values of the four fundamental forces – gravity, the electromagnetic force, and the ‘strong’ and ‘weak’ nuclear forces – were determined less than one-millionth of a second after the big bang. Alter any one value and the universe could not exist. For instance, if the ratio between the nuclear strong force and the electromagnetic force had been off by the tiniest fraction of the tiniest fraction – by even one part in 100,000,000,000,000,000 – then no stars could have ever formed at all. Feel free to gulp. … It would be like tossing a coin and having it come up heads 10 quintillion times in a row. Really?”

Secular materialists claim it can’t be – that such explanation is a “God of the gaps” explanation and, therefore, must be banished from the realm of scientific inquiry. They demand that anything beyond the known natural is off-limits. Atheists attribute all of existence to, well, nothing. It just kind of happened. Genesis 1:1 of the materialist bible might read: “In the beginning nothing created the heavens and the earth.” Even in the material world that’s just plain silly. Nothing plus nothing equals something? Zero times zero equals everything?

And so, they have “reasoned” themselves into a corner. These same materialists acknowledge that, prior to the moment of singularity – the Big Bang – there was no “natural.” They admit that there was an unnatural time and place before natural time and space – that something, sometime, somewhere preceded the material universe. That which preceded the natural was, necessarily, “beyond the natural” and, therefore, was, is and forever shall be “supernatural.”

Reader, meet God.

In short: the Big Bang blows atheism sky high.

Fred Hoyle is the atheist astronomer who coined the term “Big Bang.” He once confessed that his disbelief was “greatly shaken” by the undisputed science, writing that “a common-sense interpretation of the facts suggests that a super-intellect has monkeyed with the physics, as well as with chemistry and biology.”

Albert Einstein, who is often dishonestly characterized as having been an atheist, agreed that God-denial is foolishness. He once said of non-believers: “The fanatical atheists are like slaves who are still feeling the weight of their chains which they have thrown off after hard struggle. They are creatures who – in their grudge against traditional religion as the ‘opium of the masses’ – cannot hear the music of the spheres.”

“I’m not an atheist,” added Einstein. “The problem involved is too vast for our limited minds. We are in the position of a little child entering a huge library filled with books in many languages. The child knows someone must have written those books. It does not know how. It does not understand the languages in which they are written. The child dimly suspects a mysterious order in the arrangement of the books but doesn’t know what it is. That, it seems to me, is the attitude of even the most intelligent human being toward God. We see the universe marvelously arranged and obeying certain laws but only dimly understand these laws.”

Illustrious NASA scientist (and agnostic) Dr. Robert Jastrow (1925-2008) put it this way: “For the scientist who has lived by his faith in the power of reason, the story ends like a bad dream. He has scaled the mountain of ignorance; he is about to conquer the highest peak; as he pulls himself over the final rock, he is greeted by a band of theologians who have been sitting there for centuries.”

Yes, with time and chance, even science may eventually catch up to God’s Word.

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Matt Barber is founder and editor-in chief of BarbWire.com. He is an author, columnist, cultural analyst and an attorney concentrating in constitutional law. Having retired as an undefeated heavyweight professional boxer, Matt has taken his fight from the ring to the culture war. (Follow Matt on Twitter: @jmattbarber).
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  • Mark Moore

    Religibabble at its best.

    • Specifically how and why do you disagree with the assertions?

  • Psygn

    If you have no good points to sell about your position, fallaciously attack and belittle someone else.

    • Pointing out the flaws and shortcomings of one religion (atheism) does not necessarily mean there are no good points about a different religion.

      • Psygn

        Not having a religion is a religion? Anymore dishonest fallacious nonsense to add?

        • Everyone has a religion, especially atheists. A religion is a belief system in which one places their faith, to define and explain that which is beyond normal experience. A religion involves a narrative that attempts to explain how we came to be in the current state of affairs, it attempts to formulate a moral code, it has a doctrine, and it requires faith. Atheism has all of these and other characteristics which comprise a religion.

          • Psygn

            Sure, just make up your own definition of religion, assign dogma, tenants, doctrine and superstition, and wild claims to other people or anything else that serves your deceptive and dishonest agenda. Do you also pretend to speak for those who don’t believe in alien abductions?

            • Do you deny that atheism has a narrative that attempts to explain how the world came to be the way it is now?

              Do you deny that atheism attempts to formulate a moral code?

              Do you deny that atheism has a doctrine (a set of ideas or beliefs that are taught or believed to be true)?

              While you probably would deny that atheism involves faith, nothing could be further from the truth. Atheism posits a disbelief in the existence of a deity, and usually posits that there is no deity. Since one would basically have to BE a deity to be sure of this (the universe itself is pretty vast, overall, even excluding the possibility of other dimensions that might include what Christians call the spiritual), atheism requires a LOT of faith to believe in, especially with the overwhelming evidence of intelligent design for the universe.

              • Psygn

                You make a god claim, I don’t believe you, that’s all there is to it.

              • So you have faith that there is no Creator? (Because you can’t know that, can you?)

              • Psygn

                I don’t know if there is or not, no testable evidence no testable hypothesis of any creators so its a non-issue. I don’t know if the universe had a beginning or if it always was or if there was ever really nothing. I think the big bang theory has flaws so I don’t believe it either. There is a lot of things to clear up long before I get around to worrying about gods, leprechauns or Bumba vomited up the universe or Obassi Osaw and Obassi Nsi creationism.

              • It is indeed very difficult to test directly whether there is a creator of the universe.

                However, there are a number of indirect evidences which can be examined for whether they point toward or away from an intelligent designer.

                For example, we know matter does not come into existence from nothing. This has been consistently proven scientifically. Therefore, the universe had to have a supernatural origin.

                We also know through science that matter does not spontaneously organize itself into higher functional forms. Therefore, some force had to organize matter into stars, planets, and life forms.

                We also know through science that life does not come into existence spontaneously from lifeless materials. Therefore, something with supernatural power had to create that spark of life to animate inanimate materials.

                Further, the Bible gives a concise but comprehensive account of how these things may have come into being. And the Bible has never been found to contain a single scientific or historical error-a record of veracity unmatched by any other book in history. That means what it says should be given exceptional consideration.

                Some things to think about…

              • Psygn

                So.. my response is still pending?

              • retiredday

                That is where you have stopped reasoning, closed your eyes, plugged your ears, and begun to stomp your feet defiantly, insisting God does not exist. You are just about as convincing as Yosemite Sam.

                The fact of God’s existence is apparent to all. Believers aren’t making any claim, they are witnesses of the truth that you reject. As quoted in the article, “The heavens declare the glory of God.” Only fools deny that. God’s existence is self-evident and those who deny it are without excuse (Romans 1:20).

                It is you who are making a claim. But more than that. You pigheadedly refuse to consider what is being witnessed and reasoned to you. You have closed your mind, thinking God is somehow subject to the scientific method. But the scientific method was never designed to examine the reality of God.

                Rather, you have pre-defined God out of existence by insisting that all reality is subject to scientific materialism. Your world view preempts the supernatural, by its own presuppositions. You want to be logical but you are a slave to your godless assumptions.

                As a result, your world view (and as Bob said, your religion) leads you to suppress the truth.

                Jesus said, “For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world—to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.” (John 18:37)

                Don’t be foolish. Know the truth and it will set you free.

              • Psygn

                “insisting” LMAO!!! Why do you misrepresent what I said?

              • retiredday

                I apologize for misrepresenting what you said by my use of the word “insisting”. However, If you back up a bit and get the bigger picture, I was describing to you the impression your comments made on me. And in case it was not clear to you, I do not take your intellectual position seriously. And it is obvious you don’t take the well thought out discussion of the article seriously either. You openly mock the Christian faith and the Bible, making it clear that you do not take them seriously. That’s not my fault. It’s your attitude. Own up to it.

                “Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest you be like him yourself.” Psalm 26:4

                “Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own eyes.” Psalm 26:5

              • Psygn

                Yes. I understand, smart or educated people, critical thinking, reason, skepticism and reality are of the devil and a threat to your unjustifiable beliefs.

                I’ve read the Bible, Quran, Book of Mormon, Catholic doctrine and much more.
                No I don’t take them seriously. Now feel free continue your insults and demeaning hatred of me. And don’t forget to throw in a few threats of burning in hell for good measure.

              • retiredday

                Let’s be clear. You wrote, “smart or educated people, critical thinking, reason, skepticism and reality are of the devil and a threat…”

                So you are projecting that onto me? Thereby claiming yourself to be the smart, educated, critical thinking etc. person?

                So, if you are indeed so superior and my “unjustifiable beliefs” are threatened by your superior arguments, then where are those arguments? Where is your reasoning? Where is your critical thought?

                If you are half as smart as you think you are, you should publish books exposing the errors you claim to have found in the books you claim to have read. Perhaps you could debunk Stroble, Pearcey, Shaeffer or any other notable Christian thinker. You probably think Dr. William Lane Craig is a cretan.

                The truth is, I am not threatened by what you have to say. And you aren’t nearly as smart as you think you are.

              • Psygn

                LOL. Have a nice evening.

  • Bezukhov

    Why is this battle just between the Christian God or no God? If one wishes to postulate on a First Cause I think mine is better. You see, our Universe is the product of a hyper-dimensional 6th grader, and our universe is His/Her/Its science project.I have as much proof for my theory as anyone else has for theirs.