Responding to Scoffers - You Don't Go Far Enough

       There are many people, like the author of this poster, who say there is no god, no Son of God, no soul, no… _____________.

     The problem with this poster is that it doesn't go far enough. The poster should go on to say, "and, there is no meaning and purpose to this life."

     When we deny the Creator and ultimate Law Giver and Lover of the universe, when we believe that all of life and existence is the result of random accidents, we lose any sense of justice; right and wrong; or meaning and purpose in life. This is nihilism (Latin: nihil, "nothing"). 

     Nihilism is the black hole of atheism. Some atheists accept it, but many try to avoid it. It is difficult to live with a nihilistic worldview. How can you honestly look at your beautiful little child and say to yourself, "this is just a bunch of molecules that happened to come together after a long process of evolution"? How can you argue for justice for yourself personally or for this world when you have denied that there is no ultimate justice. It's all arbitrary.   

     Most atheists say that they overcome this problem by looking for the meaning to life within themselves. But this is also meaningless. What is there "within themselves" if they are the product of accidental mutations? Even their very thoughts are accidents of nature. How can randomness give rise to permanence? How can meaninglessness have meaning? These things are completely contradictory to one another. They want their "cake" of randomness and godlessness, and they want to "eat" or live by a sense of justice, meaning and purpose that is only possible if is permanent and eternal and therefore established by God. 

     David wrote in Psalm 14.1 "The fool says in his heart there is no god." The Hebrew word translated "fool" (נבל, nabal) means "futile, worthless." That is exactly right. To deny the existence of God is to say that all of life is ultimately futile and essentially worthless. It means nothing.

     God does not want us to view life in this way. Rather, He urges us to believe that there is an ultimate purpose in this life. Paul said, "We know that all things work together for good to them that love God and are called according to His purpose" (Romans 8.28).  That purpose, as Paul goes on to say, is that we might be justified, forgiven of our sins, and permanently established in His eternal glory. 

   

Devotions - What Is Worship?

 "It's singing awesome songs, hearing interesting talks, thinking about improving yourself and helping other people - and doing that in a community with wonderful relationships."

Sounds like the definition of worship in a lot of churches today doesn't?  But it's not. This definition came from Sanderson Jones, a comedian in England who has started a mega-church for atheists. The idea is catching on. According to an Associated Press article, there are more than three dozen such "churches" in the United States and Australia. Jones and his fellow comedian Pippa Evans want to raise $800,000 to "help atheists launch their pop-up congregations around the world."

Worship is not just singing awesome songs and hearing interesting talks about self-improvement. 

Worship is being with God through His Word and Sacrament and receiving His blessings. Worship is praying, confessing sins, and receiving absolution (forgiveness). Worship is not singing vague songs of praise, but it is praising God very specifically (theologically) as He has revealed Himself in the Bible.  Worship is focusing on God's word to understand it and to realize its impact upon us.  The Holy Spirit is always coming to us through the Word to bring us and to keep us in the faith. Worship is confessing the faith with all Christians who have ever lived using the ancient creeds, the very same words they used in their worship. Worship is bowing and kneeling before God, who speaks to us and comes to us in Word and Sacrament. 

The writer of the Book of Hebrews said:  "Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. For our God is a consuming fire" (12:28-29).  

Prayer:  Dear God, we thank You for the gift of worship.  You come to us in Your Word and Sacraments to give us faith and to strengthen us for faithful living. We thank You for the truth of Your Law and the mercy of Christ, who died on the cross to bring us into Your Kingdom. Teach us to serve You in our worship and in our work with reverence and godly fear. Amen.

Hymn:  Blessed Jesus, at Your Word  Listen

Blessed Jesus, at Thy word
We are gathered all to hear Thee;
Let our hearts and souls be stirred
Now to seek and love and fear Thee,
By Thy teachings, sweet and holy,
Drawn from earth to love Thee solely.

All our knowledge, sense, and sight
Lie in deepest darkness shrouded
Till Thy Spirit breaks our night
With the beams of truth unclouded.
Thou alone to God canst win us;
Thou must work all good within us.

Glorious Lord, Thyself impart,
Light of Light, from God proceeding;
Open Thou our ears and heart,
Help us by Thy Spirit’s pleading;
Hear the cry Thy people raises,
Hear and bless our prayers and praises.

Father, Son, and Holy Ghost,
Praise to Thee and adoration!
Grant that we Thy Word may trust
And obtain true consolation
While we here below must wander,
Till we sing Thy praises yonder.

The Philosophical Black Hole of Atheism

There are important questions that all of us should think about:

1. Where did I come from?
2. Who am I?
3. What should I be doing?
4. Where am I going?

The Christian answers:

1. From God ("So God created man in His image..." Genesis 1.27-28)
2. God's child ("See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God..." 1 John 3.1)
3. Loving God and my neighbor ("Love the Lord Your God... and your neighbor as yourself." Matthew 22.37 &39)
4. To be with God eternally ("For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day." John 6.40)

The Atheist answers:

1. An accident of nature.
2. What I do... an engineer, teacher, mother, etc.
3. What pleases me.
4. To nothing.

The Atheist considers the Christian answers nothing more than imaginative constructions to give him a sense of meaning and hope. But the Atheist denies God so that he can imagine the universe to be God. There are no absolute morals, only molecules. For this reason the Atheist lives in the middle, lives for the moment, does what is pleasing for now.

Those choices are all arbitrary. Ultimately everything becomes a mechanical, mindless process of evolution. And if that is so, why care about poverty? Why care about the environment? Why care who lives or dies? Why? Does the sodium ion argue with the chloride ion about becoming salt?

The philosophical black hole of atheism is to deny the spirit in nature. In the Nicene Creed we confess: "I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth AND of all things visible and invisible." God created us with a spirit, and it is through the spirit that we are able to believe in God.