The Corruption of Atheism

“...and they blasphemed the name of God who has power over these plagues; and they did not repent and give Him glory” (Revelation 16:9).

Something delicate, pure broke within man that beautiful, sun-filled day when first he decided to operate outside the confines of God's Law in the Garden known as Eden. That sublime Jehovah-wrought equilibrium was, until a time set by Himself, thrown into chaotic, brutal, totally corrupting disarray. Of course, I speak of the tragic fall of man- of the dire failure of all humankind yet within the loins of our first father, Adam. Yes, in him we all fell, and great was our descent into depravity, and the millenia-long war against our maker has been harsh and self-destructive on our end, the ubiquitous evidence of our single, greatest problem. In the fall, man wanted existence without divine rule and ever since that fateful day he has used all his energies, intelligence, God-given creativity to scour all reference of his creator from public view even though the prospect is utterly, completely impossible. And therein is the core desire, the central motivating aim of what we call today Atheism. That tragic day in God's garden, Self was born, and from it's unholy birth it has hated the Lord and served its own agenda above all else. Furthermore, Self loathes God because it knows that all its deeds shall one day be brought to bear and scrutinized by eyes that see all and are not hindered by any human weakness. Atheism is a philosophy that knows God exists but is bent on living as if He doesn't.

In the Scripture listed at the beginning of this essay aptly describes the very nature of man and while its context references future events during the Seventieth Week it still identifies the central aim of man even to his last unregenerated breath- life without Him. The Seventieth Week is the time when God's wrath is poured out on a rebellious world and His righteous judgment is certainly warranted as mankind cannot, during this special time more than any other deny the working and power of God in the sphere of mortal men. Man will still remain under the sway of Satan and Antichrist- by choice. Atheism is a personal philosophy, one's way of having his own way of living apart from the rule of God. The interesting allure of Atheism is that it is marketed as “a step up” from the earlier, even primitive stages of man being steeped in superstition and old wives' tales. Atheism is most certainly marketed to today's people.

Looking back at man's fall, and in particular the seductive words of Satan, he said to Eve, “you will be like God;” but man wanted His unlimited knowledge and self-autonomy, but none of His righteous character. Atheism is touted by so many prominent people, from scientists and physicists to acedemics and celebrities, displayed as the way of thinking for “thinkers,” for the sophisticated, for the learned. One of the smartest individuals in popular literary culture, Christopher Hitchens, wrote a much-circulated, New York Times best-selling book entitled, God is not Great. In fact, I own that book and have read it, and, by the way, read it aghast when he purports that parents' inculcating religion into the minds of their children is tantamount to child abuse. Child abuse! What's amazing is his use of language and depth of logic and reason as he defends his built-on-folly point of view. His main premise is that there can be no agreement between the overwhelming, seemingly unstoppable presence of evil in the world and the existence of a good, omnipotent God (especially the God of the Bible). There are countless others, from Professor Stephen Hawking to Bill Maher and while the number of atheists in the world is not the subject of this paper, the atheists mentioned portray themselves as learned, erudite- and course, sophisticated. Another centrality is that they eschew God and live in His universe, His sublime creation that declares His glory, intelligence, might, and wisdom as if Someone of great purpose had not made it. Astonishing.

The Bible says of these individuals, of the same kind who will look in the very face of holy recompense in the last hours of Man's Day and curse God, who will literally grit their collective teeth and force themselves not to repent. While not the first book of the Bible in traditional order, the Book of Job, which is the first book chronologically spoke_ of the nature of the Atheist in chapter 21, verses 14 and 15:

“Yet they say to God, 'Depart from us,
For we do not desire the knowledge of Your ways.
Who is the Almighty, that we should serve Him?
And what profit do we have if we pray to Him?'”

The Atheists that the Word speaks of here seem most like apostates, those who know that God exists, has all power, but reject His rule over them, thereby living as if He does not exist. (By the way, Christians sometimes live this way when steeped in backsliding, living as if Christ will not hold them accountable.) Probably the most damning indictment of the mind and behavior of atheistic thinking is found in Romans chapter 1, summed up in verse 22 where the Holy Spirit says, “Professing to be wise, they became fools,” which let's us know that man, still since the Garden of Eden has not given up seeking to be like God while rejecting having a relationship with Him.

Elsewhere in Romans, the Apostle Paul lets us know that God has written the fact of His existence and Law on the heart of man and the very presence of the conscience as an internal code of law invalidates man's claims of His nonexistence. The word is clear that men literally “suppress the truth” by unrighteous living and vain philosophy. Atheism is illogical in that it denies the obvious order of the universe, the intentional structure of the human body down to the atoms and quarks of each individual cell. It has no basis and actually needs God to have any purpose in the world of men. If God did not exist, then, would Atheism?