RBV: Acts 13:48

CGG Weekly published this essay, “God Has Not Called the Atheist,” on March 9, 2024.

“And as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed.”
—Acts 13:48

I recently had a social media encounter with three authors whose works I have read extensively. They reacted to a C.S. Lewis quotation I had posted: “An atheist can’t find God for the same reason a thief can’t find a policeman.” I thought it was a clever turn of phrase and meaningful, too, making one think about the reasons people avoid seeking God. My thinking boiled it down to two major reasons: guilt and license. A thief would not look for a policeman because either he would come under the lawman’s authority or he would desire to maintain his libertinism—probably both.

The three writers, social media friends, all atheists and politically liberal, did not agree at all. They did not like Lewis (and me by posting his words) comparing them to thieves. They did not want to be made to feel guilty about being godless; they enjoy their freedom to believe and practice whatever they want. In this way, they proved my conclusion about guilt and license. The quotation made them feel uncomfortable, so one rose in denunciation of C.S. Lewis and me, and another, in defense of his atheism. The third agreed with the other two.

The one who defended his atheism is the one whose story I know best. He is a former fundamentalist Christian, a preacher, who became disillusioned and eventually renounced his beliefs. Many painful things happened to him, and God never intervened to set things right. He began to seek enlightenment elsewhere and ended up on the other end of the spectrum, throwing his nominally Christian beliefs on the trash heap and fully embracing his newfound progressive lifestyle and friends. To him, he tried it, it failed him, and he moved on from it. From everything of his I have read, he disdains Christianity in all its forms.

I did not try to engage him except on one point, agreeing with him that most professing Christians, despite their profession of faith, live as if there is no God. Psalm 10:4, 13 says essentially the same thing:

The wicked in his proud countenance does not seek God; God is in none of his thoughts. . . . Why do the wicked renounce God? He has said in his heart, “You will not require an account.”

Simply put, many claim the title of “Christian” but do not follow Christ’s example and instruction. They want its benefits but not its responsibilities. They do not see God calling them into account for their sins, so they believe they are free to continue in them. John Ritenbaugh called this “practical atheism”: professing God exists but living as if He does not. So, by failing to practice biblical Christianity, such nominal Christians blaspheme God’s name among unbelievers, to use a Pauline phrase (see Romans 2:24). It is no wonder that atheists, seeing the hypocrisy and wreckage of the lives of these Christians-in-name-only, want nothing to do with it.

This reality is a significant problem for Christianity overall. So many of its adherents are such hypocrites that it is almost impossible for religious seekers to find any correlation between the eternal principles found in Scripture and the lives of professing believers. There are hundreds of different “brands” of Christians, and they exist in every spot along the moral and political spectrums. The answer to the question, “What does a Christian believe?” could be anything!

Some evangelical Christians are excited to see an uptick in “spiritual hunger” of those from Generation Z, believing that Protestantism is on the cusp of revival. They cite their numbers of baptisms doubling, missionary fervor among the young increasing, and such events as the Asbury Awakening (“an ongoing service of praise and worship, confession of sin, and celebration of salvation”). They hope it will spread into the churches and affect people of all ages, making “grace-filled gospel Christianity . . . irresistible for many.” Their hope aligns with the recent discussions and debates among evangelicals about “winsomeness,” living and explaining Christianity in a kind, cheerful way that will “win souls for Christ.”

But winsome Christian fervor will not do the trick. It never has. Revivals—of which there have been many over the centuries—have elicited interest and altar calls, but their effectiveness is doubtful. They tend to be emotional rather than truthful. They inspire people to give their hearts to the Lord in a fit of guilt over their sins and a fear of hellfire, but not to obey God’s Word and live according to His way. Most of them go right back to living as they always have, but now they can say, “I’m saved!” and “I will go to heaven when I die.”

The problem is that their lives prove that their hearts have not been opened to belief in Christ and His gospel message. Most Christian denominations read Matthew 28:19, “Go therefore and makes disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,” believing that all they must do is “preach the gospel” to convert humanity. They forget that the resurrected Christ’s command continues in verse 20: “. . . teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you.”

And they forget the very important proviso in John 6:44: “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day.” Christians can preach the gospel as they understand it until they are hoarse, but no one will truly come to Christ unless the Father draws him. God must open each individual to belief in Christ and His teachings (Acts 13:48), or no true conversion will occur. This is why Jesus says, “Many are called, but few are chosen” (Matthew 20:16; 22:14) and call the ones God calls a “little flock” (Luke 12:32). Revelation 14:1-5 prophesies that His Bride, the firstfruits of humanity, the elect of God, will number only 144,000 when He returns.

God desires His Word preached as a witness to all nations (Matthew 24:14), but He controls whom He calls and chooses among those who hear it. He will give the rest an opportunity for salvation in the second or general resurrection from the dead (Revelation 20:11-13). Among those will be many atheists who could see no worth in believing a God who did not respond to them or in a Christianity that did not live up to its principles. At that time, many of them will finally have their eyes opened to believe the truth and submit to Christ.

It is not the job of the church to convince unbelievers out of their unbelief with clever apologetics or emotional appeals. Instead, its job is to preach the truth of the Bible with conviction and clarity, live it as much as possible before the world as examples of Christ’s way, and be prepared to assist those whom the Father calls and leads to Christ and His church. That is enough for human beings coming out of this world, even with the help of the Holy Spirit. We can leave the rest to God.