A Lifestyle of Peace: Quotations on Atheism: How Should We Answer Atheism?

Thursday, September 14, 2017

Quotations on Atheism: How Should We Answer Atheism?

Atheism is an interesting worldview. It's absolutely unheard of in the history humanity until the last few hundred years. But increasingly modern man is identifying as non-religious. Though most would not consider themselves militant atheists, most would probably fain a lack of interest in religion and/or spirituality while affirming an atheistic material view of reality.

As Christians, how do we counter atheism? How do we counter materialism? Let's look at a few quotations by influential Christian leaders from the past and present.

"I believe it takes far more faith to be an atheist than to believe in God. Atheists believe that everything that exists (the entire universe with its billions of stars and planets) came from nothing and by nothing. Nobody x Nothing = Everything. That takes a lot of faith!" –Charlie H. Campbell

"Someone once said that if you sat a million monkeys at a million typewriters for a million years, one of them would eventually type out all of Hamlet by chance. But when we find the text of Hamlet, we don't wonder whether it came from chance and monkeys. Why then does the atheist use that incredibly improbable explanation for the universe? Clearly, because it is his only chance of remaining an atheist. At this point we need a psychological explanation of the atheist rather than a logical explanation of the universe." -Peter Kreeft

"If God were small enough to be understood, He would not be big enough to be worshiped." -Evelyn Underhill

"Atheism is a crutch for those who cannot bear the reality of God." -Tom Stoppard

“I am persuaded that men think there is no God because they wish there were none. They find it hard to believe in God, and to go on in sin, so they try to get an easy conscience by denying his existence.” –Charles Spurgeon

“I can see how it might be possible for a man to look down upon earth and be an atheist, but I cannot conceive how he could look up into the heavens and say that there is no God.”
–Abraham Lincoln

“Everyone worships–even an atheist. He worships himself. When men reject God they worship false gods. That, of course, is what God forbids in the first commandment.” –John MacArthur

“Supposing there was no intelligence behind the universe, no creative mind. In that case, nobody designed my brain for the purpose of thinking. It is merely that when the atoms inside my skull happen, for physical or chemical reasons, to arrange themselves in a certain way, this gives me, as a by-product, the sensation I call thought. But, if so, how can I trust my own thinking to be true? It's like upsetting a milk jug and hoping that the way it splashes itself will give you a map of London. But if I can't trust my own thinking, of course I can't trust the arguments leading to Atheism, and therefore have no reason to be an Atheist, or anything else. Unless I believe in God, I cannot believe in thought: so I can never use thought to disbelieve in God.” –C. S. Lewis

"Still, even the most admirable of atheists is nothing more than a moral parasite, living his life based on borrowed ethics. This is why, when pressed, the atheist will often attempt to hide his lack of conviction in his own beliefs behind some poorly formulated utilitarianism, or argue that he acts out of altruistic self-interest. But this is only post-facto rationalization, not reason or rational behavior." -Vox Day

"Nobody talks so constantly about God as those who insist that there is no God." -Heywood Broun

Much of atheism in western civilization stems from naturalism, naturalism stems from darwinism. Evolution of course is taught as undisputed fact, yet the theory is full of holes. We would be wise to reexamine the reliability of this theory. Yet maybe there is something greater in the backdrop. Perhaps we now live a society that thinks God is no longer necessary. Or perhaps society thinks that Christianity has been tried, and was found judgmental and wanting.

Yet I think western man is near a time in history when we may once again realize our need for God. When the sheer empty meaninglessness of secular atheism has played itself out in the empty bottle, the Rx hangover, the morning breakfast after the one night stand of scientism, and the caving gaping hole in the chest that selfish self seeking living provides, there may yet be a shadow emanating off the wall of the broken trainspotting apartment complex, where a dazed half stupified post-modern man may look through the glass dimly and see... God.