“The fool has said in his heart, ‘There is no God.” – Psalm 14:1
In my 30s I spent a few days in the hospital. The doctor came to my room and said, “When you see the wonders of the kidney, it is hard to imagine that anyone doesn’t believe in God.” As life when on, I understood that more and more.
Unfortunately, ours is an age when more and more Americans are believing less and less in God. A recent Gallup poll found that 81% of Americans said yes to the simple question, “Do you believe in God?” This was down from 87% in 2017. In 1944, that number was 96%.
As I reflected on these sad statics I pondered why people do not believe in God. I came up with several reasons.
1. Misunderstanding the bible. Those who do not know the meaning of the words that God said will attribute all kinds of things to him. They make him so absurd that they simply cannot believe in God. They think God promotes slavery, child cruelty, or even war. One atheist told me that the wars fought God’s named killed more people in the 20th century than anything else. As the old saying goes, “Ignorant is bliss.” They do not know the history of the world, or the word of God.
2. Some do not believe because they confuse the religion of a man with the existence of God. If a man does evil, that does not mean that God is not real.
3. Personal failure. Some experience moral or personal failures in their own lives and deny God rather than accept accountability for their behavior. Hey! If God doesn’t exist, then I don’t have to worry about answering to him.
4. Failure to study the evidence. Thousands of brilliant people have dedicated their lives to studying the evidence for the existence of God. There are many wonderful arguments for God’s existence, but many simply deny him without studying the evidence. No question in anyone’s life is more important than “is there a God.” Take time to study the question.
5. Feeling-based faith. It is dangerous to claim to believe that God is real, simply because you feel him in your heart. Feelings change, but God does not.
6 The dumbest reason of all to reject belief in God is that you cannot “see” him. Adam and Eve knew God personally, but they rejected God’s authority in their lives. Two thousand years ago, the Jews saw God’s son and they crucified him. Seeing is not always believing.
This is a very short list of why people claim to be atheists. If you ever struggle with this question, it is not a shame. It is a call for you to “Study to show yourself approved unto God.”
Lonnie Davis