Editor’s Note: This is part 3 of a 4-part article. See More Money, More Problems: Millennials Can Find Happiness in God
Back to the Facebook comments: After addressing each issue and concern with God and Christianity in these Facebook conversations with my non-believing brothers (no sisters were present), I made two points that no one could adequately respond to, and both are from the Bible. The first is that if you do not allow for the possibility of revelation as a way of attaining truth, you will never receive it, and you will never know God. You are too proud to humble yourself to something bigger than yourself, and you want to be your own god, which the Bible says is the default state of the human heart.
The apostle Paul summarizes the second point: “Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?” (1 Corinthians 1:20). All philosophizing against the existence of God is in vain. Try it, and you will eventually oppose yourself. Someone who denies God is like a child slapping his father on the face, only able to do so because he is sitting on his father’s lap in the first place.
The new atheists, such as Harris, Dawkins, and Hitchens, a very vocal minority, bring 16th and 17th century arguments to the table, and nothing new other than a cynical and condescending attitude. While they may be great scientists, they have a second-rate understanding of philosophy. Sure, there are some good philosophers who don’t believe in God, and if they live according to their philosophy, they are probably not people you would look to and say, “How inspiring!” If you are a happy atheist, I am both happy and sad for you because you fail to see that you are using borrowed capital from another worldview in order to be happy, that God exists and life has meaning, and you therefore are not living consistently with what you claim to believe.
What we must make very real to us is the fact that all people, including leading philosophers, scientists, and evolutionary biologists, have a gigantic incentive not to believe in God in the name of individual autonomy, so they refuse to see the truth even though it is plainly in front of their eyes and in their hearts. Of the philosophers who determined there was no God, Paul said, “Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools” (Romans 1:22). And for every smart atheist philosopher you can find a smart Christian philosopher. It is not an issue of intellect, so let’s just drop that issue now.
When you start with a premise (“All the truth we can know can be attained through the scientific method” or “there is no supernatural”), all of your reasoning proceeds from that premise. If you deny God or demand physical proof, God will never find you because you won’t let Him. Some of us prefer it that way, and so you have people who live with integrity in every other area of their lives lacking it severely in the one area that matters most.
The current existential angst the millennials face is just a preview of what is to come if we continue to deny God. It is time for our generation to stop shrinking back in cowardice and hiding from our God, and instead to seriously face the most important issues we face as mankind: What is wrong with our world, how we know something is wrong, and our inevitable departure from this world as we march toward our graves.
Check out the resources listed at the bottom of this article. They will put you on a path to answer your most precious concerns, and eventually discover the God who will save you, and save our generation from its despair if we can so humble ourselves and let Him.
Resources
The Reason for God by Tim Keller
If you only read one of these books, make it this one. Addresses the 7 most common objections to Christianity, then dedicates 7 chapters to the truth of Christianity. Written specifically for skeptical New Yorkers, with gentleness and a very respectful tone.
More Than a Carpenter by Josh McDowell
A great summary of the historical evidence for the truth of Christianity. Very short. Less than $5 on your Kindle.
Jesus Under Fire, edited by Michael Wilkins and J.P. Moreland
A collection of scholarly articles written by leading New Testament scholars testifying to the truth of Christianity.
This is a blog I just started. Yes, shameless plug. Check it out.
