Atheists, Faith, and Positivism

Atheism vs Theism. I think that every Christian, if honest with themselves, will admit to questioning which side of that argument they are truly on, and in times of great distress may have even began leaning to a godless world as making the most sense. I myself have had times when God seemed not just distant, but void and imaginary. Yet, even in times when I felt completely isolated, completely lost, atheism was a leap of faith I could not make. I knew that no matter how difficult my life or circumstances get, God cannot be discounted due to human suffering. An alternate title for this post could be "Why I am not an atheist", and I am going to give my reasons why.

Atheistic belief is built upon the contention that if the supernatural is not personally revealed, that it must not exist. In a broader sense, this is called positivism, the belief that we as humans should only believe what can be commonly observed, documented, and proven via scientific method. In other words, the supernatural world is considered subject to current scientific knowledge. However, I argue the opposite, that it transcends science. Just a few hundred years ago, concepts such as radio waves were inconceivable. Each day hundreds of songs, TV shows, and wifi connections pass by and through us in the form of eletromagnetic radiation. Yet we are oblivious. Why? Because, biologically we don't have the proper means of perception. Unless you have a piece of equipment tuned to detect these emissions, in and of your natural self you would never detect them. We do not have the means to devise a scientific experiment that can access and ascertain the supernatural.

Common atheistic thought requires labeling every supernatural encounter, every interaction with the divine ever encountered by humans to have been the result of either delusion, insanity, or active deceit. Atheists contend that believing anything on faith is a sign of flawed logic and truly believe that they have transcended faith.

I find this is a fundamental error. It is the pinnacle of arrogance to assume that mankind, with its limited senses, resources, and perception can make such a strong universal statement as to assume that nothing beyond our current understanding is possible, to project ourselves as ultimate arbiters of truth. How can a finite being seriously consider itself a judge of the infinite? Imagine trying to explain calculus to an ant. It would be beyond their understanding. Could an intellectually limited being like an ant declare calculus didn't exist just because it can't comprehend it? To me, this is where the faith of an atheist enters in. It is by faith that any universal statement is believed. Furthermore, faith is required to believe that incomplete theories such as evolution will be fully proven in years to come. Abiogenesis, complex biochemistry such as blood clotting, immune systems, and DNA replication/repair are all areas where no clear mechanism has been shown by evolutionists. They have rough sketches, but nothing more. Atheists BELIEVE that they will be found with time, but again, that is a presumption taken on faith. This world we are all experiencing is endlessly complex and convoluted, with even the most cogent logic leaving many areas of gray. There is so much that we simply cannot nail down, cannot limit into a prescribed box for us to take belief on faith out of the mix.

Ultimately, I know that regardless of who is right, I'll be OK. Should God prove to be real, I believe that I would be justified to an eternal existence with him through my faith in Christ. Should God not exist, when I die I will not spend even one millisecond disappointed or betrayed as I won't exist long enough after expiring to comprehend I didn't "pass through" to the other side. In a non-fatalistic way, I look forward to death as I am quite curious as to what truth will be revealed. Pascal summed it up well with his famous wager; I have everything to gain and nothing to lose.