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

The Question
What does someone mean who claims to be an atheist (6)?
Thus far we have been exploring the reasons someone may offer for claiming to be an atheist, that is, for asserting the nonexistence of God. We’ve seen that neither failure to find religion satisfying on your friend’s part, nor his observations of inconsistent Christians, nor even careful reading and study are sufficient grounds for insisting on the position that God does not exist.

These may be sufficient grounds for one to say that he believes God does not exist, but not for anyone to know that God does not exist.

So we want to check the firmness of your friend’s position at this point: “Let me be clear: In spite of all this, of what we can both see to be inadequate reasons for such a sweeping claim, you continue to insist on the view that God does not exist, and that you know this to be true?”

At this point, rather than hold firmly to his initial conviction, your friend may feel the need to adjust his view. He may say, “Well, OK, I can’t know for sure that God doesn’t exist. But I believe with all my heart that this is the case.”

Now we are on to another tack, and we need to pursue it in full sail.

Let’s begin by asking, “Ah, OK, I understand. You don’t believe God exists. That’s considerably different from saying you know He doesn’t exist, would you agree?” He will have to agree, of course.

Then we might want to ask, “All right, great. Which God? Because, you see, I also do not believe in the existence of certain deities, and it may be that we are closer in our view than you or I previously thought. So which God do you not believe to exist?”

It’s likely that he will answer in one of two ways. Either he will say, “Why, the God of the Bible, of course.” Or he will say, “Any God, I don’t believe in the existence of any God whatsoever.” Indeed, this second is the more likely response, since it seems to render our friend impervious to the demands of any particular religion.

So let’s follow our conversation onto that tack.

First, we will want to point out that your friend must have some idea in mind about “God.” This is necessary even for denying God in any form. You must know what you’re denying. So we will want to ask your friend to help us understand what he means by the idea of “God.”

Because your friend does not believe in the existence of any God, our conversation will not profit by moving from one religion to the next – “You mean the God of the Bible? The God of Hinduism? Shinto? Islam? Animism?” and so forth. Your friend is likely to explain, in each case, that he doesn’t believe in the God of any religion concerning which we might like to ask.

We can get to a more important place in the conversation by asking your friend to define what he means by “God.” What is it, precisely, that he doesn’t believe in? And at this point we are looking for definitions, not for him to point to some particular deity and say, “That one.” Let’s see if we can help him define the very idea of God, since his belief in the nonexistence of any God must have some general idea of God sufficient to encompass every possibility.

So, we ask, “What do you mean by God?”

We will doubtless need to help here by suggesting some terms: spiritual being, ultimate good, absolute truth, omniscient and omnipresent, and so forth.

This could take a while.

Let’s “skip to the end” of this part of our conversation, to what is the likely terminus ad quem of our questions and his answers. If we are patient and ask good questions, we might be able to arrive at a definition of God on which we will both be able to agree, something along these lines: God is that ultimate being, unseen, eternal, entirely good and true and right, omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent, which believers seek to know, love, worship, and serve.

We’re not talking about the God of any particular religion here, but about the idea of God, as most people would generally agree, especially those who intend to deny the existence of any God, regardless of the religion we may be discussing.

If we can get to this point, with your friend affirming something like this as the idea of God, then we can proceed fruitfully to the next step in analyzing his atheistic faith.

For reflection
1.  Why is it important that we ask those who claim to be atheists to explain what they mean by “God”?

2.  Saying one knows God does not exist, and that he believes God does not exist are two very different positions. Explain.

3.  Meditate on Romans 1.18-21 and Romans 2.14, 15. Why is it reasonable to expect that an atheist can arrive at some definition of “God”?

Next steps: How do your Christian friends talk with their atheist friends? Ask a few.

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.