Preface

The idea for this post originally came to me after reading a text conversation my wife had with an atheist she was trying to witness to, and the working title was “The Mind of the Atheist.” What started out as a short 500 or so word post has grown and expanded significantly after editing, re-writing, and several revisions.

I came to realize that what I was writing applied to all people who do not know God and I have broken them into three classes of people, because not all of them are technically stringent atheists in the strictest sense of the word. In addition to this, I was led down a path with a different ending than I had originally intended, so I have changed the title to Combating the Nihilism of the Godless to better capture the end product. I am still not happy with the title, but it will have to do.

So without further ado, here we go.

Three Types of People

Blaise Pascal said there are only three types of people, here is how he put it:

There are only three types of people; those who have found God and serve him; those who have not found God and seek him, and those who live not seeking, or finding him. The first are rational and happy; the second unhappy and rational, and the third foolish and unhappy.”¹

My list is a little different because it includes three classes of people living without God. My list includes atheists, those who have pondered God and rejected him; agnostics, those who have pondered God and have determined his existence can neither be proved nor disproved; and apatheistic people, those who have never even thought about the possibility of a God. All of these classes of people are living without God, but for differing reasons.

To harmonize my list with Pascal’s, we as Christians belong in his first group of people. I would put agnostics in the second group of people, although in some cases they may no longer be actively searching. Atheists and apatheistic people belong in the third category, although atheists may have at one time been searching and have stopped.

Unhappy and Empty

Have you noticed that so many people who do not have God in their lives seem to be discontented and generally unhappy? I don’t want to generalize, but this seems to be the case with many of the atheists, agnostics, and apatheistic people I have had conversations with. Pascal came to the same conclusion in his list, so this thought is nothing new.

You don’t have to be talking about theology or trying to have a conversation with them about God to come to this conclusion. I’ve noticed this during casual conversations about how their weekend was, or simply by making small talk. Many times they think they are happy, but they are looking for something in their lives that they just can’t find, and in many instances they don’t even consciously realize that this is what they are doing. You can sense a longing or an emptiness in them.

Atheists in particular can become very defensive and aggressive, and at times sound very hateful when a Christian attempts to broach the subject of God. Many times they are not even open to listening to the possibility that there could be a God. This was the case with the woman my wife was texting that I mentioned above. She became belligerent and Lauri realized that there was no use pursuing the matter beyond this point at this time so she moved on, but hopefully the mustard seed she planted will one day grow.

What is it that causes them to be this way, to have these feelings?

Searching for the Meaning of Life in an Accidental World

The problem is they can never find the happiness they are looking for in material things because it is their soul that needs the attention.

When it comes to some atheists and agnostics, they see Christians that are generally happy despite life’s troubles, they see Christians that have hope, and instead of trying to understand this hope in a world with so much pain and despair, or where this hope comes from, they become standoffish. I think the reason for this is twofold.

First, it is a defense mechanism. Inside they want what the Christian has, and they are envious of what the Christian has, but they just don’t believe there is more to this life. Therefore, it is easier for them to ridicule and scorn somebody than it is to admit they are envious. Second, they are afraid of the possibility that there could be a higher moral authority they will one day have to answer to and they would rather not think about it, or be confronted with the possibility.

And then you have the apatheistic people, having never considered the possibility of God they never make the connection between a Christian’s happiness and their belief in God. This is a thought that never enters their mind as they go through their daily routine.

I think the biggest problem those without God confront is that they naturally slip into nihilism, the belief that life has no meaning. Because of this many become hedonistic and materialistic, believing pleasure and obtaining material goods is all that a person can get out of life. They believe this is where happiness lies, but that longing persists.

The thing is, if there is no God then they are right and there is no meaning to life.

Without a creator there can be no meaning to life because there was no meaning in the birth of all that is, this was all just an accident. How can there possibly be a purpose to, or meaning in, an accidental world?

Finding the Meaning of Life in a Created World

On the other hand, if we have a created world then the world was created for a purpose. If this world didn’t mindlessly come into existence, then everything has meaning and everything has value, and this is what those without God are missing. God did not create the world on a whim, he had a reason. Not only is there meaning in a purposely created world, it is necessary for there to be meaning in a purposely created world.

The world was created and designed by God for life. He did all of this for us just so that we could have life. We owe our very existence, and all that we have, to the God who created and sustains the universe. This is where we find the meaning of life.

The Meaning of Life

Jesus came to earth so that we could have life, and have it more abundantly.²

The meaning of life is to live for God, to praise God, and to give him glory in all that we do³ because we are made in his image and he wants up to be holy as he is holy.⁴ The meaning of life is to serve and be obedient to God. To live a life pleasing to God, a life that reflects his glory, so that we can spend eternity with him by building up treasures in heaven⁵ instead of accumulating material “treasures” on this earth.

 “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.⁶

How could we not want to praise the God responsible for giving us life? For giving us meaning? For giving us purpose?

Epilogue: With Hope Comes Responsibility

We have discussed the nihilism of the Godless, and the meaning of life which is found in God alone, but what do we do with this knowledge? We cannot have this light and hide it under a basket.⁷ With our hope comes responsibility. We need to serve and glorify God, but how do we do this?

We serve and glorify God by sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ, through our words and by our deeds, to those who do not know him so that they too can find the meaning of life.

let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.⁸

We need to plant mustard seeds in those who do not know God and hope that someday they grow into glorious trees, with branches reaching up to the sky that birds can nest in.⁹

Part of this means that we need to be prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks us for the reason we have hope within us.¹⁰ We have this hope inside of us and when we look out over the lost souls who do not understand, we have an obligation to spread this hope to all of those who do not know God. We need to show them the meaning of life rests in the glorious arms of our Creator, and in living with Jesus for all eternity.

We are tasked with spreading the gospel and making disciples of all these people. But each group of people presents us with a different problem which requires a different discipline. The atheist’s mind is made up and is hardened, getting them to ponder God is tough. It will take perseverance and courage. The agnostic may be open to debate, but must be shown irrefutable truth. This takes knowledge. We need to get apatheistic people open to the idea of something beyond themselves. This will take patience.

In short, we need to get the atheists to reconsider, agnostics to make a choice, and apatheistic people to think.

This sounds daunting, but we have been promised that the Holy Spirit will give us the words to speak when the time to speak them has come.¹¹

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1. Blaise Pascal in Pensees ↩︎
2. See John 10:10 ↩︎
3. See 1 Corinthians 10:31 ↩︎
4. See 1 Peter 1:16 ↩︎
5. See Matthew 6:19,20 ↩︎
6. Matthew 22:37 ↩︎
7. See Matthew 15:15 ↩︎
8. Matthew 15:16 ESV ↩︎
9. See Matthew 13:31,32 ↩︎
10. See 1 Peter 3:15 ↩︎
11. See Luke 12:12 ↩︎