The intro to a dc Talk song named "What if I Stumble" came to mind, it says:
"The greatest single cause of atheism in the world today is Christians, who acknowledge Jesus with their lips, then walk out the door and deny him by their lifestyle. That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable.”
I thought about that as well, and came to the conclusion that it may be possible that some people will turn from God and refuse to believe in Him because they see Christians being hypocrites. However, as a Christian, I see hypocrites in Christianity all the time but that doesn’t sway me.
Why? Because my relationship with Jesus is not determined by other Christians mistakes or hypocritical actions. I personally think that denying Jesus or the lack of believing in God is not due to the hypocrisy in Christianity but is in fact an excuse to keep on living a life apart from God.
This brought me to the core issue. The core issue is not the actions of hypocrites in Christianity. The real core issue is the lack of faith. Well, how can a person, who does not believe in God, gain faith? Paul says that “faith comes from hearing, that is, hearing the Good News about Christ (Rom. 10:17).” On the other hand, does simply hearing the gospel message being preached allow a nonbeliever to gain faith?
No, not everyone will welcome the gospel message (Rom. 10:16). Why? I believe it is because they refuse to listen because their hearts are hardened. In other words, they blame God for things that go wrong in their lives. They may hear Billy Graham preach the good news, but it just goes in one ear and out the other, so to speak.
Why? There are many reasons. They may be angry at God, or angry at a Christian(s) who have done them wrong. Maybe they used to be in a church that the people there were cruel or demeaning to them. It’s possible that a pastor abused his authority and treated some people better than others. Maybe they grew up in a Christian home but were forced to go to church and didn’t like it and they are angry at their parents. Whatever the reason, people reject God or refuse to believe in Him in many ways.
Jesus said that many people will hear the gospel message but they will not listen to it. In Matthew 13, Jesus told the story of the farmer who sowed seeds. In verse 4, Jesus said, “As he [the farmer] scattered them across his field, some seeds fell on a footpath, and the birds came and ate them.”
The explanation of this is given in Matthew 13:19 which states, “The seed that fell on the footpath represents those who hear the message about the Kingdom and don’t understand it. Then the evil one comes and snatches away the seed that was planted in their hearts.” Well, my question is why do they not understand it?
I believe the reason that atheists do not understand, receive or believe in God is because they have been deceived by “the evil one.” They have believed the lie of evolution as their explanation of origins, thus God is not a necessity nor is he real to them.
I had an illustration came to my mind of an atheist standing next to a Christian on Judgment Day in front of God. There was nothing different about the atheist except that he doesn’t have any ears on his head and he was sad. The Christian however, does have ears and is very happy. In this case, the atheist did not have ears to hear, so to speak.
The parables Jesus used to describe, illustrate or explain what He was trying to convey were not understood by some people in His day. Why?
In Matthew 13:12-15 Jesus said:
“To those who listen to my teaching, more understanding will be given, and they will have an abundance of knowledge. But for those who are not listening, even what little understanding they have will be taken away from them. That is why I use these parables, For they look, but they don’t really see. They hear, but they don’t really listen or understand. This fulfills the prophecy of Isaiah that says, ‘When you hear what I say, you will not understand. When you see what I do, you will not comprehend. For the hearts of these people are hardened, and their ears cannot hear, and they have closed their eyes— so their eyes cannot see, and their ears cannot hear, and their hearts cannot understand, and they cannot turn to me and let me heal them.’”
I believe that today’s atheists are those people who do not believe because “the hearts of these people are hardened, and their ears cannot hear, and they have closed their eyes.” They ignore God and believe that everything is solved or understood by logical means such as science, evolution and majority opinion.
These people have closed their hearts to receive the love of God through the good news of Jesus Christ and have relied upon what they know instead of what God wants them to know about Him.
We cannot force people to believe in God, love does not force itself on anyone. We cannot intellectually persuade anyone that God is real, although we should try. However, we can tell them that God loves them and has a great plan for their lives.
I can only ask that if you are a Christian and you know a person who does not believe in God, pray on the behalf of that person and ask God to open up the opportunity to soften their heart in order to receive the good news of Christ so that they will understand the message of salvation (which is love and eternal life) and come to believe in God and who the person of Jesus Christ is.
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