Does God Exist? For The Atheist

Before I get to this answer, I think it’s interesting to consider why some people believe in God, even from a young age, why some people reject God, and why some people don’t believe either way.

Having been a Christian for a few decades now, it’s clear to see that many people outright reject God and the possibility that He exists. The answer more often than not is that they can’t believe in something they can’t see. On the face of it, it seems like a fair response. But to people like me, who believed from a young age simply from questioning their own self-existence and acknowledging the natural world, it actually seems like a very naive and immature response.

I mean, how can you look at the incredibility of the natural world around you and draw the conclusion that God does not exist? As a Christian in the Kingdom of God, looking outward to the secular fallen world, I can only determine that God has not intervened in that person's life to draw them to Himself. I honestly think that has to be the answer. I suppose from there we should ask why, but I will come back to that. Romans 1:20.

I recently approached some strangers and asked them if they had a perspective on Jesus, and I showed them the Gospel of John. What ensued was a genuine conversation on three different people’s views on God. I was encouraged to hear the first man, Dillan, say he used to be an atheist, but now he has “come to the conclusion that there MUST be something else”. Dillan was probably around 30 years old. The younger man, Ryan, next to Him said he was more ‘scientific’ and needed to see the evidence. While Sarah, similar in age to Dillan, said she neither believed nor didn’t believe. I asked her why she thought that way, but she couldn’t give any kind of answer; she simply didn’t know.

Ryan asked me something like “how do you know God exists?” I replied that there were many things I could say here, but the first thing I would say is that if you don’t believe in a creator God, then you have to believe that something came from nothing; there really isn’t an alternative. And that’s not really a plausible worldview, is it? I also talked about the strong constants of the universe. These strong constants are so perfectly aligned that if any one of them were just a fraction off, the universe would not exist. I once heard someone talk about one of the strong constants and said it was like having a bow and arrow and shooting it a million miles away and hitting the bullseye. I guess, without thinking about it, I appealed to Ryan’s draw towards science and the physical world with my answers. I also told Ryan that numerous atheist scientists now reject many aspects of Darwin’s theory of evolution - this information is readily available online.

In the midst of the conversation, I did explain the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

I had several John’s Gospels in my hand, with each one of the three I asked them directly if they would read it if I gave it to them, and each one said they would. That was also quite encouraging. “The Gospel…is the power of God unto salvation for everyone who believes” (Romans 1:16).

I pray for Dillan, Ryan, and Sarah that they will come to knowledge of the truth of the Lord Jesus Christ, revealed to them by the Father, coming to repentance and faith, believing in their heart and confessing Jesus Christ as their Lord, to the Glory of the Great I AM (Romans 10:9-13), Amen.

But what if the reason they have not come to faith in Jesus Christ has to do with God’s divine will in (not) making that knowledge available? That’s a difficult pill to swallow, but that is the Christian Calvinist pill. The Calvinist view on salvation is that all people get the justice they are due because of their sinful nature, which is opposed to God. However, by God’s Will, He intervenes in the lives of some to show His Power and Glory to all people. He does this by revealing the truth of Jesus Christ, enabling faith and by Grace, saving them from His wrath. Those saved people still get justice; they are imputed with the righteousness of Jesus Christ.

There are some difficult things to understand in God’s Holy Word (Isaiah 55:8-9). When I read the Bible, I read free will, and I read predestination to salvation. How it actually works, I don’t think humans will understand this side of heaven.

We do know from scripture that it is not solely the doing of the individual; this is impossible for numerous reasons. The Bible tells us that having a saving faith in knowing Jesus as God comes from the Father and His revealing this to us.

We see Israel turn away from God repeatedly. Reading Ezekial 6, God wants to bring judgment on Israel for their idolatry because again they have ALL turned away from Him. But God says he leaves a remnant and gives some of them a heart of flesh to turn to Him and worship Him.

Jesus says you must be born again to enter heaven. He says, “I am the way, the truth and the life; there is no other way to the Father except through me”.

When I read the Bible, I read that free will and predestination, somehow, coexist. Adam had a lot of freedom in the garden, with a minor limitation. In the same way as believers, we have two ultimate commandments to follow, and we have been freed from the penalty of sin - that’s a true freedom that we can truly never understand or repay.

We know that predestination to physical life (Genesis 2:7), (Nehemiah 9:6), (Job 33:4) is biblical. So, one could ask if that is the case, is it such a far stretch to conceive that spiritual life is predetermined? It's a very interesting thought.

If people do not engage at any level by their very own free will (that it's all God) with the decision to trust in Jesus Christ for salvation, how does it demonstrate God’s glory? To some, it may demonstrate it even more.

The Bible reads to me that God reveals Himself to all people, and they either decide to seek out the truth of Creator God, or reject Him and would rather worship themselves. On the one hand, I think this is the case. My only problem with this is that it seems prideful to me to think I had anything to do with my salvation. God alone deserves the glory.

I do not doubt that God reveals Himself to all people, but does He draw some people to Him, and not others? Maybe God sees something in our Will that He joins with His Will. What about as Malachi recalls, Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated?

It's not a simple agreement to believe in Jesus Christ; it's believing with a full heart, trusting His word, to the cost of everything else. After all, the Bible tells us that demons also believe in Jesus, but they will not be in heaven (Matthew 25:41). They will be with those who reject him:

John 3:18-19 

“He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already… And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light.”

2 Thessalonians 1:8–9
“In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power.”

I reject the Armenian view of salvation, as it is clear to me through scripture that once you are truly born again, you cannot lose your salvation. To believe anything else is to not believe what Jesus Himself spoke. If you believe you can lose your salvation, then you agree with a works-based salvation and that grace is not grace.

So, where does all this leave the atheist? I will say this, to not believe something does not equal that the thing you do not agree with is not true, does it? Have you ever been wrong? Have you ever been wrong about something very serious? Could you be wrong about God? To say you do not believe in God does not mean that God does not exist; it simply means you reject Him, or the idea of a Mighty Creator God. Rejecting God does not mean you escape from His Justice, for the unbeliever, eternal separation from God - Hell. For the believer in Jesus Christ, eternal life with God.

If I could convince you to take any action, it would be to read the Bible openly and honestly. Put aside your doubts and read. Seek out an independent Baptist Church (Reformed or not) or a Presbyterian Church. Of paramount importance in a church is that the Pastor is teaching biblical truth from scripture and not a 20-minute ‘TED talk’ on living well. I encourage you to stay away from any Word-of-Faith / charismatic, or Catholic churches.

All of this has to be balanced with the fact that God tells us in His word that he does not wish anyone to perish (2 Peter 3:9).

I pray that the Holy Spirit moves in your life to bring you to repentance, and faith in Jesus Christ; Mark 1:14–15, Matthew 4:17, Luke 13:3, Luke 13:5, John 3:16–18, Luke 24:46–47.

I will take this opportunity echo my first post, that I do not suppose to know anything and be right.