Taking every thought captive for obedience to Christ (2 Cor. 10.5)

The Question
What does someone mean who claims to be an atheist? (3)
We are imagining ourselves asking a friend who claims to be an atheist – that is, who says either, “There is no God” or “I don’t believe God exists” – to help us understand how he has arrived at this view. We’ve said we might expect one of three responses, so let’s take a closer look at each of these.

First, someone who claims to be an atheist may say that he has tried believing in God, but it didn’t work for him. He may have gone to church as a child or perhaps even believed for a season at some later time in his life. If we probe this response a bit further, we’re likely to discover that our friend was expecting something which he failed to realize, and, failing to realize his expectations, he has simply moved along.

His testimony of believing in God is that it did not produce the results he was expecting, therefore he no longer believes, and therefore, God does not exist.

We can readily accept our friend’s testimony, that his experience of believing in God did not have the desired effect. There’s no sense arguing about this point. This is his experience, and it is most likely valid. It doesn’t really matter what he was expecting – something ecstatic, the healing of a loved one, deliverance from some fear or anxiety, instant and unfailing peace and happiness, whatever – the fact is he did not realize what he’d hoped. And, failing to realize what he’d hoped, he has ceased believing and has concluded that God does not exist.

This is a bit like me saying that ping-pong isn’t a valid table game – indeed, it may not even exist – simply because I have never been able to beat Susie at it. I have tried playing ping-pong with Susie, hoping to do well and to experience the satisfaction of winning, but since I have never been able to beat my wife at ping-pong, well, that game just doesn’t exist.

Not even I am dumb enough to make that conclusion. I mean, there’s just too much evidence, from too many quarters, that ping-pong is a valid game, enjoyed by many.

The problem is unrealized expectations, which may be a case either of wrong expectations or simple impatience. Early on I learned I could enjoy playing ping-pong with Susie if I didn’t expect to win, but merely enjoyed the fun of playing together, although the outcome has always been the same. Having changed my expectations for playing ping-pong, I can enjoy playing it with Susie, even though we have not played all that often in our years together.

Happily for me, this matter of adjusted expectations translates to all kinds of games played with Susie, such as Scrabble, putt-putt, pool, and March Madness brackets. 

After all, we might remind our friend, a good many people, ourselves included, have a very different testimony of our experience believing in God. And our testimony is supported by an abundance of evidence, from many quarters, of people who profess faith in God and have found the experience to be quite real and satisfying.

To take one person’s testimony – or even the same testimony given by many people – as definitive for eliminating God would open up a good many other areas of life to being similarly disavowed.

Indeed, we would all be subject to living as skeptics concerning a good many areas of life if the testimony of a few people – even 3% of the adult population – were sufficient to deny the reality of things which fail to meet their expectations.

We might then invite our friend to share the expectations he was seeking from his experience of believing in God, and this could engender some fruitful, ongoing conversations about what Christian faith is, what it promises, and how it is truly embraced and lived.

For reflection
1.  What should people expect from believing in Jesus? Is realizing those expectations a matter of magic or ongoing obedience and faith? Explain.

2.  Meditate on Colossians 4.6 What does having your speech at all times seasoned with grace entail?

3.  Jot down some words or phrases that describe your testimony of believing in Jesus:

Meditate on 1 Peter 3.15 and Romans 5.1, 2. What is the Christian’s “hope”? How can we translate that into expectations that others could understand?

T. M. Moore

Stretch your vision of Christ and His Kingdom by ordering a copy of T. M.’s book, The Kingship of Jesus, from our online store (click here). You can download a free meditation on the glory of Jesus Christ exalted, Glorious Vision: 28 Days in the Throne Room of the Lord, by clicking here.

The Week features insights from a wide range of topics and issues, with a view to equipping the followers of Christ to take every thought captive for Jesus. Please prayerfully consider supporting The Fellowship of Ailbe by sending a gift to The Fellowship of Ailbe, 19 Tyler Drive, Essex Junction, VT 05452.