If there is no God why are we talking about him?
From time to time I am approached at the Cross by usually younger men who are what I would call evangelical atheists. That is to say they believe in the non-existence of God so fervently that they want to convince everyone else that there is no god. They invariably come well discipled in the Gospel according to Richard Dawkins.
They invariably start by listing all the bad things about God, at which point, the first time, I was confused. If there is no God why are we talking about him?
The Gospel according to Richard Dawkins
The Gospel of R D does not preach from an atheistic basis of why and how everything that exists, came from nothing with an inbuilt urge to become something! Using the tenet of “survival of the fittest” it can explain fear, ambition, jealousy, greed, anger, violence, etc. but hardly begins to to explain the development of our intellect and creativity, art, music, our emotions, love and compassion, or our desire for spirituality and it seems the inate awareness that there is a god or gods.
Once you get into proper discussion it becomes very evident that the real core message of atheism is “we know God exists, he just isn’t very nice“! To someone who has found life a massive disappointment that is a very attractive propostion. One only has to listen to Stephen Fry to pick up on that sentiment and train of thought. (See note 1 below). In fact I have had maybe two or three who, claiming to be “satanists” have said exactly that to my face.
For me the real tragedy of atheism is that it literally is a worldview without a soul. There is no hope or future for the individual, just a sad inevitable decline towards death. This life is it. It’s all you get. Use it or lose it, it will soon be over. You are just a very intelligent ape born into a universe that has no interest in you. The best you can hope for is to leave behind you offspring who may hold you in high regard and perhaps some achievement that makes it to the history books.
The Gospel of Jesus Christ is the complete antithesis of this.
Yes it starts from a bleak view of mankind as fallen, almost irrevocably damaged, destined to be eternally lost. There has to be a sense of emptiness and void without God. But that is overturned and overwhelmed by the LOVE of the very one who created you, stepping in to turn that on its head and make you a Child of God, redeemed, forgiven, cleansed and given a Hope and a Future both here and in the hereafter.