Atheism and its Effects

Atheism and its Effects

Psalm 14

A Sermon Delivered by Pastor Jim Scott Orrick

April 8, 2001

Our greatest need is to obey the greatest commandment, namely that we should love God with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our strength, and with all our mind. If we are going to love God, we must know Him, and we must also know ourselves to be great sinners who have been forgiven. Jesus says that people who know themselves to have been forgiven of much will love much. So throughout this series, we're seeking after these two great ends: to know our great God, and to know our great need of Him. Those two things together are calculated to make us persons who obey the greatest commandment.

The book of Hebrews says that those who come to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. We've seen that God is. Now I'm asking the question: What happens when people act as if God were not? What is the effect? I’ll maintain that the effects are disastrous both in individuals and in societies. And the influence of atheistic thinking is more widespread than most of us imagine. Of course, we all recognize the massive influence of atheistic thinking as it has been expressed in Marxism, but do we realize that some form of atheism is at the base of all sin? When we wish that God did not exist or that God were someone other than who he is, atheism is present in our minds.

Atheism is a pregnant evil. That is to say, atheism carries in itself many other ills and evils that will infiltrate society. I hope to make it apparent that the effects of atheism are very pronounced in our society even now. The ancient city of Troy fell to the Greeks when the Trojans foolishly brought a huge wooden horse into their city, not suspecting that the hollow horse was full of enemy soldiers. But when night fell, the soldiers inside the horse emerged and opened the gates of Troy to their waiting comrades. The city was sacked and destroyed in a single night. Atheism is a Trojan Horse that is pregnant with enemies, and the enemies are coming out.

For instance, most of our government schools maintain, “We do not teach religion, nor do we teach irreligion. We're not teaching theism, nor are we teaching atheism. We are simply going to leave the issue of God’s existence out of our curriculum altogether. We're going to teach history, and we're going to teach math, and we're going to teach science without any reference to God whatsoever.” Do you know what the message is to all the students who are in school systems like that? God doesn't matter. They may say they aren't teaching atheism, but what they are saying day after day is that you can study history without any reference to God. You can study math and science without any reference to God. But the Bible says that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. The book of Proverbs says, “There is no counsel that is against the Lord.” So the government school's philosophy of educating without reference to God is marred from the foundation. As I hope to show you, from Psalm 14 and also from daily life, there are many ills that attend such an attitude toward God.

Some of you children may not know what an atheist is. The Greek word for God is Theos. So theology is the study of God. Someone who believes in God is a theist. In Greek and also in English, sometimes you can make a word mean the opposite of what it means just by putting an a in front of it. In Greek that's called an alpha privative because the Greek letter a is called an alpha. If I say that biology is the study of something that is living, abiology is the study of things that are not living. Or if something is a biotic, then it's not alive. So an atheist is someone who says there is no god. There are some other people who say, "There may be a god. I just don't know if he can be known." Those people are called agnostics. Again the Greek word for know is gnosis, and so if you put an a in front of that, it means I don't know. An agnostic is someone who just doesn't know. Now that same word in Latin is ignoramus. So it's an ignoramus who says, “I don't know if there is a God.” We smile, and I said that for the purpose of making you chuckle a bit, but that really is true. The Latin equivalent to agnostic is ignoramus.

Let's look now at Psalm 14, and notice first of all, the description of an atheist. That will be in verse 1. Then in verses 2 and 3, we'll see some of the effects of atheism. Then in verses 4, 5, and 6, we will see atheists called to an account or the reckoning of the atheists. Then in verse 7, there is a sigh from God's people.

First of all, let's notice in verse 1, the description that God gives of an atheist. The fool has said in his heart. God has a word for an atheist: "the fool." The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God.” Two men were talking one time, talking about religious things. One was a Christian; the other was not. The one who was not a Christian said, “I don't believe in the Bible, and I don't believe in God.” The other man said, “That's interesting because God talks about you in the Bible.” “Really?” “Yes, God says the fool has said in his heart, ‘there is no God.’” The Bible continues, They are corrupt. They have done abominable works. There is none who does good. Let's stop there and look at this description of an atheist. Notice first of all that this atheist whom the Lord calls a fool has said in his heart, “There is no God.” This does not necessarily mean that the fool has convinced himself of what he has said, although I will grant that some men do finally convince themselves of what they say. However, I think that, generally speaking, men become atheists only after they have convinced themselves that there is no God. In other words, I believe that no one is really born an atheist. It's only through the corruption of sin that men convince themselves that there is no God. Whether or not they actually believe that there is no God, at least they're trying to behave as if there is no God, and so to encourage themselves in their sinful course of action, they will say in their heart, “There is no God.” If atheists cannot positively escape from the confidence that there is a God, then here's what they'll try to do. They'll try to recreate a god who is suitable to their own fancy. So if they want to continue living in sin, then they will fabricate a god who permits people to go on living in sin. But effectively, the abandonment of the true God and the fabrication of a false god is atheism. That is a denial of the true and the living God of the Bible. And so the fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” Is he really convinced of it? In some cases, yes.

Let's go on and look at this description of the atheist. The next thing that the Lord says is, They are corrupt. Let me say that corruption is a cause of atheism, and then let me secondly say that corruption is an effect of atheism. First of all, corruption is a cause of atheism because people don't want to continually go around with a cloud of guilt weighing down upon them. They want to be free from the burden of thinking that there is a God who is watching them, a God who is going to call them into account. And so in order to protect themselves from the guilt of conscience and from the fear of judgment, and wishing to continue in their corruption, they say, “There is no God.” So corruption is a cause of atheism.

But corruption is also an effect of atheism. Corruption is the inevitable effect of atheism because, first of all, atheism destroys the standard for morality and moral behavior. By morality I just mean living like a decent human being, caring about other people. Compare two groups of people. The first group is the people who believe in the true and the living God. Let's say the ancient Jewish nation is the first group. Let the second group be the ancient civilized peoples who believed in other gods: Greeks, Romans, Mayans, Incas, ancient Egyptian civilizations, ancient Chinese civilizations, and so on. Now, if you compare those two groups of people, then you will see a progressive degeneration from morality as the idea of God is corrupted. Among the Jews, even though they may not have been the most civilized people of their day, there was a regard for the poor. There was a regard for widows. There was a regard for orphans. There was a regard for justice. Even though they were a long way from keeping the standards that God laid down for them, yet because they were seeking to follow after the true God, it had a tremendous effect upon them. It's like the old adage, “He who aims at the moon will go higher than he who aims at a tree.” When their object was to obey the true and the living God, then they achieved a very high degree of morality and civility in their nation.

As a particular instance of how the worship of the true God has influenced the morals of a people, compare how women and children are treated in Christian nations with how they are treated in non-Christian nations. While we can always find examples of injustice and abuse, a fair historical comparison reveals that women and children always receive better treatment in those nations under the influence of the God of the Bible, than they do in those nations that adhere to false religions. In our day and time many misinformed persons think that the God of the Bible is an enemy to women. They think that Jesus Christ and the Apostle Paul are somehow enemies to women and oppressive to children, but that is not a fair accusation if you will only look at the broad historical perspective. You will see that the God of the Bible, Jesus Christ, the Apostle Paul, and other writers of the New Testament have been tremendous friends to women, to children, and to weak people. The Bible always teaches that those who are strong should be compassionate towards those who are weak, that those who are in positions of power should exercise their authority to see that justice and that protection are afforded to those who are not able to protect themselves. Study world history, especially ancient history, and compare how women were treated among the Jews with how women were treated among the other civilizations that were under the influence of false gods. What is the inevitable result of atheism? You will see that atheism results in tremendous corruption and tremendous harm for women and children and for people who are weak.

The standard for morality is eroded if there is no God. The standard for good behavior is eroded if there is no God. It is impossible to construct a system of morality and convince people to abide by it if there is no God. For a while, you might be able to get them to regard someone's life because that person is valuable. But eventually the question is going to arise: “Why are they valuable?” The state may say, “Well, you have to respect their life because, even though you don't think they're valuable, we as a society agree that they are valuable, and so we're going to protect them. If you try to kill this person, then we're going to put you in jail, or we're going to administer some kind of punishment to you.” But what is to keep the state or to keep the society in general from deciding that human life is no longer valuable, as, indeed, has happened in our own society? The law says you shall not rape. Someone says, “Why? What's going to happen to me? Is that just your opinion? Why can't I do what I want to do? Who says your opinion is any better than my opinion?” You see, if you take God out of the equation, then you're left only with, at best, the conclusion that moral behavior is a social construction, that is, nothing more than what the society together decides. So the standard for moral behavior is eroded when atheism is embraced because there's no longer any standard for moral behavior.

Notice next that, not only is there no standard for moral behavior, but there is no motivation for moral behavior when moral behavior becomes costly. The great business of life is to try and judge between competing interests in your life. Yesterday was a beautiful day. I had a desire to be outside, but I knew that I needed to preach this morning. I had competing interests. I wanted to be outside playing, but I also wanted to be inside studying for this morning's message. How did I decide what to do? I went through something like this: “It is such a nice day, and I would really like to be doing something outside, but if I go outside, I won’t have time to do the preparation I need to do for preaching tomorrow. Whether I'm prepared or not, everyone is still going to expect me to get up there and say something tomorrow. Now if I get up there and just ramble for a while without really saying anything, there are going to be consequences. Perhaps the people will stand for it, but I have to face the Lord afterwards, and I have to live with myself. I don’t want to live with a frowning God and an accusing conscience all week. And if I fall into the habit of neglecting my preparation for the pulpit, my congregation will eventually become unhappy with me. It is better that I deny myself the temporary pleasure of being outside so that I might do something that will result in more lasting and substantial pleasure.” So I have to adjudicate between these competing interests, the desire to go outside and have fun playing, and then the duty of doing what is right, the duty of doing what I believe to be best in the long run.

But what if you didn't care? What if God didn't care? Or what if I knew for sure that I was going to die last night and wouldn't have to preach this morning at all? Those considerations would certainly have affected my decision as to how I spent my day yesterday. When people are trying to decide whether they should behave morally or not, they take into account the consequences of their behavior. It is foolish to make yourself go through something that is unpleasant if there's not eventually going to be a good consequence from it. There is no reason for self-denial just for the sake of self-denial. We deny ourselves because there is something promising and something attractive on the other side of self-denial. Even if self-denial leads us to much suffering or even to death, we who believe in God know that eventually there's going to be a righting of wrongs and that there's going to be a reward to those who are faithful to God.

Similarly, we who believe there is a God will turn away from sinful behavior because we know that there are consequences in this life and in the next life. But corruption inevitably flows from atheism because the consequences for evil behavior have been greatly diminished. If there is no God, then no one is going to ultimately hold you accountable for what you do. Some ask, “What about the state? What about the police force? May not the threat of punishment from government be sufficient to deter criminal behavior?” I believe that the punishment of criminals does have some deterrent upon crime. Sometimes people will argue and say capital punishment should not be allowed because it has been proven that capital punishment has no effect upon deterring crimes. But the book of Proverbs says, Smite the fool, and the simple will beware. The Bible does say that there is a connection between punishment being administered quickly and people taking warning from the punishment being administered. The fact that there are junkyard dogs is evidence that people will not commit crimes if they think they're going to get hurt doing it. I agree that the state has been ordained by God to deter criminal behavior and when the state does its job well, then it does have effect. But the threat of punishment from the state is not adequate to stop criminal behavior, much less immoral behavior. Why? When people commit crimes, they don't think they're going to get caught. Sometimes they don't get caught. So the fact that the state bears a sword is not an ultimately effective deterrent to the commission of crimes of violence or crimes of sensuality because people think they're going to get away with it. But, even if we know that we will escape the arm of the law and the sword of the government, those of us who believe in God know that we will not escape God's righteous judgment. Even persons who are not Christians, who nevertheless believe in a God who will execute final judgment, have some deterrent against committing crimes and against committing sins, and they have a motivation to do right. But if you remove God, then the greatest motivation for avoiding wrong and doing right, is removed.

I'm still on the point that corruption flows from atheism, and I've said that atheism destroys the standard for moral behavior, and I've said that atheism destroys the motivation for moral behavior. Now I'm going to say that atheism destroys a proper valuation of human life, our own life and the lives of others. How atheism affects the valuation of our own lives is like this: The belief that there is a God helps to deter vanity and pride in me. As long as I compare myself with you, I can find some way that I'm superior to you. The same thing is true for you. You compare yourself to me, you'll find some way that you're superior. And then we compare ourselves with others, and we say, “Well, I'm better than he is at this, I'm better than she is at that,” and we can come out thinking that we're pretty good. On the other hand, when we believe that there is a God who is morally perfect, we have a standard that gives us a proper perspective on ourselves. We don’t come out looking so good. But take God away, and vanity mushrooms. We end up looking good in comparison to everyone else. You take God out of the equation, and self inevitably becomes the center of our universe. We consider life to be only a stage upon which we can draw attention to ourselves. Everybody else becomes a spectator. From the atheist's perspective, everyone else is in the world to praise the atheist, minister to the atheist, and to take care of him. I recognize that the implications of atheism are not fully worked out in every atheist. I'm not saying that this attitude is equally apparent in everyone who is an atheist, but I do contend that it is the inevitable result carried to its logical conclusion.

Then not only does atheism affect our evaluation of ourselves, but it also affects our evaluation of others. It causes us to value others less. This morning I went outside to check on something, and I noticed that there along the side of my house was a huge colony of ants. I don't know why they were all out of the ground, but there were thousands of them. Now I like ants, but I went into the basement, and I got some poison because I didn't want these ants living in my house. I sprinkled this poison all over the ants. I don't know what happened to them. I went back inside. I didn't worry about it. But I did think, "This would make a good illustration of a point I am going to make." (You know, to a preacher, the whole world is just one big illustration going by). Now what if I had stuck my head out this morning, and instead of ants, there was a herd of elephants in my yard? Do you think I would have gotten my high-powered rifle out and just started shooting elephants in the head? No, I wouldn't have. They're capable of doing far more damage to my house than ants, but I value elephants more than I value ants. I think elephants are more important than ants, for whatever the reason. And some people who would shudder to see a deer killed or to see a large animal slaughtered, don't worry at all when you're driving down the road and kill thousands of mosquitoes on your windshield because you do not place the same value on mosquitoes as you place on a deer or on a cow or a horse.

If atheism is true, what is man? He is just an intelligent animal. But if there is a God, and if the Bible is true, what is man? He is a being created in the image of God, and there is far greater difference between man in the image of God, on the one hand, and man as an intelligent animal, on the other hand. There is more space between those two extremes than there is between an elephant and an ant, far more distance. With the infiltration of atheistic thinking in our society, and with the acceptance of atheistic evolution into our society, then human beings have just become an intelligent animal, maybe a little superior to apes in some way, but maybe not. So, with that devaluation of human life that is the inevitable result of atheistic thinking, there has come legalized abortion, through which more than a million babies are killed every year. These babies are human beings in the image of God. The only way that society can continue with any conscience to kill the babies is to devalue their lives and say they are not human beings in the image of God. And the same thing is true with regard to killing one's self. That's a devaluation of human life. Further, the rampant crime that is prevalent in this city and in many cities is a result of the percolation of the ideas of atheism. They are corrupt, the Bible says. Corruption is a cause of atheism, but then corruption is also a result of atheism because atheism destroys the standard of morality. It destroys the motivation for moral behavior, and it destroys the proper valuation of human life.

Notice the next thing that the Lord says about atheists here in verse 1. They have done abominable works. Among the many abominable works that follow in the wake of atheism, I'm only going to mention these two categories: works of violence and works of sensual perversion. I've already touched on both of these things, so I'll do little more than mention them. But if there is no God, then why get married? And if there is no God, then why limit yourself to one wife? You say, well, polygamy is illegal in this country. Simultaneous polygamy is illegal, but linear polygamy is perfectly acceptable. You know what I mean? A guy could have one wife after the other until he has married twenty women, and it's perfectly legal in this country to do that as long as you've just got one at a time. Linear polygamy is perfectly legal. And it's become an acceptable practice. That is a result of the infiltration of atheistic thinking. It gives the green light to unbridled sensuality. Why limit yourself to one woman? Why limit yourself to women? Why limit yourself to adults? Why limit yourself to human beings, if there is no God? Do what you want! And many people are doing just that. With the perpetration of these abominable acts of violence and unbridled sensuality, there comes a breakdown of civilization for at least two reasons. One is because those of us who want to protect our wife and children have to spend more time and money doing that. So if I've got to spend time and money protecting my family and protecting what is valuable to me, then that leaves me less time to work on the more civilized aspects of human existence in this world. I'm back to just protecting the house. So that's one reason why these abominable works of violence and unrestrained sensuality result in deterioration of civilization, because I've got to spend a lot of time just protecting my wife and my family.

Then another reason why it leads to the deterioration of civilization is because public trust is disintegrated. My neighborhood is a nice place to live because I have confidence that my neighbors are not going to try and break into my house. I get along well with my neighbors, but if they start trying to break into my house, we are no longer going to get along very well. The same thing is true, if they start threatening my family or threatening those things that I hold valuable, there's going to be a breakdown in civilization in my neighborhood because there has been a breakdown of public trust. If you hear that a vicious dog has attacked a child in your neighborhood, you're going to be afraid of every stray dog that comes around for a while. That's what happens when violence and unrestrained sensuality are let loose in a society. You begin to suspect even the people who are not guilty of those crimes.

It reminds me of a story that I told some of you at lunch last week. Maybe I should preface this story by saying that not every vicious dog is on the loose. Some of them are on chains, but the fact that one is loose makes you suspect the others. Okay, here's the story. I knew a man back in West Virginia who was a man who had a reputation for being a rabble-rouser. He eventually went to prison for dealing drugs. He hung out with a pretty rough crew, and one day he was going over to one of his friend's house, and several of them had already gathered there before this man got there. I'll say this man's name was Buck. He was going to Jack's house. Jack had gotten a new guard dog that was a ferocious beast, and Jack had this new guard dog chained up in a shed behind the house. On this particular day, as his crew of friends started gathering at his house, he would say to each one of the men as they came, “Hey, go back there in the shed and look at my new dog.” So the friend would go back there, and this terribly ferocious dog would run at him. The dog couldn’t get at the man because his chain was not long enough, but Jack got a big laugh out of seeing his friends jump back in fright. This happened with the various men who came, and they said, “Well, Buck is coming. We'll trick Buck with this too.” They were all standing around the front yard, and when Buck showed up, Jack said, “Hey, Buck, I want you to go back there and look at my dog in the shed.” So Buck goes around there and Jack and his friends all sitting in the front yard smiling and waiting. They hear the dog bark, but then they hear a gunshot. They go running around the side of the house. Buck is standing there, and he's putting a smoking gun back into its holster. Buck shot the dog. Jack said, “Buck, the dog was on the chain!” Buck said, “I didn't know that, Jack.” You see, if there's a bad dog on the loose, you're going to be suspicious of all dogs, even if he's on a chain. So the breakdown of civilization is inevitable when, as a result of atheism, terrible crimes of violence and unbridled sensuality are committed, and we're beginning to see this in our country. This is real life in some of our inner cities right now. Unless the Lord delivers us, it's going to be worse.

Well, I can see that I'm not going to get any farther this morning than the very first point, the description of the atheist. Let's look at this last phrase. It says there is none who does good. If there is no God, then the motivation for great heroic acts of self-sacrifice have been removed. The kind of moral conviction that led to the charge of the Light Brigade or Pickett's Charge or other great and heroic efforts to protect home and hearth will eventually disappear in the atheistic society because, why kill yourself if this life is all there is and I'm the most important person here? There is none who does good.

Let me go over the rest of the chapter at least so that we can end on a hopeful note. Verses 2 and 3 say, The Lord looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there are any who understand, who seek God. They have all turned aside, They have together become corrupt; There is none who does good, No, not one. The second point is the effects of atheism, and the first is that it affects men and their understanding. There are none who understand. It affects men in their volition, in their will. All have turned aside from God. And it affects men in their actions or their behavior. They have together become corrupt. There is none who do good. No, not one.

Then the third point of this message is in verses 4, 5, and 6. The reckoning that atheists face. Have all the workers of iniquity no knowledge, who eat up my people as they eat bread, and do not call on the Lord? By the way, before I forget it, this past Wednesday night we had a discussion at our home group meeting on, Should we teach children to pray? I was saying yes, we should teach children to pray. Here's another reason for those of you who are interested in that question. Men are held accountable who do not call upon the Lord. From Romans chapter 1 we read that men have an obligation to be thankful, and here in Psalm 14:4, we see that all persons have an obligation to call upon the Lord and will be held accountable for not doing so. Have all the workers of iniquity no knowledge? What are they thinking? Who eat up my people as they eat bread, and do not call upon the Lord? So there will be a day of reckoning, a day of accounting. They must give an account to the God that they don't believe in. They'll believe in Him then, and in that day, there will be great terror. Verses 5 and 6. There they are in great fear, For God is with the generation of the righteous. You shame the counsel of the poor, but the Lord is his refuge. These verses remind us that atheists are not content to leave godly people alone. We see that today, even with some important media moguls who just seemingly cannot keep their mouths shut about the Christian people who are in their organization or in some other organization, always criticizing the Christians, and it's apparent that it's “open season” on Christians today. It will become increasingly prevalent as atheism is more and more influential in our society. But one day there will be a day of reckoning, and there will be a time of tremendous fear when it is recognized, “The God that I did not believe in is on the side of the people that I hated and persecuted.” They're in great fear because God is with the generation of the righteous.

Then finally, there is this sigh that the people of God raised to heaven in verse 7. Oh, that the salvation of Israel would come out of Zion! When the Lord brings back the captivity of His people, Let Jacob rejoice and Israel be glad. We might think that this is a Psalm that was written after the exile, but it's identified as a Psalm of David. We can see how it applies to the people of God in all generations who are enduring persecution, even if that persecution is only verbal. Our hope is not in political deliverance, our hope is not in a Christian president or Christian senators. Our hope is not in a vast army of Christians who will, with all of their political clout, put down atheistic thinking. That's not our hope. Our hope is that the salvation of Israel would come out of Zion, that the Lord would bring back the captivity of His people, that Jacob may rejoice, and Israel may be glad.

By way of application, beware of the avenues of atheistic infiltration in our country. I recognize that most of you who are assembled here this morning have chosen some kind of Christian education for your children, whether you teach them at home, or send them to a Christian school. We do have some students who attend government schools, and I believe that this is an acceptable educational option as long as you do not naively assume that your child’s education is entirely the responsibility of the state. We believe that education is the responsibility of the parent, and as a parent, you are to be involved in your child’s education even if she is enrolled in a government school. You must, however, be aware that the government schools are one of the chief avenues of atheistic infiltration in our society. Obviously, the media are another very powerful avenue of atheistic infiltration. Most of us have media outlets in our home, whether radio, television, or newspapers, or magazines. It does not take a social analyst to figure out that for the most part, the mass media are in the hands of people who do not love Jesus. Jesus said, He who is not with Me is against Me. He who does not gather with Me, scatters abroad.

Keep one final thing in mind. The mastermind behind the movement of atheism that is going on in this country is not public school officials, college professors, people who own the television stations, or the T.V. networks. It is not the teachers of the local school. The mastermind is the devil himself. Ephesians 2 says, The god of this world is at work in the sons of disobedience. We Christians, then, must be clothed in the armor of God. Make sure that you do not make the mistake of thinking that people are your enemies. Atheists are not your enemies. We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers of wickedness in high places. We are involved in Christian warfare. You are going to get hurt badly if you're not clothed in the armor of God. If you are not united to Jesus Christ by faith, then you are an open target for Satan's errors. If you believe that there is a God, then do what is sane. Do what is sensible. Make preparation to stand before that God through Jesus Christ. If there is a God, then surely one day He will judge the world, and He will judge you. He has made a way that you can escape condemnation now by believing in his Son, Jesus Christ. Whoever believes in the Son is not condemned, but whoever rejects the Son is condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's only begotten Son. So today, look to Jesus Christ. Believe in Him, and put an end to the practical atheism that is in your life.

Other uses require written permission. Contact jimorrick@hotmail.com

Scripture from The Holy Bible, New King James Version. Copyright 1982 by
Thomas Nelson, Inc.

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