Only fools say in their hearts,
    “There is no God.” (NLT)

When people declare they don’t believe in God, they tend to offer various answers. They speak of the unjust suffering in the world. Though we might wonder if giving up belief in God sheds any more light on that particular mystery.

Or they speak of scientific advances and talk about standards of proof. To which we might reply that many profound scientists are believers. And of course we can’t ‘prove’ God just as we can’t ‘prove’ lots of things we take for granted.

Yet others are turned off by the real or perceived hypocrisy of the church. Admittedly, a serious obstacle to belief, but then again aren’t we all hypocrites, believers or unbelievers? And belief is about Jesus not about the church.

Perhaps unbelievers might be more honest in admitting they don’t believe because they are a bit wary of what demands this God might make on their lives. All those other excuses, while real, are not the basic issue. The issue being, who is in control of my life? Whom do I ultimately serve?

Unbelief can be a sort of laziness, too. It requires a lot more effort and struggle to believe than to dismiss belief. To believe requires some understanding. To not believe requires little. In the end, an atheist is making a rather arrogant claim in insisting there is no God. To make such a claim requires exhaustive knowledge which no human possesses. An atheist making such an absolute claim is ironically enough claiming God-like status.

Blessings
David