"Faith" really is required in order to have any human framework of reality or existence, atheism or otherwise. All worldviews are based on faith.
There are many lines of argumentation for this. I'll give you just one. I submit to you that the concept of a "law," as in, the idea that there are "laws" of nature, is a concept that has to presuppose the existence of God. If you don’t presuppose the existence of God, then you can’t really consider the uniformity of nature a "law" in the way that that word has been historically used. In fact, without the existence of God, there is no basis for the concept of "law" in just about any other sense as well, i.e. laws of logic or societal laws, at least not in the way that the word has always and essentially been understood. An example which helps to get at this point is the question: on what basis can you trust that 2+2 will equal 4 every time? The CHANCE that it might have worked out in the past when you’ve tried it before, is not a basis which we would call a "law," which is a universal reality that can ALWAYS be trusted, regardless of your beliefs, which is what we mean when we use the term "law." Without a God, how do YOU account for the universality of a law to exist? And yet, we're trusting in the existence of the laws of logic and math in order to trust that it will be 4 on the next attempt. Christianity has a worldview where this makes sense. Atheism, I submit to you, does not. If you are an atheist, upon what do you establish the existence of universal laws in the first place? Is it that the attempt to do the math just HAPPENED to work before? That’s not a "law." I submit to you that an atheist cannot account for the existence of such a thing as a universal "law", if there is no God. And of course, it is irrationality to trust something without a reason or basis for it. Without a God, you can only HOPE that it will equal 4 the next time, but there could be no "law" for it. But an even bigger implication, if you could concede the point, is that no one really LIVES as though such things are only a "hope." Instead, we are all forced to live as though there really ARE such things as laws. And we are doing this with a great deal many other things, all the time. Deep down, we really all know that there is a God, even if we are very personally committed to repressing this knowledge. We can’t help but live as though there really is a God, no matter how badly we might want there not to be. The Bible says, "For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 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." Romans 1:18-20 Let us conclude by saying this: we should all have a lot more charity, and I'm speaking particularly to atheists here, about the fact that everyone has faith, meaning that we all have some worldview which is based on some set of unprovable assumptions, which we have to take on faith in order to hold that worldview. Christians readily admit this about their worldview, but (most) atheists have yet to see it about their own. But, then again, I'm basing everything I say on my presuppositions aren't I! And, that's the point. We all are. We all have "faith" in the assumptions our worldviews are based on. All human thinking is based on first taking by faith some set of assumptions which they can't prove. It is not possible to do otherwise. I only wish that more atheists would see this, so that they might be more humble and charitable toward other "religions." May the Lamb, who delights to die for sinners, grant you to accept His forgiveness, that you may discover the joy and security of knowing Him personally. Amen.
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AuthorRev. Rusty Mosley Archives
August 2020
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