ADVENT AND ATHEISM

From My Perspective - - - 

The Religion News Service (http://www.religionnews.com/2014/11/20/10-commandments-atheists-guide-nonbelievers-want-explore-values/) on November 20, 2014 authored an article regarding “The Ten Non-Commandments For Atheists.” Interestingly, one of the authors of the non-commandments is the Humanist Chaplain at Stanford University. It is an interesting article inasmuch as it takes one back to the scene in the Garden of Eden and the serpent’s efforts to influence Eve to relate to a false premise that there is no God. If the serpent can induce Eve to violate the only prohibition in the Garden - eating fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Genesis 2 and 3) - then she can be the same as any devised God. The subtlety is that the serpent did not approach Eve on the basis that there was no God. His craftiness was in the suggestion that she could be the just like any pre-conceived or imagined God.

The Gospel of John, Chapter 1, contains these words about the reality of God. In Verses 1 through 4, there is this pronouncement: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.” These words are establishing that Jesus Christ was “In the beginning” and “He was the Creator of all things.” In terms of The Incarnation, verse 14 declares: “And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.” In verse 9 through 13, we read: “There was the true Light (Jesus Christ) which, coming into the world, enlightens every man. He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.”

In these words, we find the tension between the Advent reality and the Atheist rejection. Some of the “commandments” of the atheists include the following: #2: “We can perceive the world only through our human senses.” #5: “There is no God.” #7: “There is no universal moral truth. Our experiences and preferences shape our sense of how to behave.” #10: All our beliefs are subject to change in the face of new evidence, including these (10 Non-Commandments).” Dudley Rose, Associate Dean for ministry studies at Harvard Divinity School wrote: “Living rightly with one another is at the heart of these non-commandments…That is very similar to the way in which I view how those of us in religious communities think of our commandments and our lives with one another and everyone else in the world.” When one considers this approach by the Secularists, Humanists and Atheists, it becomes obvious why the culture of our day is in disarray and in a state of denial and demise. This tension begun in the Garden of Eden has prevailed throughout Biblical History and remains with us today. 

When Jesus addressed the skeptics and non-believers of His day, He stated: “You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies. But because I speak the truth, you do not believe Me…He who is of God hears the words of God; for this reason you do not hear them, because you are not of God"  (John 8:44-47). Jesus is making clear that a religion of man will never supplant the true religion of God. Additionally, there is the very blunt statement in Psalm 14:1,”The fool has said in his heart: There is no God.” The NLT states it: “Only fools say in their hearts: There is no God. They are corrupt, and their actions are evil; no one does good!” This is expanded upon in Romans 3:10-23. Advent is all about Jesus Who came to save His people from their sins. Do you know Him? Have you received Him? Consider these things with me!