Floyd Rogers

Finding faith or accepting it?

Reading atheist articles and listening to the lectures of atheist apostles like Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens may seem like an odd thing for a Christian to do, but I do it quite often. Not because I have doubt in my faith, but because I find it makes me dig into the scripture with questions I might not otherwise have asked. I find it also makes it easier to answer questions posed by those seeking truth about God who are held back by their own intellect clouded by the mischaracterizing of Christianity by those who hate all religion.

I read an article from one atheist writer who critiqued the musings of the two atheists I’ve mentioned above saying both were bigoted and ignorant and possessed the very qualities they deplored in religion. He said they lacked open-mildness and were dogmatic, and had no evidence for their claim that there is no God. While he made it clear he is still an atheist, even referring to belief in God as ‘silly,’  it was refreshing to see an apparent open-mindedness on “the other side,” so to speak. By the way, I’m not insinuating he’s the only open-minded atheist, only that it’s not atheists like him who are often quoted. And hopefully, he will come to know our savior and accept His gift one day. But why are some atheists, as he pointed out, so dogmatic in their non-belief?

I think the problem most hard-core atheists have stems from the false idea that any knowledge reached by anything other than reasoning and our ability to comprehend, is of no value. I say this based on atheist writings I’ve read. This position rejects the idea of faith given to us as a Gift from God, not of our own ability so that no one can boast. And it does so without first demonstrating that there is no God to give us such a gift. While accusing Christians of leaning on faith (and we do lean on Biblical faith) Atheists often lean on atheist faith that requires one to pre-suppose there is no God.

I believe a saving faith doesn’t come from our own effort to find God, it starts when we stop resisting His call.

What are your thoughts?