Am I an atheist?
Dear Reader,
‘In the beginning…,’ the first three words of the book of Genesis, the book of beginnings, written in their present form some 2500 years ago but drawing upon much older writings and traditions still. Such is the richness of the first three chapters of Genesis that the whole of the Bible can be described as no more than a record and commentary upon the truths expounded and the unfolding of events portrayed there. Whatever you think about the historicity of Genesis, its power is such that it illuminates our understanding of the world, human nature and society. Our society has been built upon the book of Genesis and it is against the Genesis world-view that society is today rebelling. We can take a look at the main truths highlighted in these two thousand or so words and see just how opposite they are to modern thinking and yet how fundamental they are to a true understanding of life and human society.
The number of truths about the universe, human life and society contained in this short passage is astonishing. Below is a table containing some of them and next to it their modern day progressive counterparts, (whenever I see the word ‘progressive’, I always ask myself ‘progressing in what direction, towards what?’):
Genesis Thinking / Current Progressive Thinking
(i) that the universe has a beginning, / that the current universe is just one iteration of an eternal cycle of universes within a multi-verse,
(ii) that the universe is created by an omnipotent power (God), / that the universe exists without cause,
(iii) that God exists as Trinity with the Word and the Spirit / that there is no God,
(iv) that humanity is a created species, sharing the divine life, / that mankind, like all life, emerged purposelessly from the earth without a spiritual life
(v) that all humanity shares a common ancestry, / that all humanity shares a common ancestry but should be categorised and treated according to their ethnicity
(vi) that humanity is created male and female, the two halves being created for union together and that pro-creation is a the very heart of that union, / that sexes and genders are multiple, different and fluid, that self-determination is all and that pro-creation and children are an optional outcome of sex that can be avoided by contraception or abortion,
(vii) that men and women are created equal but different in their functions, as reflected in the their biological difference, / that men and women are equal and interchangeable, even in their biology,
(viii) that humanity is to care for the world and have mastery of it as vice regents of God, / that humanity is a blight upon the world,
(ix) that morality is objectively rooted in God’s character and that mankind is not equipped to make independent moral judgements, / that morality is relative, self-determined as the individual believes is right,
(x) that there are spiritual, non-physical realms to the universe, / that there is no such thing as a spiritual realm,
(xi) that the spiritual and the physical realms are inter-connected parts of the creation, / that there is only the physical realm, though there may be numerous additional dimensions which we can not yet explore or understand,
(xii) that there is a personal, spiritual force of evil, / that there is no volitional force of evil,
(xiii) that mankind is a morally flawed species inclined to evil, / that humanity is intrinsically good and that ‘evil’ arises from faulty and oppressive social systems,
(xiv) that moral failures (sin) lead to first spiritual and then physical death, / that personal moral failures only really matter if you get caught but moral failures by others is an opportunity to destroy them,
(xv) that sin is a growing and expanding force in the world. / that humanity is progressing towards a fairer, egalitarian, utopian existence.
I am sure that there are more truths in this early part of Genesis than my quick survey has laid out but you can see that these principles and understanding have underwritten western thought for two millennia and Jewish thought for far longer than that. A quick comparison with common and ‘progressive’ thought will highlight how antipathetic it is to these foundational truths and therefore how deep the revolution is; once it is completed life will be unrecognisable from what even our parents or grandparents lived. As an exercise in self-understanding it is salutary to look through the list and see what I believe personally, where do I stand on these points? Am I a biblical thinker or am I, even if I profess christianity, functionally a ‘progressive’ atheist in my thinking?
It is not enough to give simple assent to one line of thinking or another, what is necessary is conviction of the truth, based upon serious consideration and evaluation of the merits of the two positions, for it is only deep conviction that will move one into action or give one the roots required to weather the storm. When making an evaluation of the Genesis values it is key to understand what Genesis is and what it is not. Genesis is not a scientific text book. Though it may contain accounts that are scientifically or historically valid and – more so or less so, dependent upon one’s position – verifiable, it is not a book of hows but a book of whys. It seeks to reveal why things are as they are, not how they came to be how they are. Arguments about dinosaurs and whether days are twenty four hour periods, an aeon or purely figurative miss the primary purpose of the book. This is equally true whether one is a fundamentalist Christian who ‘believes’ every word of the Bible is literally true or a fundamentalist atheist who will not believe in God because he enjoyed playing with dinosaur toys as a child.
The first and most fundamental question to answer is ‘do I believe in God?’ It is my opinion that many genuine Christians have never really thought through this question and its implications in detail. They may have an intense and intimate spiritual relationship with God but failing to do so leaves them open to trials of doubt when the storms of life or seasons of drought strike. Believing in God as an objective reality as well as an internal subjective experience is like armour-plating your faith, the fiery arrows of doubt will not penetrate to your heart, you will be like Job, ‘though he slay me, yet will I trust him.’ To help you get past this biggest of questions here is a link to an article I wrote last year which I hope will help: The Irrationality of Atheism . The season of Lent will soon be upon us, a traditional time for fasting, prayer and reflection, can I suggest you use this run-up to Easter to consider what you believe about Genesis and how it affects your attitude to society using the little list above; once you get past question one the rest should be a doddle.
To purchase the book Building Jerusalem
