How to Respond to an Atheist

By David
Published July 2, 2015

"I see no evidence for the existence of God"

This statement is often made by atheists or agnostics. They then claim that if they could observe any evidence for the existence of God, the truth of the Bible, of the resurrection of Jesus, they would re-analyze their beliefs. While on the outside it seems like a sincere and reasonable stance, if we dig down a little deeper we find that it is in fact dishonest. This dishonesty thus disqualifies them from making any judgments to the existence of God.

The natural question that follows is, "Is there evidence for the God of the Bible?" What we have to make perfectly clear here is that evidence does not equal proof. Evidence is something that is used in making a judgment. Proof is something that only exists in mathematics. 1Footnote 1
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And even mathematical proofs rely on unprovable axioms. This is the reason I went into engineering rather than pure math. Engineering corresponds to reality.

Evidences

The simplest piece of evidence for God (but may not be the most obvious) is the universe in which we live. Creation is evidence for the existence of a Creator. Just like a building is evidence of a builder and a painting is evidence of a painter, creation is evidence of a creator. A popular theory out now in the field of astrophysics is that the universe came into existence via quantum fluxuations, but there is actually very little hard scientific evidence for quantum fluxuations at all much less the idea that the universe was caused by one. 2Footnote 2
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For quantum fluxuations to occur, we need the laws of quantum mechanics to exist. For the laws of quantum mechanics to exist, we need the universe to exist. Ergo quantum fluxuations cannot create the universe.

There is also evidence for the Biblical account of the resurrection of Christ. The 12 apostles all claim to have seen Jesus after His resurrection, and they all preached this message with vigor and authority to people all over Judea. These people could have easily checked the tomb to confirm the apostles’ message. If Jesus was still buried in the tomb, the story would have easily been debunked. Also at least 11 of the 12 apostles were martyred for their belief that they had seen the resurrected Christ. If they had just stolen the body as many skeptics claim, then why would they choose to die for that lie? 3Footnote 3
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There are plenty of secular theories for the resurrection, but none of them account for all these evidences.

More evidence for the accuracy of the Bible comes from archeology. Nearly every historical account in the Bible has been questioned and assumed to be fabricated, but time and time again archeologists find evidence to corroborate the Bible’s stories. Archeologists have found steles commemorating King David and the united kingdom of Israel. There are artifacts confirming the accounts of Daniel and 1 Kings. We have even found artifacts that confirm the existence of Caiaphas, the high priest, and Pontius Pilate the Roman governor who both resided over Jesus’ trial. 4Footnote 4
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Even the dates are found to be in line with the Bible. Why does the Bible come under such unprecedented scrutiny that no other historical documents do? Just food for thought.

There are also many examples of predictive prophesy in the Bible. Isaiah prophesies that a man named Cyrus will decree for Jerusalem to rebuild the temple (Isaiah 44:28). We know that Isaiah was written over one hundred years before Cyrus became king of Persia. There is also the prophesy of the 70 weeks of Daniel (Daniel 9:14-27). Daniel prophesies that 483 years after the decree to rebuild Jerusalem, the Messiah would be killed. We know from history and careful calculations that 483 years down to the very day after Artaxerxes decrees to rebuild Jerusalem is Palm Sunday, the beginning of the Passion Week of Christ. 5Footnote 5
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Also Daniel's prophesy of Alexander the Great and his 4 successors (in Daniel 8 and 11) is so detailed that secularists have to believe that it was written after the fact rather than the agreed date in the 6th century BC.

My last piece of evidence is somewhat anecdotal but evidence nonetheless. It is the testimony of every Christian. Every believer in Jesus Christ has a story of being in opposition to God and not wanting anything to do with Him. There are many cases of atheists who profess to have not ever believed in God becoming devout Christians. People get saved and convert to Christianity every day all around the world. The Gospel of Jesus Christ has power behind it. 6Footnote 6
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For an interesting story, read about the debate between Harry Ironside and Arthur Lewis, "Agnosticism versus Christianity". It's really quite humorous.

Assessing the Evidence

As we can see there is plenty of evidence for the existence of God and the validity of His Word. And this is just scratching the surface. In the footnotes I have linked to a few articles about the subjects I've mentioned above, and there are many more that have been written that go into much more detail than I did here. If you’re an honest skeptic looking for answers please read up on a few of these; the evidence is not lacking.

There is an abundance of evidence and yet there are many skeptics who claim that they "haven’t seen any evidence for the existence of God". What does this say about them? Well, for starters it says that they are blind to the evidence.

Let’s draw a picture of a civil courtroom; a man is on trial for murder. The defendant has an alibi that checks out and several people who attest to his character that he would never murder anyone. The investigators dusted for prints and couldn't find his. The only problem is that there are two eyewitnesses that say they saw the man commit murder.

Let’s say that after hearing reasonable accounts from the witnesses the judge declares that he doesn’t see any evidence that the defendant committed murder. You’d probably say the judge is corrupt or at least crazy. This judge isn’t even considering the accounts of two eyewitnesses. The honest thing would be to say that after weighing the evidence, the evidence weighs in favor of the defendant. But for the judge to ignore the evidence against the defendant completely would cast doubt on his ability to discern truth correctly.

The same is true of atheists. There is obviously evidence for the existence of God, the truth of the Bible, and the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and this evidence must be taken into account. (Remember evidence is not proof.) An honest atheist would have to say, "After weighing the evidence for and against the existence of God, I am compelled to believe that He does not exist. I will continue to look for new evidence to expand my knowledge."

If an atheist just dismisses the evidence as folly and ignores it, you can be assured anymore evidence will also be ignored because he is not being honest. If an atheist claims that there is no evidence for the existence of God, that means his judgment is corrupt and is therefore unqualified to make judgments of that nature.

The Real Problem

The truth of the matter is that there is evidence and the atheist suppresses that evidence. Romans 1:19-20 has this to say. "That which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse."

The Bible asserts what we have already shown to be true. There is evidence for God seen in creation. Remember Creation is evidence of a Creator. Romans chapter 1 goes on to say that though these people knew God, they refused to honor Him as God and their speculations became futile. This is the mind of the staunch atheist. He experiences evidence, "for God made it evident to him." He "suppresses the truth in unrighteousness" because he does not want to believe in a God to whom he must answer. Then he masks that suppression of truth in "futile speculations" "professing to be wise he becomes a fool" (Romans 1:18-22).

The Bible explains atheism quite clearly in this passage. The atheist knows that God exists but does not want to answer to Him so he suppresses that knowledge. The problem is that the atheist is a walking contradiction. Their knowledge of God manifests itself in their lives. The atheist claims that we are all just chemicals that accidently happened to come together the way they did, that there is no purpose to the universe. They claim that all that exists is material yet they still love their families, appreciate art, and believe in logic and reason.

Without God there would be no purpose. We would just be accidents. But it goes further than that. There would be no love, no beauty no reason to believe that reason exists 7Footnote 7
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This argument is called the Transcendental Argument for the Existence of God (TAG). The argument is that logic presupposes the existence of God. If there is no ultimate source of logic, how can you know that logic is logical? . These immaterial things that no one denies exist are not known to come from the universe they must come from intelligence. Again I’m not even scratching the surface. If you don’t believe me, read some articles on these subjects.

What Will Persuade You?

If you ask an atheist what will persuade them to believe in God, they will likely say, "evidence". But we have already shown that more evidence will not persuade an atheist because he has not dealt honestly with the evidence he has already received. If he has already ignored the evidence he has, what makes you think he will honestly judge any new evidence that is brought before him?

It is usually safe to say that if an atheist says they see no evidence for God, giving them more evidence will not change their opinion. This is because he is not honestly weighing the evidences brought before him. He is instead "suppressing it in unrighteousness" (Romans 1:18). The atheist’s reaction to evidence is not a logical reaction but a spiritual one.

The reason for this can be seen in Acts 17:31, "He [God] has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead." To admit that God exists is to admit that He is sovereign over the world and will judge every man according to righteousness. This truth is scary; I can understand someone not wanting to believe it. But disbelieving in God will no more make Him go away than a disbelieving in the speed limit makes a speeding ticket go away.

Ignoring God won’t make judgment day go away, but there is a way to be absolved of guilt when God judges the world in righteousness. We have all sinned before God and His judgment is that the penalty for sin is death (Romans 6:23). But God made a way for us to be saved from that penalty. He sent His son, Jesus Christ to be born as a man, live a perfect life, then die on the cross for you and me. Jesus was fully God and fully human except He never sinned. Because of that He had no penalty for sin to pay. Yet He died anyway to pay the penalty for your sin and mine. Then he rose from the dead three days later to prove He was qualified to pay for our sins.

The fact of the matter is that the atheist is not in the judgment seat. He doesn't have the authority to determine whether God exists or not. God is in the judgment seat and we are on trial. God has already determined that we are sinners and have broken His law. He has also determined that the penalty for that sin is death in Hell. The good news is you don’t have to fear judgment from God and try to suppress His truth. If you only believe that Jesus died for your sins and rose again, you can have your sins forgiven and become a child of God. God loves the whole world, even atheists.

Footnotes

  1. Proof only exists in mathematics and even mathematical proofs rely on unprovable axioms. This is the reason I went into engineering rather than pure math. Engineering corresponds to reality.

  2. For quantum fluxuations to occur, we need the laws of quantum mechanics to exist. For the laws of quantum mechanics to exist, we need the universe to exist. Therefore quantum fluxuations cannot create the universe. They would need to be pre-existing. For more information see Quantum Fluctuations May Kill Big Bang Evangelism.

  3. There are plenty of secular theories about the resurrection, but none of them account for all these evidences. For more information see Resurrection—No Doubt About It.

  4. Even the dates are found to be in line with the Bible. Why does the Bible come under such unprecedented scrutiny that no other historical documents do? Just food for thought. For more information see Archaeological Finds.

  5. Also Daniel's prophesy of Alexander the Great and his 4 successors (in Daniel 8 and 11) is so detailed that secularists have to believe that it was written after the fact rather than the agreed date in the 6th century BC.

  6. For an interesting story, read about the debate between Harry Ironside and Arthur Lewis, "Agnosticism versus Christianity". It's really quite humorous. Transformed Lives

  7. This argument is called the Transcendental Argument for the Existence of God (TAG). The argument is that logic presupposes the existence of God. If there is no ultimate source of logic, how can you know that logic is logical? A similar argument can be seen here. Proof That God Exists