Basically all of us understand the meaning of the term atheist. Atheism is the belief that there is no God. This belief system is tragic for many reasons, such as the devaluing of human life. If the God of the Bible exists, then mankind is endowed with imeasurable value. This is because we are created in the image of God. So important is our bearing the image of God that God told Noah, "Surely for your lifeblood I will demand a reckoning; from the hand of every beast I will require it, and from the hand of man. From the hand of every man's brother I will require the life of man. Whoever sheds man's blood, by man his blood shall be shed; for in the image of God He made man" (Gen. 9:5-6).
The fruits of atheism are quite clear in cases where people take their atheism to its logical ends and act like animals as they treat other human beings as animals. For instance, in April of 1999 Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold killed 13 fellow high school students at Columbine High School in Colorado before taking their own lives. Everyone is aware of this, however, there was little to no coverage of their motives. Both of these teens made comments in video recordings that they were "helping out the process of natural selection" and that "they had evolved to a higher level than their classmates." Harris wore a shirt the day of the carnage that said "Natural Selection" on the front of it. The truth is they carried their atheism to its logical ends and eliminated many whom they viewed as "the weak" who needed to be eliminated so humanity could further evolve. Worse than that, if there is no God, then no one has any objective right to say that such treatment of human beings is actually morally wrong. They may dislike it, but morality depends on God.
This is one of the most tragic examples of the dangers of wrong beliefs. Worse than the physical death of the victims of this heinous crime is the reality of eternal punishment for Harris and Klebold, along with all others who reject faith in God (Heb. 11:6; 2 Thess. 1:7-9). It is easy for us to look at such things and know it is a work of the devil. However, we must be on our guard about a much more subtle snare of the devil, practical atheism.
A practical atheist is one who believes in God but acts as if their isn't one. We see this over and over again as people profess to believe in God, or even claim to love Him while living lives that are not in agreement with His will. So prevalent is this issue that it furnishes a ready made excuse for many unbelievers to dismiss Christianity out of hand. They will have to answer for throwing the baby out with the bath water, but we all will give an answer for the things we have done (Rom. 2:5-11; 2 Cor. 5:10). As Paul told the Jewish Christians in Rome, "You who make your boast in the law, do you dishonor God by breaking the law? For 'the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you,' as it is written" (Rom. 2:23-24).
Jesus said quite plainly, "If you love Me, keep My commandments" (Jn. 14:15), and again, "You are My friends if yo do whatever I command you" (Jn. 15:14). This is why simply confessing that Jesus is the Christ is insufficient to please the Lord. It is so true that the greatest sermon is not what one says but what one does. We all know the words of David in Psalms 14: "The fool has said in his heart, there is no God." We apply this rightly to the atheist. What we often overlook is that the words "there is" are in italics in most translations. This means those words were not in the original. So, the literal reading is, "The fool has said in his heart, no God." Thus, we must be on guard that our actions do not say "no God" while our words claim to believe in Him. Let us avoid practical atheism.
The fruits of atheism are quite clear in cases where people take their atheism to its logical ends and act like animals as they treat other human beings as animals. For instance, in April of 1999 Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold killed 13 fellow high school students at Columbine High School in Colorado before taking their own lives. Everyone is aware of this, however, there was little to no coverage of their motives. Both of these teens made comments in video recordings that they were "helping out the process of natural selection" and that "they had evolved to a higher level than their classmates." Harris wore a shirt the day of the carnage that said "Natural Selection" on the front of it. The truth is they carried their atheism to its logical ends and eliminated many whom they viewed as "the weak" who needed to be eliminated so humanity could further evolve. Worse than that, if there is no God, then no one has any objective right to say that such treatment of human beings is actually morally wrong. They may dislike it, but morality depends on God.
This is one of the most tragic examples of the dangers of wrong beliefs. Worse than the physical death of the victims of this heinous crime is the reality of eternal punishment for Harris and Klebold, along with all others who reject faith in God (Heb. 11:6; 2 Thess. 1:7-9). It is easy for us to look at such things and know it is a work of the devil. However, we must be on our guard about a much more subtle snare of the devil, practical atheism.
A practical atheist is one who believes in God but acts as if their isn't one. We see this over and over again as people profess to believe in God, or even claim to love Him while living lives that are not in agreement with His will. So prevalent is this issue that it furnishes a ready made excuse for many unbelievers to dismiss Christianity out of hand. They will have to answer for throwing the baby out with the bath water, but we all will give an answer for the things we have done (Rom. 2:5-11; 2 Cor. 5:10). As Paul told the Jewish Christians in Rome, "You who make your boast in the law, do you dishonor God by breaking the law? For 'the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you,' as it is written" (Rom. 2:23-24).
Jesus said quite plainly, "If you love Me, keep My commandments" (Jn. 14:15), and again, "You are My friends if yo do whatever I command you" (Jn. 15:14). This is why simply confessing that Jesus is the Christ is insufficient to please the Lord. It is so true that the greatest sermon is not what one says but what one does. We all know the words of David in Psalms 14: "The fool has said in his heart, there is no God." We apply this rightly to the atheist. What we often overlook is that the words "there is" are in italics in most translations. This means those words were not in the original. So, the literal reading is, "The fool has said in his heart, no God." Thus, we must be on guard that our actions do not say "no God" while our words claim to believe in Him. Let us avoid practical atheism.