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Psalm 14,
1
The
fool hath said in his heart,
There
is no God.”
They are corrupt,
they
have done abominable works,
there
is none that doeth good.
If
someone says they have no religion, it is not necessarily a stepping stone
toward saying, “I have no God.” But it
certainly puts God on the back burner.
And then there is that middle ground between having no
religion and complete denial, the giant question mark called agnosticism which
neither affirms or denies God. Eugene Brussell describes an agnostic this
way, “One who doesn’t know whether God exists, but is afraid to say so loudly
in case God might hear him. ”
The little boy had been taught that God had no place in his
household. So one day, having heard his atheistic father
recount once again that everything in life was just mindless chance, the little
boy looked up and asked, “Does God know we don’t believe in him?”
Believers do outnumber
unbelievers, agnostics are still in the minority and those who say they have no
religion are certainly not in the majority.
But this sermon is not directed at statistics.
It is directed toward those who in the
darkness of the darkest night have said, “There is no light. There is no
God. And because I have said it, it is true. ”
There is no loneliness worse than
that which comes from believing, “I am nothing more than flesh and bone and
blood and I renounce any affirmation that claims I have a soul. ” Indeed, I
remember the first time I spoke with a man who said that, and looking into his
eyes I saw no joy, no triumph, only resignation.
It is not that a denial of
God destroys Him, or that an acceptance of God replenishes Him. God is and
always shall be, despite what we affirm or do not affirm. He is after all omniscient, omnipresent and
omnipotent and not subject to the whims of any man or woman.
So what is the advantage of believing in and worshiping and
seeking a relationship with this Father God?
It is the same as when we have
a good relationship with our earthly fathers, or have a lack thereof.
We humans were created for fellowship and we are
diminished whenever we fail to establish such relationships.
I know this; I am a far, far happier man than
I would be if I did not have a relationship with my
heavenly Father. And I steadfastly believe the same could be
said for those nonbelievers, even though
they fervently disagree with me.
And because the Devil is very busy
fighting for as many souls as he can get, I do try to fight him
in word and deed…in everyone of the days God has given me.
And just in case you doubt the need to speak of our
faith, and exhibit our faith every chance we get,
may
I share with you the following…
Back in 1945 when the United Nations was just being organized, its leaders
decided to omit any mention of God in their charter. The reason?
To appease atheistic Communists. The atheists gained a giant foothold and they
have not backed off.
Indeed, in Ashgabat, the capital of Turkmenistan
a University
of Atheism
knowledge. And the graduates are expected to continue
“the struggle against religion. ”
There is an
aggressive mind set to atheism these days that no longer just tolerates
believers.
It believes that religion should be
attacked, challenged and refuted at every opportunity. And many
are no longer just content to speak against
God… their aim is to remove all reference to Him anywhere and anyway they can.
The
following example is but one of many that I could spend the rest of these
thoughts sharing.
Remember the prayer Kindergarten kids once prayed
in our public schools -
We thank you for the flowers
so sweet;
We thank you for the food we
eat;
We thank you for the birds
that sing;
We thank you, God, for
everything.
Well, now it hasn’t been prayed since 1963 and I doubt if will ever be
prayed in a school again.
They, the atheists, are very committed. And they continue to win - time and time
again.
Now not
all atheists are aggressive. There are
closet atheists just as there are closet Christians.
But there are a significant number who are articulate,
and denigrate God on a regular
basis.
It wasn’t always like this…this new found pride in denying God
Indeed, back in the early 1960’s when the
American Atheists Organization held its first convention
in Austin ,
Texas
was
admitted, and stayed there until the reporters left. By the 1975 annual convention
960 registered and NONE of them hid. And Mrs. Madelyn Murray O’Hare, its
organizer, said her
organization at that
time had a mailing list of 60,000.
The convention’s “Atheist of the Year”
award went to Lloyd Thoren of Petersburg ,
Indiana
operated a
Dial-an-Atheist” service.
And then there is the University of North
Carolina
day in 1972 by not handing
out Bibles to graduating seniors along with their diplomas.
Bibles had been handed out with the diplomas
at Chapel Hill since 1842, but that year the
institution’s Trustees Executive
Committee voted to abolish the practice.
And again the unbelievers won.
Notice
I am calling attention to atheist victories years ago. But unless you have been
hiding in a hole…
…you
know that atheists continue to assault the fact that faith in God is part and
parcel of how
incorporated that belief in the Almighty on
coin and manuscript and everywhere else it seemed
appropriate.
But as a nation today, we have gone to such extremes to
appease this small minority that some things
really don’t make sense.
It is illegal to read the Bible in the public schools of Illinois
Bible for every convict!
In other words;
don’t worry, kids, if you can’t read the Bible in school, you’ll be able to
when you get to prison!
A question. What causes a person to turn away from
God?
Is it a fear of faith?
Is it a demand to understand every fact,
facet and thought of God? And if not
able to understand,
then declare a victory
by saying, “I can’t prove God for myself…therefore he doesn’t exist.”
Of the atheist I would ask:
How got you to this point? Was
it the loss of a loved one?
If the death of a loved one shouts there is
not a loving God…then what did the life of that loved one who
did live shout?
If hate denies God’s goodness…what does love affirm?
If what you have lost has made you sad and bitter…what about
what you had before the loss? Did
that make
you joyous and filled with thanksgiving?
How does that old
cliché go? It is better to have loved and lost, (however the loss took place) than
never to have loved at all.
I will never understand the mind of God or decisions He makes. Sometimes it’s a miracle.
Sometimes
it’s allowing an individual to make a mess of his or her life. Or sometimes, a mess of a
tragedy comes to call without being invited.
But if I could understand God’s mind, then my mind would be equal to His and
that would be like a little child trying to completely understand his earthly
father.
I like the observation Abraham Lincoln once
made, “I can see how it might be possible for a man to
look down upon the earth
and be an atheist, but I cannot conceive how he could look up into the heavens
and say there is no God. "
Or put it this way… for every garden
there is a gardener.
So what can we do? If you haven’t
done so already, or recently, read the old, old story of Jesus and
His love.
Read it… and memorize it…and be so familiar with it that when it is
appropriate…you can repeat it.
quote a miracle …point out a parable…underline
the fact of the resurrection…emphasize heavenly
forgiveness for earthly sins…just be comfortable
with the tenets of your faith.
Point out that for every ugly moment in life there is a
moment of beauty, and for every curse
there is a prayer.
(Sermon on Atheism to be continued next week)
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