In our culture today, atheism is more prevalent than it has ever been. World Population Review claims that 43% of United States citizens profess an atheistic worldview. If those statistics are true, then a little less than 1 in every 3 people you meet would tell you they are atheistic.
Everyone alive today holds some kind of a worldview. Oxford defines “worldview” as, “a particular philosophy of life or conception of the world.” Whether you are a Christian, an Atheist, a Muslim, a Buddhist, or anything else; you hold a worldview, and it dictates how you live—at least, it should.
Therein lies the problem with atheism. No atheist lives or is able to live by their own rules. Simply speaking, it’s impossible. A practicing Muslim (if he is true to his faith) lives in a way that is in accordance with his beliefs: he prays five times a day, he donates his wealth, he fasts regularly. Most significantly, he fears Allah and lives in a way so as not to get into trouble with his god. Atheists, in contrast, cannot live out their beliefs. It is possible for them to think that they are; atheists deny the existence of a god or gods: simple enough. But if you dig deep enough, you will find that no atheist is able to live in a way that is harmonious with their beliefs. Let me show you why.
First, a person with an atheistic worldview can have no meaning in life. As stated above, atheists believe that there is no God. They believe that all that exists is a consequence of random chance. There is no created order; we are merely stardust that somehow, with the right timing and circumstances, came about to be human life. If all this is true and we all got here by random chance, then ultimately, there is no meaning. I am just a clump of stardust floating on a much larger clump of stardust, aimlessly writing to other clumps of stardust.
Second, atheists can have no standard for morality. Suppose for a moment that all of the above is true: we are merely clumps of stardust hurtling through outer space. Now suppose I, just a harmless speck of stardust, were to wake up one day and decide that I liked the wife of one of my friends. Who is to tell me that I’m not allowed to murder her husband and enslave her? Who’s to say I can’t enslave thousands of women? No one! No one has any basis to tell me that it is wrong because there is no fundamental basis for morality. Who cares what one piece of dust does to another? No one, least of all the dust.
No decent human with their head screwed on straight, including any atheist I’ve ever heard of, would say that what I just described is acceptable to do. They would adamantly claim that it was wrong, and they would be correct. The problem, however, is that when they make that claim they are living like a Christian and fundamentally contradicting their worldview: they have no reason to care. They should not care what one speck of stardust does to another; it makes no difference to them at all. However, their problem is that they do care. They do care about protection; they do care about fundamental human rights. They do seek to find meaning. Why? Because they are created in the image of God, even if they refuse to admit it.
Ultimately, if you want to be an atheist, you must be willing to surrender all rights, morals, and meaning. No, you may not protect you family when a man with a gun breaks in at midnight. Your family does not even belong to you because dust can’t own other dust: you have no rights. Yes, you are welcome to rape and murder whomever you please, and others are welcome to do the same to you: you have no morals. No, you may not choose to love someone and marry them, nor may you find enjoyment or pleasure in your job or hobbies: you have no meaning. If you can successfully follow this list and its many other implications, then you are more than welcome to be an atheist. But my guess is that you will either end up dead or in prison quite fast because humans do not live that way. Why? Because we are made in the image of God; He has placed within the DNA of every single human a code that recognizes these things that a clump of stardust cannot.
As a Christian, I recognize that all humans are made in the likeness of God, whether they choose to believe it or not. Yes, we have the right to protect our families because they were given to us by God and it is in his nature to protect and care for others. No, we may not rape and murder people: God established a sanctity to life and all humans, regardless of age or gender, know deep down that it is wrong to take a life. Yes, we may love and marry someone because God is love. 1 John 4:7 says, “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God.” Those who do not know God are cold towards Him; Paul says in Romans 1 that the ungodly “suppress the truth in unrighteousness” (18). In Psalm 14 David is lamenting mankind and its foolishness: “The fool has said in his heart, ‘There is no God.’” (1). David calls the people who say that God doesn’t exist a fool. They are fools because there is coming a day what the God that they have been denying, blaspheming, and mocking will stand before them face to face. They will have no choice but to bow in submission to Him. They are fools to think otherwise.
And yet here is hope for the unbeliever. If you are reading this and have denied that God exists, there is hope for you: “He who does not love does not know God, for God is love” (1 John 4:8). Look at the last part of that verse: “for God is love.” He loves you, and He wants you to love Him in return. But anyone can say that they love you, right? Where’s the proof? “In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His son to be the propitiation [payment] for our sins” (1 John 4:10). God sent His son, Jesus Christ, into this sin-cursed, fallen world in the form of a human to suffer and die alone. He did this as a payment for our sins: mine and yours. He did this because He loves us. Jesus died, but in His power and strength He defeated death and came back to life! He defeated the evil powers and ascended to heaven where He is seated with His Father, reigning from on high until the day He physically returns to us on earth. There is hope for you and I. We can’t save ourselves; we are doomed to Hell and destruction because we are evil sinners. But God loves us and wants to redeem us. If we acknowledge before God our sin, turn away from it and follow Him, He will save us from the wrath to come and welcome us into His open arms as a father welcomes a child. That should blow your mind.
The honest truth is that we actually are nothing but dust. God created man from “the dust of the ground” (Gen. 2:7). We are nothing but dust that God formed into mankind. The difference? We are not random star dust. We are made by God in His image. We are dust that goes forth into the world each day, solely dependent on the power and grace of God. We are dust that has the breath of God in it, and that gives us purpose.