I Don't Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist (65 page)

You say, “God doesn’t send anyone to hell!” You’re right. If you reject Christ, you’ll send yourself there.

You say, “God will just annihilate those who don’t believe.” No, he won’t. Hell is real. In fact, Jesus spoke more of hell then he did of heaven. God will not annihilate unbelievers because he will not destroy creatures made in his own image. That would be an attack on himself. (What would you think of an earthly father who killed his son just because his son chose not to do what his father wanted him to do?) God is too loving to destroy those who don’t want to be in his presence. His only choice is to quarantine those who reject him. That’s what hell does—it quarantines evil, which is contagious.

You say, “God will save everybody!” How? Against their will? Some people would rather be ruined than changed. They’d rather continue their rebellion than be reformed. So God says, “Have it your way. You may continue your rebellion, but you’ll be quarantined so that you can’t pollute the rest of my creation.” Besides, it would be unloving of God to send people who can’t bear to spend an hour on Sunday praising him to a place where they will be praising him for eternity. That would be “hell” to them!

You say, “I can’t believe there is only one way to God.” Why not? Do you need more than one way to get into a building? Do you bring this charge against Muslims for saying that Islam is the only way? How about Hindus? They say reincarnation is the only way to salvation. We have shown philosophically and biblically that Jesus is the only way to reconcile infinite justice and infinite love. If that’s not true, then God sent Jesus to die a brutal death for nothing.

You say, “But what about those who have never heard?” Why should that affect
your
decision? You
have
heard!

“Because I can’t believe in a God who would torture people in hell just because they haven’t heard of Jesus.” Who said God does this? First, God doesn’t torture anyone. Hell is not a place of externally inflicted torture, but a place of self-inflicted
torment
(Luke 16:23, 28)
.
Those in hell certainly don’t want it, but they
will
it. Hell is a terrible place, but its doors are locked on the
inside.
Second, people may choose hell whether or not they’ve heard of Jesus. Everyone knows of God because of the starry heavens above and the Moral Law within (Rom 1:18-20; 2:1415). Those who reject that natural revelation will reject Jesus too. However, those that truly seek God will be rewarded (Heb. 11:6). Since God wants everyone to be saved (even more than you do—2 Pet. 3:9), he will ensure that seekers get the information they need. And since God is just (Gen. 18:25; Ps. 9:8; Rom. 3:26), no one will go to hell who should go to heaven, and vice versa. “In the meantime,” as C. S. Lewis said, “if you are worried about people on the outside, the most unreasonable thing you can do is to remain outside yourself. Christians are Christ’s body, the organism through which he works. Every addition to that body enables Him to do more. If you want to help those outside, you must add your own little cell to the body of Christ who alone can help them. Cutting off a man’s fingers would be an odd way of getting him to do more work.”
⁶

You say, “You Christians just want to scare people with hell!” No, we just want people to know the truth. If that scares them, maybe it should. We certainly don’t like what the Bible says about hell. We wish it weren’t true. But Jesus, who is God, taught it, and for good reason. It seems to be necessary. Without a hell, injustices in this world would never be righted, the free choices of people would not be respected, and the greater good of a redemption could never be accomplished. If there is no heaven to seek and no hell to shun, then nothing in this universe has any ultimate meaning: your choices, your pleasures, your sufferings, the lives of you and your loved ones ultimately mean nothing. We struggle through this life for no ultimate reason, and Christ died for nothing. Without heaven and hell, this incredibly designed universe is a stairway to nowhere.

“So what?” says the atheist. “Maybe this universe
is
a stairway to nowhere. Just because you want life to have meaning doesn’t mean it does.” True. But we don’t just
want
life to have meaning—we have
evidence
that it has meaning.
⁷

We end with the greatest news anyone could ever hear. Your choices do matter. Your life does have ultimate meaning. And thanks to Christ, no one has to experience hell. Every human being can accept his free gift of eternal salvation. It takes no effort at all. Does it take some faith? Yes, but every choice—even the choice to reject Christ—requires faith. Since the evidence shows beyond a reasonable doubt that the Bible is true, accepting Christ is the choice that requires the
least
amount of faith. The choice is up to you. Do you have enough faith to believe anything else?

You say, “I still have doubts and questions.” So what? We do too. Everyone has doubts and questions. And why shouldn’t we? As finite creatures, we shouldn’t expect to understand everything about an infi- nite God and how he does things. Paul certainly didn’t (Rom. 11:33-36), and many of the Old Testament writers expressed doubts and even questioned God.
⁸
But since we are finite creatures who must make our decisions based on probability, there has to be a point where we realize that the weight of the evidence comes down on one side or the other. We’ll never have
all
the answers. But as we have seen throughout this book, there are more than enough answers to give God the benefit of our doubts.

Finally, have you ever thought about questioning your doubts? Just ask yourself, “Is it reasonable to doubt that Christianity is true in light of all the evidence?” Probably not. In fact,
in light of the evidence, you
ought to have a lot more doubts about atheism and every other non
Christian belief system.
They are not reasonable. Christianity is. So start doubting your doubts and accept Christ.
It takes too much faith to
believe anything else!

Appendix 1:

If God, Why Evil?

Atheist: If there really is an all-good, all-powerful, theistic God, then why does he allow evil?

Christian: How do you know what evil is unless you know what good is? And how do you know what good is unless there is an objective standard of good beyond yourself?

Atheist: Don’t try to avoid the question.

Christian: I’m not trying to avoid the question. I’m simply showing you that your complaint presupposes that God exists. In fact, the existence of evil doesn’t disprove God. It may prove that there is a devil, but it doesn’t prove that there’s no God.

Atheist: Interesting move, but I’m not convinced.

Christian: You may not be convinced, but your complaint still presupposes God.

Atheist: For the sake of argument, suppose I grant you that God exists. Will you then answer the question?

Christian: Sure. It’s good to see you’re making progress.

Atheist: Remember, it’s just for the sake of argument. So why doesn’t your so-called “all-powerful” God stop evil?

Christian: Do you really want him to?

Atheist: Of course!

Christian: Suppose he starts with you?

Atheist: Be serious.

Christian: No, really. We always talk about God stopping evil, but we forget that if he did, he would have to stop us too. We all do evil.

Atheist: Oh, come on! We’re not talking about the minor sins of you and me—but we’re talking about real evil, like what Hitler did!

Christian: My point is not the degree of evil, but the source of evil. The source of evil is our free choice. If God were to do away with evil, then he would have to do away with free choice. And if he did away with our free choice, we would no longer have the ability to love or do good. This would no longer be a moral world.

Atheist: But not all evil is due to free choice. Why do babies die? Why do natural disasters occur?

Christian: The Bible traces it all back to the fall of man. No one is really innocent because we all sinned in Adam (Rom. 5:12) and as a consequence deserve death (Rom. 6:23). Natural disasters and premature deaths are a direct result of the curse on creation because of the fall of humankind (Genesis 3; Romans 8). This fallen world will not be righted until Christ returns (Revelation 21–22). So no one is guaranteed a trouble-free life, or a full life of seventy years.

Atheist: Oh, isn’t that convenient—dust off the Bible and tell us that God will make it right in the end! I’m not interested in the future. I want pain and suffering to end now! Why won’t God end it?

Christian: He will end it, but just not on your timetable. Just because God hasn’t ended evil
yet
doesn’t mean that he never will end it.

Atheist: But why doesn’t Christ return right now to end all this pain? The sum of human pain is enormous!

Christian: First, no one is experiencing the “sum of human pain.” If it’s 80 degrees in Manhattan, 85 degrees in Brooklyn, and 80 degrees in Queens, does any New Yorker experience a heat of 245 degrees?

Atheist: No.

Christian: That’s right. Each person experiences his own pain.

Atheist: But that still doesn’t tell me why God doesn’t end it all now. Why is he waiting?

Christian: If God wanted to end evil now, he could. But have you thought that maybe God has other goals that he would like to accomplish while evil exists?

Atheist: Like what?

Christian: For starters, he would like to have more people choose heaven before he closes the curtain on this world. Paul seems to indicate that Jesus will come back after “the full number”

of people become believers (Rom. 11:25).

Atheist: Well, while God is waiting for the “full number” of people to be saved, other people are hurting!

Christian: Yes, they are. And that means Christians have a job to do. We have the privilege of helping those who are hurting. We are ambassadors for Christ here on earth.

Atheist: That’s nice, but if I were suffering I’d rather have
God
help me than you!

Christian: If God prevented pain every time we got into trouble, then we would become the most reckless, self-centered creatures in the universe. And we would never learn from suffering.

Atheist: Learn from suffering! What are you talking about?

Christian: Ah, you’ve just hit on another reason why God doesn’t end evil right now. Can you name me one enduring lesson that you ever learned from pleasure?

Atheist: Give me a minute.

Christian: I could give you an hour; I doubt that you would come up with much. If you think about it, you’ll find that virtually every valuable lesson you’ve ever learned resulted from some hardship in your life. In most cases, bad fortune teaches while good fortune deceives. In fact, you not only learn lessons from suffering, but it’s practically the only way you can develop virtues.

Atheist: What do you mean?

Christian: You can’t develop courage unless there is danger. You can’t develop perseverance unless you have obstacles in your way. You won’t learn how to be a servant unless there’s someone to serve. And compassion would never be summoned if there were never anyone in pain or in need. It’s the old adage: “no pain, no gain.”

Atheist: But I wouldn’t need all those virtues if God would just quarantine evil right now!

Christian: But since God has reasons for not quarantining evil right now, you need to develop virtues for this life and the life hereafter. This earth is an uncomfortable home, but it’s a great gymnasium for the hereafter.

Atheist: You Christians always punt to the hereafter. You’re so heavenly minded that you’re no earthly good!

Christian: We may be heavenly minded, but we know that what we do on earth matters in eternity. Virtues that a believer develops through suffering will enhance his capacity to enjoy eternity.

Paul says that “our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all” (2 Cor. 4:17; cf. Rom. 8:18).

Atheist: How is hardship here going to help me feel better in a place where there’s not going to be any pain anyway?

Christian: You like football, don’t you?

Atheist: I’ve watched a few games.

Christian: How does every player on the Super Bowl–winning team feel after the game?

Atheist: Great, of course!

Christian: Does the captain of the winning team—who also won the MVP trophy—enjoy the victory more than the third-string quarterback who didn’t play a down all year?

Atheist: I suppose so.

Christian: Of course he does. While the third-string quarterback is happy to be on the winning team, the victory is much sweeter for the captain who won the MVP trophy because he contributed to the win and persevered through the entire year to get there. By persisting through all the hardships and pains of playing, he actually enhanced his capacity to enjoy the victory. And it’s made even sweeter by the MVP trophy.

Atheist: What does football have to do with heaven?

Christian: Heaven will be like the winning locker room (but without the smell!). We’ll all be happy to be there, but some will have a greater ability to enjoy it and have more rewards than others.

Christian: After all, God’s justice demands that there will be degrees of rewards in heaven just like there will be degrees of punishment in hell.

Atheist: So you’re saying life is like a Super Bowl?

Christian: To a certain extent, yes. Like a Super Bowl, life has rules, a referee, and rewards. But in life there are no spectators—everyone is in the game—and we already know who will win. Christ will win, and anyone, regardless of ability, can be a winner simply by joining the team. While everyone on the team will enjoy the victory parade, some will appreciate it even more because of the hardships they experienced during the game and the rewards they receive for playing it well. In other words, the feeling of victory is greater the more intense the battle is.

Atheist: So you’re saying that evil has a purpose that has implications in eternity.