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Answer to an Atheist
Jeannie
Ok, I am happy to discuss
scientific evidence for creation, but first I would like to point
out something. You seem to indicate that you have great confidence
in science, which, the last time I checked, means that which you can
actually see, touch, experiment on, etc.. Yet you state:
"I
don't believe in God and yet I still exist don't I?"
What scientific evidence do you
have that God does not exist? You apparently have come to a firm
belief that you cannot begin to substantiate from science.
You can say, perhaps, "I see no
evidence that He exists," or "I cannot understand how, if He exists,
things are in the condition that they are." But short of going
everywhere in the universe and being sure that you know of
everything that exists in the universe, how can you say that God
does not exist?
I was once an agnostic. At
least, I could defend that logically. I could say that I,
personally, did not know that He exists. But how can you defend,
from either a logical or scientific point of view, the position that
He does not exist?
When a person says that which I
know cannot be proven scientifically, it tells me that something
more is going on than merely scientific scepticism. The person has
a reason or motive for not wanting God to exist. Perhaps what he
means is that he doesn't like or understand the God of the Bible,
and thinks that he has clear scientific reason to reject the
reliability of that record, so he has come to the conclusion that
the God of the Bible does not exist. But even assuming that the
Bible is not literally true, that would hardly prove that God does
not exist.
I know that when I was an
agnostic, I believed that it was for scientific reasons. Later,
looking back, I realized that it was not scientific reasons which
were the primary reasons for my skepticism. I became a skeptic
because I WANTED to be, because I had been taught that God required
certain things of me that I did not wish to do (or not do).
Therefore skepticism appealed to me, and I found "good" reasons for
doubting.
When someone made Christianity
attractive to me, it was not hard for me to believe. I still needed
some answers. But now I could see many very convincing evidences
for the existence of God which I completely could not see before.
From my own experience, and from
observing many others, I have come to the conclusion that very
few--if any--people are objective on this subject, even if they
think they are. We are able to see and understand the evidences for
the point of view that we subconsciously want to see.
To me, the greatest of all
objective evidences that God exists is that I exist. I live in a
tremendously complex body and mind that even the wisest person
cannot understand. For me to conclude that there is no mind greater
than man--that such a wonderful design came about by accident--is
not logic at all, but willful blindness. If, knowing about that
incredible design, I refuse to acknowledge that some mind designed
it, it is because I do not wish to see that.
Certainly nothing in our
observable experience would lead to the conclusion that complex,
working machinery could come about without a mind to design it.
Computers don't just happen. Yet my mind will do many things that
even the best computer will not do. The basic question is: Which
came first, matter or mind? Did matter make mind, or did mind make
matter?
I believe that most people who
become athiests, or skeptics of one kind or another, do so for one
of about three reasons:
1. Believers that they have known
have so misrepresented God to them that they don't want to believe
in Him.
2. They want to live in ways
that they, deep down, do not believe that God would approve. They
would rather disbelieve in God than to change their ways.
3. Someone has convinced them
that brilliant people are all skeptics and it is stupid to believe.
They don't want to be stupid, and they do want to be brilliant, so
they won't believe.
When a person has these kinds of
motives for not wanting to believe, there is little use giving him
scientific evidence. He isn't going to see and accept it anyhow.
But when, on the other hand, he begins to sense his deep-down need
for someone or something greater than himself, and to reach out for
this, then there is so much scientific evidence that he ends up
wondering how he could have been so stupid as to not believe.
This can happen from a study of
such evidences as we have on the website. But often it happens from
his simply looking around at the universe and realizing that it is
illogical to believe that such order and system came about without
wise planning and design. And a person who is willing to believe
has another kind of evidence that a skeptic knows nothing about, and
would merely scoff at if he did. It is subjective evidence.
If I saw and talked with a ghost
regularly, that, to me, would be excellent evidence that one
existed. It would be no evidence to you, as you would merely decide
that I was crazy and hallucinating. My subjective evidence would
not convince anyone but me unless they knew me well and had
confidence in my word. That would be subjective evidence, for
me, for the existence of ghosts,
But every true Christian has
subjective evidence for the existence of God. I know, for instance,
that when I gave up skepticism for Christianity, I found an inner
peace and happiness that I certainly did not have before. I know
that my life changed very much for the better. I watched the same
change happen in my husband's life, and in the lives of my children.
I know that, where before I had
been constantly lonely, even in a crowd, now I was never lonely. I
had a sense of God's presence with me, of companionship, of a friend
so real that I could reach out and touch him mentally, if not
physically--a sense of safety and peace and love that I had never
known before. You can say it is all a delusion. You have every
right to say that. But to me, it is very good evidence.
When you have that kind of
evidence, the scientific evidence for the reliablility of scripture
is great--but not the primary reason for believing. To a real
Christian, God's existence is so obvious that believing His word is
not difficult, although learning to understand it can be a challenge
sometimes.
If you want your skepticism, you
are welcome to it. You can sneer and go away feeling superior to
the "ignorant" Christian. But it is yourself that you are cheating.
If, on the other hand, you would
really like to know if there is a God or not, it is easy to talk to
Him. Just ask Him to reveal Himself to you, and help you to know
for certain. If you are sincere, He will do that. And then you
will know. Then come back and ask me about the scientific
evidences, and you will see them all over the place.
Jeannie
