We had a great discussion last week on why atheists made the choice to abandon their belief in God. There was some intriguing conversation from atheists and believers alike and it’s not too late to join in that fray.
If you stumbled here, I’m really interested in why you don’t believe in God? Or perhaps you believe, but you have friends and family who don’t. I’m interested in the why.
What I heard most from atheists is that science conflicted with faith. Somehow they couldn’t rationalize a God, despite their acknowledgment that we live in a tremendously rational universe that inexplicably found some order from chaos.
The scientific model centers on making the same observations and obtaining he same results, over and again. It depends on order and is crushed with instability. The only way this logical world can come about without God depends on randomness, chance, and billions of years of aberrations. And this seems out of character for those who make science their God.
Many adore science, without understanding that science has many unanswered questions. Questions that haunted Darwin and Einstein and many others. It’s not the trump card it’s made out to be.
Science doesn’t answer everything.
Science might explain black holes, but it can never explain the blackness of a heart that is set on doing wrong. Science might explain the mating patterns of migrating cranes, but it will never explain the deep intimacy of a man and woman who hold mutual love for each other. Science might explain the rotation of the sun and measure time by atom ticks, but it says nothing of the purpose of man.
But not having faith isn’t really about science, is it?
The lack of faith in God by your loved ones has to do with something else, doesn’t it? It might be that God didn’t answer a prayer. That a loved one died without reason or a spouse walked way. It might be because someone in His name said or did terrible things.
If you take away the science-God debate, why don’t you believe?
Here are some working theories. Maybe they apply to you. Maybe they don’t:
You’ve seen the worst of characters and you don’t want any part of that. Westboro Baptist, and street corner preachers, and television swindlers have turned you off.
You want to live a life with impunity. You define God strictly as a rule-giver. And the rules you believe He holds don’t mesh with your lifestyle.
You want to be happy. God hasn’t always made you happy. He’s the ultimate cosmic kill-joy, and you want to pursue a life without regret, lived out on your terms.
Living without God is easier in society. Let’s face it, admitting you believe in an unknown, unseen being is rarely popular. Finding others who agree with you hasn’t been hard, and that sense of belonging is appealing.
You had a terrible thing happen to you and God wasn’t there. Maybe you were a victim. It’s not your fault – it never was – but the ‘why’s’ still haunt you. Maybe you lost a friend, or a spouse, or a parent to a ravaging disease. Maybe things are just more than what you can bear and he seems … distant.
You’ve never really been shown another way. You grew up without faith and you’ve never seen it modeled for you. People of faith are strange, weird, and not grounded in reality.
You just don’t care about any of this. There’s simply been no need in your life to wrestle with deep questions about purpose.
So, I’m interested. Why don’t you believe? Feel free to add to the list above.
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