I often wonder why Christians love to discuss too much about atheism yet they always make their own explanation about it. Take this Christian article for example which came from a certain Christian Internet site called “
Does God Exist”.
I really think that this article was really written for Christians so they may have a wrong idea of what atheism is (?).This kind of article won’t really convince an atheist...in the first place the article was choked by Bible verses...which really not that very important to a non-believer.
Now, why present your brethrens wrong information? So what I’m doing here is to offer Christians the correct facts about atheism.
Atheism is the view that God does not exist. Atheism is not a new development. Psalm 14:1, written by David in around 1000 B.C., mentions atheism – “The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God.’” Recent statistics show an increasing number of people becoming atheists, with up to 10% of people worldwide declaring themselves adherents of atheism.
According to the article, atheism is not really new because the Psalmist has already written about it in 1000 B.C. But I think atheism is much older than that. Atheism was born when the first village priests invented their gods.
But how about atheism as the Christian author suggested? Is the Psalmist correct when he thought atheism means a person that believes “there is no god”? Unfortunately, most Christians really don’t have any idea about atheism in the classical period. It is only about a decade after Socrates’ death, in Plato (ca. 429– 347 BC), that we start to find the Greek word atheos, which originally was used in the meaning “godless, without gods, godforsaken,” denoting intellectuals who denied the gods of the city or any form of deity. As suggested by Plato’s Apology, speculating about the heavens was indeed already connected with atheism. But that is too far from the meaning of modern atheism.
Another example is by Epicurus (341–270 BC.) Epicurus himself was not an atheist, but later philosophers; probably the Stoics, attacked the premises of his physical system written in his 12th book On Nature which surmised that the gods had no necessary place in his system, and labeled him as an atheist.
Early Christians were also labeled as atheists. Polycarp was accused as an atheist. Tatian (Oratio ad Graecos 27.1) even mentions that the pagans called the Christians atheotatous, “the most atheist ones”! Justinus admitted that the Christians were indeed atheists regarding their attitude toward the pagan gods. Julian the Apostate (Contra Galileos 43) even stated that the Christians had inherited their atheism from the Jews.
If atheism is a negation on the existence of a god, then why early Christians were accused of being atheists? See I told you the Christian author doesn’t have a clue on what is he talking about. Remember, in earlier usage, atheism means someone who doesn’t worship a certain god-idea. Atheists in those times were men who do not worship the dominant deities prescribe to the society. Even if you are a god-believer, yet you worship a foreign, unorthodox deity – you are condemned as an atheist.
Why does atheism even exist? Why doesn’t God simply reveal Himself to people, proving that He exists? Surely if God would just appear everyone would believe in Him! The problem with this idea is that it is not God’s desire to just convince people that He exists. It is God’s desire for people to believe in Him by faith (2 Peter 3:9) and accept His gift of salvation (John 3:16). Yes, God could appear and demonstrate once and for all that He exists. The problem is that God clearly demonstrated His existence many times in the Old Testament (Genesis chapters 6-9; Exodus 14:21-22; 1 Kings 18:19-31). Did the people believe that God exists? Yes! Did they turn from their evil ways and obey God? No! If a person is not willing to accept God’s existence by faith, then they are definitely not ready to accept Jesus Christ as their Savior by faith (Ephesians 2:8-9). That is God’s desire – for people to become Christians, not just theists (those who believe God exists).Why atheism exists? It exist because it questions the arguments and proof presented by the theism...It is really the antithesis of theism. Doubt is coeval with belief.
Does atheism is only a propos to a god that doesn’t reveal himself? No...Example in Hinduism, cows are considered sacred...yet an atheist doesn’t believe that. Prior to World War 2, the Japanese believe that their Emperor is a god. An atheist will not agree to such an idea. So that doesn’t mean atheism is only about unrevealed gods like the Christian god-concept.
Suppose a certain being just appeared to me face to face and told me that he’s the Christian God...should I instantly become a believer like the Christian author is trying to imply? Not exactly...How do I know that he is certainly “the God”? I remember this episode of Star Trek: the Next Generation where “Q” is trying everything to convince the crew of the Star Ship Enterprise that he’s God...Kudos to captain Jean Luc Picard for not believing him.
So why a loving god would wants his subjects to believe at him by faith?
According to Romans 1:20 - For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:
Now this will be quite the opposite of all the verses that was written in the Christian’s claim. Surely, a morally perfect God would show himself more clearly. If God perfectly loves his creation then he may not be hidden, elusive and distant or even absent to any culpable activity in our part. A perfectly good god should not limit himself to mere speculation by faith.
Now is it a mere speculation to conclude that if a man didn’t accept God’s existence by faith, then he will not accept Jesus Christ? Hmmmm let see...Suppose I receive an e-mail that tells me that I have won a million pesos. Gosh! A million pesos! Wait a minute...I never saw the man’s face, just an e-mail...I don’t even know if it’s just a bot. Will I just accept it by faith that this is really not a computer scan and that I really won a million pesos? Now how about if I saw the actual person and I saw the actual raffle and that I won a million pesos...yes it might be a scam too but don’t you think that I will have more confidence about my winning compare to an impersonal electronic mail? No, I’m not saying “to see is too believe” and this is not a contradiction about my earlier statement but I would just like to disagree to the idea that faith will boost someone to be more acceptable.
Now do you think that if I talk to God face to face or I saw all those thunder and lightning together with that baritone voice from heaven saying he’s god and his son is the savior of mankind, that I might at least have the chance to ask him personally on what I think, that I can scrutinized his claims compare to a skinny pastor telling me Jesus will save me from hell while giving me an envelope for my “love offering” amounting to P100.00?
If God’s desire is for people to become Christians, I think making a personal appearance is more effective than letting his “pastors’ do the work from him. Don’t you agree?
The Bible tells us that God’s existence must be accepted by faith. Hebrews 11:6 declares, “And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him.” The Bible reminds us that we are blessed when we believe and trust in God by faith, “Then Jesus told him, ‘Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed’” (John 20:29).The fact that the existence of God must be accepted by faith does not mean belief in God is illogical. There are many good arguments for the existence of God. Please visit our “Does God Exist?” page. The Bible teaches that God’s existence is clearly seen in the universe (Psalm 19:1-4), in nature (Romans 1:18-22), and in our own hearts (Ecclesiastes 3:11). With all that said, again, the existence of God cannot be proven, it must be accepted by faith.Let first see what this faith is all about. According to Christians, faith is to believe something which has not yet come to pass or for which there is no evidence which constitute evidence for its actuality. Is that logical? Now...if a person accepts faith, that automatically considered as illogical. Remember, in faith there is no reason and logic. Kierkegaard said that reason can only undermine faith, never justify it. For even though one might indulge in rationalistic proofs of God’s existence, in the manner of Anselm or Aquinas, these nevertheless have nothing at all to do with a belief in God.
So belief in god is really the absence of reason and without reason then we are face in a boosted illusion of wishful thinking. What Christians has to offer to replace reason? It then replaces it with an appeal to authority without the guidelines of reason and an appeal to fear which really not a ground for truth.
Now...does the author of Hebrews 11:6 know that since faith is unreasonable, he then appeal for man to seek this being to reap rewards? Hmmm this reminds me of Maslow’s dog. Anyway, since faith is grounded by authority and fear...what do we gain to it since it doesn’t really established knowledge? An appeal to rewards is really a predictable outcome.
At the same time, it takes just as much faith to believe in atheism. To make the absolute statement “God does not exist!” is to make a claim of knowing absolutely everything there is to know about everything – and of having been everywhere in the universe there is to go – and having witnessed everything there is to be seen. Of course, no atheist would make these exact claims. However, that is essentially what they are claiming when they state that God does not exist. Atheists cannot prove that God does not, for example, live in the center of the sun, or beneath the clouds of Jupiter, or in some distant nebula. This cannot be proven, so it cannot be proven that God does not exist. It takes just as much faith to be an atheist as it does to be a theist.So after proving the Christian error, the Christian has no other way but to accuse atheism of the same issue that haunted the Christian god-belief.
Does it really take much faith to be an atheist? Not really. To say that “I don’t believe in a god” doesn’t really require faith. To lack theistic belief it is really not necessary for an atheist to know absolutely everything there is to know about everything.
Also, contrary to this Christian article, it is really impossible to prove a universal negative. There are 2 ways to do this: 1.) if it leads to contradictions and 2.) by carefully looking and seeing”.
In the first example, we can say that a 4-sided triangle doesn’t exist, right? That’s because a triangle has 3 angles. So therefore a 4-sided triangle doesn’t exist. Now...according to Christian belief there is only one true God, right? And that other gods like Allah and Brahma doesn’t exist. That’s also claiming a negative, don’t you think? If you are a Trinitarian...well if you believe in a Trinitarian God, then Allah, YHWH (the Jewish one) and the Christian trinity cannot exist together at the same time.
Suppose a certain being just appeared to me face to face and told me that he’s the Christian God...should I instantly become a believer like the Christian author is trying to imply? Not exactly...How do I know that he is certainly “the God”? I remember this episode of Star Trek: the Next Generation where “Q” is trying everything to convince the crew of the Star Ship Enterprise that he’s God...Kudos to captain Jean Luc Picard for not believing him. 
