DeeGeesLifeBlog ~ Life as Art ~ Or is it Heart?

Faith & Bible vs atheism/perfidy/doubt. A true danger becomes an irrelevant God…

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness; Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. ~ Romans 1: 18-19

Robert Arvay, American Thinker: I am not an atheist, nor even an agnostic. Keep that in mind, because I am not saying the Bible promotes atheism. Quite the opposite, of course — but there is a passage in the Bible that helps us Jews and Christians to understand why some people are atheist/agnostic and why we cannot persuade them otherwise. The reason may humble us.

From 1 Corinthians 2:14 (King James Version): [But] the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

This passage rebukes atheism, but it also reveals to us the central difference between those of us who believe in God and those who do not. We are given no reason to hold ourselves above atheists, for we are not the authors of our own faith. We are, instead, the recipients of a free gift, having done nothing to earn it.

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Faith & Bible vs atheism/perfidy/doubt… Nation in distress: help wanted fast…

Yours Truly: Reason alone is sufficient to come to knowledge of the existence of God. Within the Book of Romans the Bible asserts this: “So they are without excuse… For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen…” A man does not have to be spiritual to know that God exists. Nor does he need scientific ‘proof’. Many of the most important things a man does are done without proof of the outcome he desires. The Word has survived many rewrights, yet is still the Word!

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Robert Arvay: There may seem to be, at first, every reason to reject spiritual faith in God and to accept a purely material (i.e., natural) explanation of reality. Indeed, many a believer in God experiences doubt when confronted by the vast array of influences from physical science. Only when we further investigate the core of materialist science do we find at its center emptiness and futility. Bear in mind that this is not a condemnation of science, but rather a rejection of the unscientific philosophy that underpins the beliefs of many modern scientists. That philosophy avers that the only explanation for physical reality is … well, physical reality.

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Yours Truly: Then there’s the position which begs the question: “natural truths”, but defined how? And self-evident to whom? Because a lot of people say a lot of different things about the “natural state” of humanity. Appealing to some objective truths as simply “being out there” and “natural” does little more than make the self God. That doesn’t mean we cannot hold some simple natural truths as self evident, but surely the existence of creation itself is prima facie evidence of the existence of our Creator.

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Robert Arvay: That circular philosophy makes no mention of right or wrong, of good or evil, or of the inherent worth of humankind. It leaves no room for our spiritual nature. Indeed, it is at a loss to explain the most obvious scientific evidence of our nonphysical nature, our consciousness, which is the only observed phenomenon that observes itself. Finally, in rejecting the independent agency of the human soul – that is, free will – physical science abandons all notions of personal accountability. Such a philosophy offers nothing useful.

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Yours Truly: Atheism requires an immense level of hubris and ego to accept its inherent assumptions. Atheists may not think of it but it requires the belief that the atheist completely and totally understands every fact and mystery in the entire universe and knows for a fact that God does not exist. I always appreciate the irony of one of them mocking believers with their cute little “old man in the sky” and various other jibes in light of the incredible whopper they’ve swallowed. I AM who I AM !

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Robert Arvay: As for accountability, the atheist cannot say the devil made me do it; he says instead that nature made him do it. Indeed, according to him, everything you think, do, and say is forced upon you by the unknowing, uncaring, and blind forces of nature. In that paradigm, nothing is ever anyone’s fault, nor is there any virtue in doing right. The atheist says there is no purpose in our existence unless we imagine one, but that sort of imagination is not purpose; it is illusion.

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Faith & Bible vs atheism/perfidy/doubt while battling the government ‘irrelevancy’ of God..

Yours Truly: SCOTUS found atheism to be “equivalent to religion” for legal purposes (primarily First Amendment rights). Not at all the same thing as declaring it to be an actual religion. This is the Achilles heel of teaching atheism in schools. If Christians are prohibited from practicing their faith in schools so should atheists. They also ruled that atheism has the same tax rights as other established religions. The DOD now provides atheist grave markers for veterans. In other words, the government treats atheism like another religion.

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Robert Arvay: While one cannot proceed by logical steps from atheism to faith in God, one can, instead, if beginning with faith, explain the place of physical science in the spiritual life of man.

As Bishop Fulton J Sheen wrote: The great arcana of Divine Mysteries cannot be known by reason, but only by Revelation. Reason can however, once in possession of these truths, offer persuasions to show that they are not only not contrary to reason, or destructive of nature, but eminently suited to a scientific temper of mind and the perfection of all that is best in human nature.

We cannot, then, persuade the atheist. Only God can do that. What we can do, however, is to stand fast in our faith and not let it be taken from us, neither by force nor by guile. [end]

For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. ~ Romans 2: 20-21

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• Robert Arvay, American Thinker: Atheism, the Bible, and doubt…

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Soli Deo Gloria!