Error of an Atheist

Written By: Timothy Fish Published: 2/27/2007

Sometimes I admire atheists like Wayne Adkins. He is a fool, but it is a lot of work for an atheist to make a compelling argument. A Christian gets up in the morning, hears the birds singing, the breeze blowing and sees the sun shining and says, “there must be a God.” A Christian looks as how the creation works and concludes, “there must be a God.” An atheist most ignore these things and focus on perceived problems with biblical doctrine. An atheist looks at the Bible, finds something that looks like it conflicts with another part of the Bible and says, “it can’t be inspired.” A Christian looks at the same Bible, sees hundreds of predictions, sees how the predictions came true and concludes “there must be a God.” If that wasn’t enough, a Christian has a community of believers to back him up. A Christian has the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. A Christian knows the difference between the way his life was and the way it is now. Even in times of persecution, it is easy for a Christian to believe because there is always that God given inner strength.

An atheist doesn’t have that. Sure an atheist may have some friends that will back him up. His family may support him. He may even have a panel of scientists to back him up, but he really has nothing for which to live. What good will it do him if he lives his whole life and changes the world? “For what shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” (Mark 8:36)

One of the things that I admire about Wayne Adkins is that he usually goes to a lot of trouble to think through his arguments. I suspect this is because the opposition is so strong. It is not a light thing to take a stand against God. I have noticed that some Christians do not take the time to know why they believe what they believe. Some of them have been taught from the time that they were children that they should believe a certain way and they never really take the time to learn for themselves. I wish more Christians would study the Bible and learn why it is that we believe what we believe.

Ironically, Adkins believes that if more Christians would study the Bible, they would not be Christians. He believes that what we are taught is the primary reason we believe the way we do. On his website he states, “It’s not that the argument for Islam is any more compelling in Iraq than it is in Alabama. It’s just that we are, to a great extent, products of our environments.” What he is missing is that the argument for Islam in Iraq is a great deal more compelling in Iraq then it is in Alabama. The argument for Islam in Iraq is “become Muslim or I’ll kill you.” In Alabama it is, “you can be Muslim if you want.” He is also missing the fact that Christianity thrives during periods of persecution. Things are not great for Christians even now, but when the doors of Iraq opened to allow Christians to worship, we didn’t have to look far before we found Christians who are already there. That can’t be explained away as the product of their environment.

Adkins states that it bothers him that someday someone will tell his Christian that they are on their way to hell. The truth is that not telling them will not change the fact that if they do not accept Jesus as their savior they will be subjected to hell’s fires. It is very sad. It is especially sad because Adkins knows the truth and he will without that truth from them. He will probably tell them all kinds of things about why the Bible is inaccurate and will fail to show them that the probability that the Bible is true far exceeds the probability that the world came together by chance. But there is hope. Children of lost parents are often saved. Children of atheists have been known to go a different path than their parents. By the grace of God, Wayne Adkins is wrong and we do have a choice when it comes to what we believe. I hope that his children will believe the truth.