Forgiveness

There are many out there that are being held in a personal prison of anger towards others and themselves.  Some people have not forgiven those who they are angry with.  Others feel there is no way they (much less God) can ever forgive themselves for whatever sin they committed.  Like any God-loving preacher, this distresses me when someone tells me of these things and it gives me additional burden to reach out to this person and try to show them some modicum of peace.  So the subject of this month’s newsletter is:

Forgiveness

Yesterday is a wrinkle on your forehead
Yesterday is a promise that you’ve broken
Don’t close your eyes, don’t close your eyes
This is your life and today is all you’ve got now
And today is all you’ll ever have
“Are You Who You Want to Be” – Lyrics by: Switchfoot, 2004

The words of this song have a profound meaning if you take the time to listen.  Whenever I have something heavy on my mind, my forehead creases and I get a “wrinkle on my forehead.”  How many things do we carry around from our past?  How many people are out there that have wronged you and you have not forgiven them?  On the other hand, how many people out there have you wronged and not asked for forgiveness?  How long will you keep that wrinkle on your forehead?  I know that when I first became a believer, I had to sit down and actually think of all the people that I was angry with.  I also had to think of all the people I had wronged and mislead.  When I realized how long a list that was, it was a little daunting.  Some of those on my list had wronged me in a big way.  Yet there were others who I had wronged in just as grand a fashion.  After looking at this list for a while, I put it away and ignored it for several months.  I had “closed my eyes…”

But these lyrics make a very valid point to us as believers.  Today is all you’ll ever have.  There is no time machine that will allow us to go back and correct the wrongs we have committed.  There is no way for another to go back and fix the insult given to you.  Today is truly all we will ever have.  You don’t know what will happen tomorrow.  We can be snatched into eternity in the twinkling of an eye.  When that happens, we have no more direct interaction on those around us.  This is one reason why we should take witnessing seriously.  The one thing we cannot do in Heaven is share our faith.  When it comes to eternal matters, the things we do in life are critical.  Scripture says, “While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.” (2 Cor 4:18)  For the temporal and eternal well being of others, witnessing is imperative.  For the temporal and eternal wellbeing of ourselves, forgiveness is equally imperative.  But in all things, our focus must be primarily on the eternal.

Just to give you an example of how important forgiveness is in the Bible, I have found over 300 references to the concept of forgiveness throughout the Old and

New Testaments. 

Forgive – 68
Pardon – 20
Atone – 84
Cleanse – 140
Reconcile – 15

This is by no means a complete list.  One of the underlying themes of the Bible is God’s people turning their backs on Him and His forgiving their transgression when they return to Him.  One of the reasons Jesus took on human form was for the sake of forgiveness.  Scripture tells us that the Son of Man has the power to forgive sins (the only way His righteousness and perfect justice could be put to rest was through His payment of our transgression.  We could not do it, only He could – thus His ability to forgive our sin).

Forgiving Others

One of my favorite scenes in the New Testament is the one where Jesus is walking with His Apostles and one of them asks Him, “how many times should I forgive my brother, up to seven times?”  Jesus’ answer leaves little room for speculation.  He says, “not seven times, but seventy times seven times…” (paraphrased).  Jesus is making this statement to illustrate that forgiveness should not know limits.  We need to be able to forgive, no matter how many times or how great the transgression against us.  Jesus teaches this throughout His ministry.   “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.  But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” (Mt 6:14). 

Many years ago I dated a girl who I also worked with.  We had many things in common and I thought that she might be “the one.”  However, I knew that while she was not seeing anyone else and while we were not “exclusive,” she was interested in another co-worker of mine, who at the time I had also considered a friend.  During this time I had planned to go up to my Dad’s property for a few months on a leave of absence from work.  This girl and I spent every moment until my departure together.  When I left for the mountains of Idaho, leaving her was one of my chief regrets.  Further, the guy that I had considered a friend made a promise to me that he would not show any interest in her while I was gone. 

During the first month, she and I wrote back and forth two or three times a week.  These were deep emotional letters.  Then the letters became infrequent and when they did arrive, they were very flat and “unemotional.”  By the fourth month, I had only received one letter from her. 

After my four months in the woods, I returned to society to find the girl I had thought would wait for me had in fact started dating my so-called friend and they were now living together.  Needless to say, I was angry. Perhaps a better word would be “wrathful.” At that time I made it very clear to our mutual friends that I hated him and that I had better not meet him in a dark alley somewhere.  I also told the girl that I wanted nothing to do with her and that if she ever saw me, turn the other way.  As far as I was concerned, she no longer existed.  I am sure you have probably figured out that I was not a Christian back then.

I carried that anger around with me for the next four years.  When the opportunity to help this girl during her break up presented itself, I was too angry to even return her call.  I do not even know where she is now and I have carried that burden for a long time.

How was I was wrong?

First off, when my friend broke his promise to me, I became angry with him.  Now it is one thing to get upset, vent and then let it go.  But, I was not simply upset, I hated him…I would have enjoyed seeing him in pain or dead.  If the opportunity had presented itself, I would have beaten him to a pulp.  That is what hatred is.  You are so angry that you could see that person in agony or dead and feel no remorse.  This is why Jesus equates hatred with murder in the Sermon on the Mount.  He said that if we are angry with our brother, we are in danger of judgment and if we hate our brother, we are a murderer in the eyes of God and in danger of hell-fire.  In my heart, I violated the Commandment that says, “thou shalt not commit murder.” 

My anger also extended to the girl who had abandoned me.  When she sought me out for help during their breakup, I ignored her.  She wasn’t suicidal, she just wanted someone to talk to.  But instead of being a shoulder for her to cry on, I was hard of heart.  As a result of my unforgiving reaction, I turned her away.  I could have shown mercy and I didn’t.  After all these years now, I do not know what happened to either of them.  I can only hope and pray that one day I will see them both so that I can ask for their forgiveness.  I can only hope that I will be able to one day say to them, “I forgive you.”

God wants us to forgive those who sin against us.  It is one of the core statements in the Lord’s Prayer.  Do we not ask Him to “forgive our transgressions as we have forgiven those who have transgressed against us…”?  When we forgive others, we show them the light that God has placed in us.  Further more, when we are kind to our enemies, it plants a Gospel seed that takes root inside and perhaps they too will turn to God for mercy.  Solomon wrote, “If your enemy is hungry, give him bread to eat.  And if he is thirsty, give him water to drink, for so you will heap coals of fire on his head, and the Lord will reward you.” (Proverbs 25:21).  There is a reason Solomon was called wise…

God’s Forgiveness

King David’s life was often spent in prayer asking God for forgiveness.  When David sinned with Bathsheba, he acknowledged that he had sinned against God and God alone.  In his thirst for God’s righteousness and in humble fear, he begged God for mercy.  The Psalmist King wrote extensively about forgiveness of sin.  “Look on my affliction and my pain, and forgive all my sins” (Ps 25:18), “For You, Lord, are good, and ready to forgive, and abundant in mercy to all those who call upon You” (Ps 86:5), and If You, Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand?  But there is forgiveness with You, that You may be feared (Ps 130:3). 

When we look at our many transgressions in life, we may wonder, “how is it that God could ever forgive me?”  I know that is true in my life.  I have done some pretty horrible things and hurt a lot of people.  I have broken all Ten Commandments in spirit, if not in deed.  I had not loved God with all my heart and I put Him last in all things.  I had created a God to suit my own needs and thus created an idol.  I used the Lord’s name like a cuss word.  That is blasphemy.  I never took a day of rest in respect to God’s directive about a Sabbath.  I was a drug dealer in junior high and high school and in so doing, dishonored my parents.  I had hated another person and as we discussed earlier, in God’s eyes that is murder.  In having a sexual relationship without being married, I had committed adultery in God’s eyes.  I have stolen things, and that made me a thief.  I have lied and bore false witness.  I had coveted those things that were not mine.  Folks, if ever there was one in need of God’s mercy and forgiveness, I am he.  And yet, how could He possibly forgive me?

I find that one of the most amazing things about God is that He created us knowing full well that we would fail.  And He knew it would not be a small failure.  He knew that our fall would be so great that the only thing that could fix the problem was the death of His only Son.  And yet, “God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.  Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him.” (Romans 5:8). 

Do you understand what Paul is saying?  He is telling us that despite the fact that we are still committing crimes against God’s Holy Law and even in our ingratitude for everything, He still bled and died so that we would not have to pay the penalty of our sin.  God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ!  By whom the world has been crucified to me and I to the world! (Gal 6:14)  His love for us is so great that He provided a way out of our sin, despite it costing Him His own life!  Oh how powerful His love is!

The Apostle John put it like this: “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 Jn 1:9).  If we ask and repent, we can be forgiven of every sin we have or will ever commit.  Do not take that wrong, this is not a license to sin.  It is our way to be purified and avoid our just punishment.  Jesus said that if we do not repent there is no salvation.  We need to turn from our behavior that was sinful and turn back to God.  When we slip up and commit sin, we should forsake it and then we can be washed clean.  It is then that the Apostle’s directive can have effect.
 
Forgive Yourself

Some of you out there may not have trouble forgiving others.  However, when you have sinned against another and they have forgiven you, you cannot accept it.  When God gives a promise like He did in 1 John 1:9, you do not think it applies to you.  Further, you will not forgive yourself. 

Can you really look at the extreme cost that God paid for you and tell Him, “You can’t forgive me…”?  Even the most horrible of transgressions against people, God will forgive us if we come to Him with a humble and broken heart.  “He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins…”  To say you cannot be forgiven, is to call God a liar and to reject that tremendous, immeasurable love He has for us. 

It is OK to be angry with yourself.  We need to reflect on our behavior so that we do not repeat those things that are harmful to others.  Be angry for a time, but accept the incredible blessing that God has given you.  To harden your heart to your own forgiveness means that your opinion is greater than God’s.  This is a wrongful order of priority.  This mindset is fatal.  Rejecting God’s forgiveness means that you want to be judged by the Law.  If that is the choice, then you have chosen damnation and eternal torment, “for no one is righteous, no not one…” 

Don’t make that choice!  Choose as I have.  Choose forgiveness.  Choose Christ!  His forgiveness has no bounds.  I do not want to be looking over at you on that great and terrible day when God separates those He has redeemed from the unrepentant.  I want you in the same assembly I am in. The assembly that despite all of our sins, we have been washed clean in the Blood of the Lamb.  I want to see all of you at that great wedding supper of Jesus as He presents His bride to the Father, holy and without blemish.  That perfect jewel, the Body of Christ.

Whether you have a friend or family member who has continually wronged you, whether you have wronged someone else, give and receive forgiveness.  If you are not willing to be forgiven, cry out to the Lord of all mercy and ask Him to change your heart.  Saints please, I beg of you, don’t resist the Holy Spirit!  He calls to you as a husband calls his bride.  His love is sacrificial to the point of His own death so that He could redeem you and call you His own.  He will remake you and teach you to walk in His statutes.  He will make you His bride and dress you in white.  He will take away every imperfection and purify you.  All you have to do is step up to His altar and say “I do.”

Witness to a Car Jacker

The Religion of Atheism

Many people out there claim to be atheists.  This means they do not believe in a supreme being or God.  They do not believe in the spirit or eternal life and they love to try and persuade Christians that  we believe in an illusion.  The purpose of this post is to give you a solid foundation to mount a defense from and hopefully to challenge you to search this topic in depth and thus be prepared when the challenge arises.

 

The View Without God

 

(The ESPN camera crew opens the camera up on a panoramic view of the stadium and the boxing ring…as the ringside announcer steps up to the center ring microphone…)

 

Announcer:  Greetings Scripture fans!  We have an incredible match up today.  In the right hand corner with a long beard, a bowtie, hundreds of drawings and charts, and the brown and yellow trunks, we have the founding father of evolutionary theory and the grand-daddy of atheists everywhere – Charles Darwin!  In the opposite corner with the eyes of flame and wearing bright white robes, undefeated in over a millennia, the champion from the “Crucifixion in Golgotha…” the Word of God Himself!  Yeshua HaMashiac, Jesus the Messiah!  (Crowd erupts in cheering…)  This fight is brought to you by our sponsors, the Secular Academic Community and the Believers of the Body of Christ.  Now…let’s get ready to RUMMMMBLLLLLLLE!!!

 

(Referee walks up to the two opponents)

 

Referee: O.K. boys, I want a good clean fight.  No shots below the belt and follow my instructions at all times.  Nod if you understand… (opponents nod)  Good.  Shake hands.  Now, back to your corners and when the bell rings, come out fighting…

As much as we would enjoy disputes between theology and atheism being solved in the simplicity of a ringside event, the unfortunate reality is that these disputes need to be challenged logically and prayerfully.  We tend to want to dig into the beliefs of others and find the flaws in it, in order to convince them that their position is incorrect.  We don’t need to prove them incorrect, when we can demonstrate the infallibility of the Bible.  What many do not realize is that we have all the information we need right in the Word.  We have been given a comprehensive war manual by our maker and we can use this manual to combat the “principalities and powers” behind the false world movements we are surrounded by today.

There are many false belief systems out there.  Many of these are being promoted and endorsed in public education, while Biblical Christianity (literal interpretation of the Word) is becoming more and more politically incorrect.  Unlike the living God we expose our children to in our homes and churches, a new faith is being brought about.  Due to the pervading influence of the secular community, our kids are being taught this completely new religion in our public schools.  This new “faith” has all the trappings of any religion.  And while the atheist who follows this new faith claims to have no religion, he is a pastor and worshipper of this belief, all the same.

 

The Religion of Evolution

Webster’s Dictionary defines "Religion": "A set of beliefs concerned with explaining the origins and purposes of the universe…"

The new religion is evolution.  It even has its own religious language: "We believe, perhaps, maybe, probably, could've, possibly."  The founding father of the faith is Charles Darwin.  The god of the religion of evolution is referred to by it’s followers as "Mother Nature."  She is the one who is responsible for everything we can see in creation.  What's more, she's very attractive to the sinful people of the world. They gravitate to her like a moth to a flame.  Why? Because she's deaf, blind, and mute.  Mother Nature doesn't hear anything, she doesn't see anything, and what's most important – she doesn't say anything.  Mother Nature doesn't have any moral dictates.   So, if you make her your creator, you can do anything you want…every sinful pleasure can be enjoyed with no qualms of conscience.  You can make up your own rules.  That's why evolution is so appealing.

Such a belief system is called "idolatry" (making up a non-existent god to suit yourself).  It is a transgression of the First and Second of the Ten Commandments.  To believe in the theory of evolution takes a great leap of blind faith.  Like a little child, the atheist believes without the need of a thread of evidence.  The theory doesn't disprove the existence of God.  It simply reveals that those who believe it are truly capable of faith in the invisible…and confirms Napoleon's great observation: "Man will believe anything, as long as it's not in the Bible.” 

There is a reason why this mythology is acceptable among even respectable men of science. A theory as ridiculous and unfounded as evolution would not even be considered if it were not for the fact that atheistic scientists are hell-bent on negating the idea of a creator.  I have a very close personal friend who falls into this category.  He is brilliant (probably genius) and intellectual, but he is spiritually dead and he defends this religion without a shred of evidence.  He actually chooses to be blind to the truth.

In actuality, the issue is and always has been God – the Creator of the universe. My friend the atheist desires to be the king and ruler of his life. It doesn’t matter how much evidence there is for a designer, it will not make one speck of difference if he refuses to bow his knees to the true Creator. For my friend, God does not exist.  However, when all the cards are called, it is simply a case of him not wanting to be accountable to anyone for his life and choices.

 

Only Two World Views

All people, (scientist, religious and everyone in between) have a world view based on one of two assumptions.

• Assumption 1: we are all the result of a deliberate design, created by a designer, or; 

• Assumption 2: we are all the result of some great cosmic accident.

In the first assumption, we are deliberately created and eventually accountable to a creator.  We have no moral ambiguities and we understand right from wrong.  Right and wrong is clearly delineated and we do our best to stay within those boundaries.  This knowledge of right and wrong is written on our hearts and is evidenced by our conscience.  Even a child knows it is wrong to steal without having to be told.  That is the conscience at work.

In the second assumption, we are the results of an explosion that does not have an origin (and cannot be proven…) and a bunch of random chemicals that happened to collide that somehow, over millions of years, supposedly evolved into humans.  In essence, this view states: “first there was nothing and then it exploded…”  In this view, we lack destiny.  We do not appreciate where we came from, nor do we have any accountability to anything or anyone, but ourselves.  We also convince ourselves that we can do whatever we want as long as it does not hurt anyone else.  We teach our children that they evolved from a rock.  Yet we wonder why we can have tragedies like Columbine High School.

From these two basic views, we get 4 questions…

• Who am I?
• Where did I come from?
• Why am I here?
• Where am I going when I die?

If your basic view involves having a creator, you can answer these questions pretty easily.  If you subscribe to the second view, these questions have no relevance to you.  One day you will die and become worm food.  There is no future punishment, only nothingness.  For the atheist, these questions cannot be answered.  Further, with nothing ahead of you, there is no real purpose for your life.  To truly be an atheist means to have no hope.  Welcome to the “atheist’s dilemma.” 

So the atheist makes the claim that there is no God and they turn to science to deal with the “4 basic questions” that only God can answer.  They believe that there has to be a “scientific answer” for everything under the sun.  To their benefit, there is a scientific answer.  God is very scientific.  He made everything to follow specific laws and then put those laws in His Holy Word.  If the atheist would but take the time to research these things for himself, he would find this to be true. 

Science in the Bible

Here is a brief list of some of the things I have found (through reading the Bible and reviewing other's research then comparing it to Scripture):

• Only in recent decades has science discovered that everything we see is composed of invisible atoms. Scripture tells us that the "things which are seen were not made of things which do appear." (Heb. 11:3)

• Medical science has only in the last twenty years discovered that blood-clotting agents (prothrombin and vitamin K levels) in a newborn reach their peak on the eighth day, then drop. The Bible consistently says that a baby must be circumcised on the eighth day. (Gen 17:12)

• At a time when it was believed that the earth sat on a large animal or a giant (1500 B.C.), the Bible spoke of the earth’s free float in space: "He...hangs the earth upon nothing" (Job 26:7).

• The prophet Isaiah also tells us that the earth is round: "It is he that sits upon the circle of the earth" (Isaiah 40:22). This is not a reference to a flat disk, as some skeptic maintain, but to a sphere. Secular man discovered this 2,400 years later. At a time when science believed that the earth was flat, it was the Scriptures that inspired Christopher Columbus to sail around the world.

• God told Job: "Can you send lightnings, that they may go, and say to you, Here we are?" (Job 38:35). The Bible here is making what appears to be a scientifically ludicrous statement...that light can be sent, and then manifest itself in speech. But did you know that radio waves travel at the speed of light? This is why you can have instantaneous wireless communication with someone on the other side of the earth. Science didn’t discover this until 1864 when "British scientist James Clerk Maxwell suggested that electricity and light waves were two forms of the same thing" (Modern Century Illustrated Encyclopedia).

• Job 38:19 asks, "Where is the way where light dwells?" Modern man has only recently discovered that light (electromagnetic radiation) has a "way," traveling at 186,000 miles per second.

• Science has discovered that stars emit radio waves, which are received on earth as a high pitch. God mentioned this in Job 38:7: "When the morning stars sang together..."

• "Most cosmologists (scientists who study the structures and evolution of the universe) agree that the Genesis account of creation, in imagining an initial void, may be uncannily close to the truth."

• Solomon described a "cycle" of air currents two thousand years before scientists "discovered" them. "The wind goes toward the south, and turns about unto the north; it whirls about continually, and the wind returns again according to his circuits"  He also spoke of the water cycle in the same chapter. (Ecclesiastes 1:6).

• Science expresses the universe in five terms: time, space, matter, power, and motion. Genesis 1:1,2 revealed such truths to the Hebrews in 1450 B.C.: "In the beginning [time] God created [power] the heaven [space] and the earth [matter] . . . And the Spirit of God moved [motion] upon the face of the waters." The first thing God tells man is that He controls all aspects of the universe.

• The great biological truth concerning the importance of blood in our body’s mechanism has been fully comprehended only in recent years. Up until 120 years ago, sick people were "bled," and many died because of the practice. If you lose your blood, you lose your life. Yet Leviticus 17:11, written 3,000 years ago, declared that blood is the source of life: "For the life of the flesh is in the blood."

• All things were made by Him (see John 1:3), including dinosaurs. Why then did the dinosaur disappear? The answer may be in Job 40:15–24. In this passage, God speaks about a great creature called behemoth. Some commentators think this was a hippopotamus. However, the hippo’s tail isn’t like a large tree, but a small twig. Following are the characteristics of this huge animal: It was the largest of all the creatures God made; was plant-eating (herbivorous); had its strength in its hips and a tail like a large tree. It had very strong bones, lived among the trees, drank massive amounts of water, and was not disturbed by a raging river. He appears impervious to attack because his nose could pierce through snares, but Scripture says, "He that made him can make his sword to approach unto him." In other words, God caused this, the largest of all the creatures He had made, to become extinct.  He also referred to a sea animal of immense proportions called leviathan.

• Encyclopedia Britannica documents that in 1845, a young doctor in Vienna named Dr. Ignaz Semmelweis was horrified at the terrible death rate of women who gave birth in hospitals. As many as 30 percent died after giving birth. Semmelweis noted that doctors would examine the bodies of patients who died, then, without washing their hands, go straight to the next ward and examine expectant mothers. This was their normal practice, because the presence of microscopic diseases was unknown. Semmelweis insisted that doctors wash their hands before examinations, and the death rate immediately dropped to 2 percent. Look at the specific instructions God gave His people for when they encounter disease: "And when he that has an issue is cleansed of his issue; then he shall number to himself even days for his cleansing, and wash his clothes, and bathe his flesh in running water, and shall be clean" (Leviticus 15:13). Until recent years, doctors washed their hands in a bowl of water, leaving germs on their hands. However, the Bible says specifically to wash hands under "running water."

• Luke 17:34-36 says the Second Coming of Jesus Christ will occur while some are asleep at night and others are working at daytime activities in the field. This is a clear indication of a revolving earth, with day and night at the same time.

• "During the devastating Black Death of the fourteenth century, patients who were sick or dead were kept in the same rooms as the rest of the family. People often wondered why the disease was affecting so many people at one time. They attributed these epidemics to ‘bad air’ or ‘evil spirits.’ However, careful attention to the medical commands of God as revealed in Leviticus would have saved untold millions of lives. Arturo Castiglione wrote about the overwhelming importance of this biblical medical law: “The laws against leprosy in Leviticus 13 may be regarded as the first model of sanitary legislation” (A History of Medicine).

This is just scratching the surface, but you get the idea.

Grant R. Jeffery (author – The Signature of God) stated, "With all these truths revealed in Scripture, how could a thinking person deny that the Bible is supernatural in origin? There is no other book in any of the world’s religions (Vedas, Bhagavad-Gita, Koran, Book of Mormon, Wheel of Dharma, etc.) that contains scientific truth. In fact, they contain statements that are clearly unscientific."

Sir Isaac Newton said, "This most beautiful system of the sun, planets, and comets, could only proceed from the counsel and dominion of an intelligent and powerful Being."

 

Prove God's Existence

If you were to go outside and look at the building you were in, what proof would there be that the building had a builder?  As I sit here in my favorite coffee shop (Coffee Tree in Loveland on 4th Street  in Anthology Books - come in and say "hey!"), I ponder this weighty question…the building is the proof that there is a builder!  It is actually very simple.  It is a structure built to withstand weather.  It has windows that you can look out of.  It has counter for the barista to make your cup of coffee and a bathroom for when you have too much coffee...ahhh!  The glorious aroma of coffee!  These are obvious signs of design.  There is a purpose to every part of this building.  And you could not ask for better proof that the building had a builder, than the building itself.

If I were to go into an art exhibit and look at paintings, what proof would I find that the paintings had a painter?  It is again, very simple.  The painting is the proof that there was a painter.  Could I really look at a complex painting and say, “first there was nothing, then there was an explosion of paint and canvas, then this Picasso coalesced into reality…”?  Of course not!  I would have to purposely drop my I.Q. to accept a notion as silly as that.

The same profound logic applies to the Creator.  When I look around at this creation we live on, I can ask for no greater proof that there is a creator, than the creation I am standing on.  Every living creature has a purpose and design that lets it fit into it’s own environment.  The environment is uniquely designed for every living creature.  And the Bible says, “For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse (Romans 1:20).”  This means that those who would deny, or claim there was no evidence of God, have no excuse when Judgment Day comes. 

Even renowned scientists have a hard time justifying the atheistic faith.  Scientist Stephen Hawking in his book, A Brief History of Time said, "It would be very difficult to explain why the universe should have begun in just this way, except as the act of a God who intended to create beings like us."

When all else fails the atheist, he loves to grab on to Albert Einstein as a fellow non-believer.  Maybe Einstein didn't believe in the God of the Bible, but he wasn't a fool. He knew that there was a Creator.  He said, "God does not play dice with the universe."  He also said, "Everyone who is seriously involved in the pursuit of science becomes convinced that a spirit is manifest in the laws of the Universe – a spirit vastly superior to that of man, and one in the face of which our modest powers must feel humble." (The Quotable Einstein).

God's existence is axiomatic.  Arguing about the existence of a Creator is intellectually demeaning.  It is like arguing with the "Water is not Wet Club," about whether or not water is wet.  That's why the Bible says, "The fool has said in his heart, there is no God." (Psalms 14:1)

Belief in the God of the Bible is not some blind leap into a dark chasm, but a faith based on established evidence and truth.  Atheism, on the other hand, is a conscious choice to be ignorant of that truth.