Atheism’s Hopelessness

Bertrand Russell, one of the most famous of atheists, once wrote that the foundation of atheism is “unyielding despair.” Another atheist, Richard Dawkins is reported to have said, the “universe is bleak, cold and empty; but so what?”

It is hard for me to imagine a belief system with hopelessness at its core. There is no God from whom we originate, there is no God to comfort us when we suffer, there is no God to whom we are accountable, there is no God to greet us when we die.

Any semblance of morality would be dependent upon an “assumed goodness in mankind.” But history suggests the opposite.

Christian faith offers a much different picture than any other world view. There is a God who created everything. Man chose sin and death. God set in motion a plan of redemption that ultimately involved God invading history as a man named Jesus. He was born, He lived without sin, He died in place of all sinners, He rose from the dead to be Savior, He is coming again to establish His kingdom in a new earth at the end of the ages. Believe it or not, that is the story of the Bible.

That is why the story of Christmas brings great hope into a dark and bleak world. The angel announced, “Behold I bring you Good News of a Great Joy which is for all people. Unto you is born a Savior.”

The other day I wrote a blog about atheism. Someone responded that like any other religious faith, it is a belief system. I am grateful that my belief system has hope, not hopelessness at its foundation. But for me, my faith is built upon more than simply belief.

The Arrogance of Atheism

In my humble, but firmly held opinion, atheism is arrogant. Pure atheism requires absolute knowledge, unless we define it as faith and not knowledge. To say that I know for certain there is absolutely no God, then I have to be able to say, I have searched and researched every possibility. I know everything, therefore, I know there is no God.

In order to have faith that says, “I know that there is a God,” I do not have to know everything, I simply have to know God. For example, someone in Japan says, “I have absolute knowledge that Brad Bessent does not exist,” they have to be able to say, “I have met every person in this world, and there is no Brad Bessent.” For someone to say, “Oh, but you are wrong, I know that Brad Bessent does indeed exist because I have met him personally.”

It is not arrogant to say that I know that God exists. I have met Him. He speaks to my heart, and I talk to Him everyday. Some can say (indeed some have said) that I am nuts. But knowing God does not require absolute knowledge, just personal experiential contact with the living God. Atheism, pure unadulterated atheism, that requires absolute knowledge. Since no one has that, except God, then anyone claiming to be an atheist ultimately declares their arrogance. That is my uncut raw point of view.

Agnosticism, however, is a different matter. Someone who settles in agnosticism, or gives up the search for truth, so to speak, is just lazy. If you don’t know, keep searching.