How would you like to peer into the mind of Richard Dawkins, Stephen Hawking, and Sam Harris to see what they really think about God? Romans 1:18-32 lets us do just that. There God tells us what every atheist knows about God.

“But, how do they know anything about God when they don’t go to Church, read the Bible, etc?”

The Apostle Paul says that the invisible things of God are made plain to everyone through the made things (v. 19). In other words, the creation reveals the Creator to all creatures. “What may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them” (v. 20). And he shows it to them through what He has made. Just as handwriting tells us something about the writer, and just as a painting tells us something about a painter, so God’s creation tells everyone, even atheists, a lot about God.

And what does the visible creation tell every atheist about the invisible Creator?

1. God exists. If they clearly see God’s invisible attributes (v. 19), then they obviously know He exists. As verse 21 says, “They know God.”

2. God is eternal. They know that there is a being who had no beginning and will never end (v. 20).

3. God is powerful. They have an eerie sense of God’s overwhelming almightiness (v. 20).

4. God is God. They not only know His eternal power but His eternal Godhead (v. 20). This is not someone just a bit bigger then themselves, but a wholly other kind of being, a transcendent God.

5. God is angry. The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against ungodly and unrighteous men (v. 18). Even atheists tremble in the thunder.

6. God will judge. Not only do they know God is presently angry with sin, but that he will justly judge it in the future (v. 32)

7. God is good. God has left a witness to His goodness everywhere in the regularity of seasons and harvests (Acts 14:17)

8. God is glorious. Day after day, and night after night, the fingerprints of God in His creation preaches “God is glorious, God is glorious” (Ps. 19:1-3). Every people and land have hear this sermon every day.

So why do Harris, Hawking, and Dawkins not believe this daily sermon that’s so full of theology?

Television
Let me use the TV to illustrate Paul’s explanation. God transmits a clear signal, and people receive a clear signal (v. 19-20). However, the viewers turn down the volume, they hold down or suppress the truth in unrighteousness (v. 18).

When that doesn’t work, they try to change the channels. They know they should worship, but they exchange the glory of God for idols (v. 22). They know there is truth to believe, but they exchange the truth of God for a lie (v. 25). They know there is a morality to govern relationships, but they exchange natural sexual relations for unnatural (v. 26).

When the signal still gets through, they try and switch off the TV, they do everything they can to get rid of this unwanted knowledge (v. 28), and then ultimately try to drown out the remaining message by ungodly lives (v. 29-31). But Paul says, despite these desperate attempts, despite all their protestations and denials, “They still know the judgment of God” (v. 32). They cannot escape the certain fact that they will one day meet a divine judge.

What grace!
What grace! That God makes such a generous daily revelation to a world which daily spurns, mocks, rejects and attacks his revelation! No ordinary artist would persevere when his handiwork was treated like this.

What madness! That men and women should reject such precious and valuable knowledge, and admire themselves as wise in the process (v. 22).

What privilege! This revelation of God through creation is often called general revelation because it is given to all. But it cannot save anyone.  General revelation can only show us our need, and give hints that God’s goodness may supply our need. But it cannot save us. It can only leave us without excuse. To be saved we need an extra revelation, a special revelation. That’s why God gave us His written and enfleshed Word. If we have that, we are highly privileged. But to whoever much is given, much will be required.

What hope! As we evangelize, we are not evangelizing blank slates. We are not starting with total ignorance. We are going to people who already know much about God. There are already mental sockets prepared for the truth of God’s Word to fit into and to explain.

Dawkins, Hawking, Harris & co. will vehemently deny all this. But they know. And you know. And we know you know. And we only want you to know more, to know the Jesus who said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.”

  • Jay Tee

    As someone who grew up in the faith and is now seriously questioning it, this unfortunately does not ring true to me. I wish it were true. I’d love for creation to convince me that God is there, eternal, powerful, etc. I’m trying my best to turn up the volume, and stay tuned in, dragging myself to church every Sunday, and engaging a lot of effort in apologetics and discussions and other Christian reading to try and hold up my faith, but there is nothing. Well, not quite nothing. There’s something… just a further (sorrowful) conviction that it is all a delusion. And if that’s where I’m at, as someone who deeply wants it to be true, how much less do Dawkins & co “know”?!

    • Webster

      Give a read to John and 1st John, Jay, and notice the words John uses in his interactions with Jesus. Realize that Paul confessed before Felix that the things that Jesus did, the works that He accomplished, were not done in a corner, and were done to fulfill what was said about Him through the prophets of the OT. Also, realize that everyone everywhere has to deal with the fact that Jesus Christ rose again from the dead, and that, Paul says, is the proof of who it is that God has chosen to judge the world – and he said that to Gentiles, men who would not have been likely familiar with the Scriptures!

      • Jay Tee

        What to do with Jesus is one thing that does keep me grounded in at least giving faith a fair chance, and one reason I have not left the church yet. He can’t be explained away very easily. And yet I can’t keep wondering… people have believed stranger things than the resurrection, so who’s to say Jesus isn’t just another Joseph Smith?

        • Webster

          But it’s not the resurrection itself that’s stange, but that in Christ’s resurrection we are told who it is that God has given all authority to, who it is that God has determined is the judge of all men, we are told that all Jesus said about himself was 100% on spot so that when Jesus says that He is lifted up like the bronze serpent that all who believe may have eternal life, that He is qualified and authorized and forever alive to give it, having been revealed to the whole world that He is God to the glory of God the Father – that is what is strange to us.

          See, we live in a quid pro quo world, and here is God crushing Jesus without cause in Him, and saying to the ones who should be crushed instead, “Look to my risen Son, crushed for sinners, and be reconciled by His blood for your sin, and be made holy by the power of His resurrection from the dead on your account. ”

          God has raised no other from the dead like Jesus, giving Him glory and honor, calling us to worship Him, telling sinners to look upon this raised one to have your sin washed away. All this was done publicly 2000 years ago. There is none like Him, and my friend, if you want this sovereign Savior, you can have Him!

          • Jay Tee

            Yes, certainly strange things.
            Before having Jesus, I would want to be sure that he is the real deal. My heart and mind aren’t accepting that fully right now.

    • David Murray

      Hang in there, Jay Tee, even if it’s only with your finger nails. This passage doesn’t guarantee that everyone has the same consciousness of God or even that it’s constant. In some it is weaker and in some it is in rare moments; but it’s there at times. I’d encourage you to keep your focus on the person and work of Christ. Be much in the Gospels and keep praying for faith. Remember, God promises that He is the rewarder of those who diligently seek Him (Heb. 11:6), and that none who come to him by Jesus will ever be turned away (John 6:37). Also, keep yourself in the primary place that God generates and sustains faith – the local church. I’ll be praying for you.

      • Jay Tee

        Thanks David. I do keep dragging myself to church Sunday after Sunday in the hopes that faith will grow. That’s what I’ve always believed theologically. In reality, though, that’s where faith suffers the most and I feel most disconnected from God. Perhaps especially because the preaching is disconnected from reality.

    • CrossHugger

      Something that helps me is as I age, I see more and more of where God played a part in my life. It is more than blind luck and time after time I have seen His love. Are there points in your life where you thought something was not possible and things worked out anyhow? Divine intervention is real.
      My examples are too numerous to list but there is no getting around it, God is in control.

      • Jay Tee

        There have been… at least at the time I interpreted events in that way. But now I look back and think that was just an interpretation borne out of a faith-worldview that wasn’t necessarily true. I look back and can acknowledge that there are other explanations, whether by science, psychology, or chance. And some things are still unexplained, but perhaps an explanation awaits.
        Also, for every great “God moment” in life there are a hundred “where was God?” moments. And so the argument seems to backfire. I know, theologically, God works everything for the good, but if I look at real life, it seems a real stretch, as though we’ve all been brainwashed into thinking that way.

        • CrossHugger

          I think that you may be forgetting about the refining of one in the fires of life. We were never promised all would be well. Persecution and the arrows of the evil of this world are meant to drag you down and away. I find that my sin has more to do with my struggles and wandering away. Prayers can take time and if we are impatient, which I am, it can get frustrating. The Lord answers in His time and sometimes the answers are not clear and sometimes they are no or wait. My mother suffered severe losses in her life and never gave up on God. I know that as sure as I am sitting here, she is in the arms of her Savior. I know that it was the only thing that was real and she could make it through the days of her life. Please don’t quit on Jesus, He did not quit on us.

          • Jay Tee

            This is one way to look at it.
            Another way, that I felt for my faith to be genuine, I needed to truly consider, is that it is all a sham. Someone of any religion could say exactly the same thing.
            I’m trying not to quit on Jesus, but every time I get a step closer, I end up steps back. (Or is it two steps closer to truth?) This is a real struggle for me.

          • CrossHugger

            We all go through stretches like this. Do you do any sort of devotional reading? Do you have fellowship with other believers? Have you asked for prayers ? Does your church stand on Scripture as Truth. I will pray that you find your way. It is not a sham, it is the Truth. I know it to my core,

          • Jay Tee

            I’m thankful that there are people like you who have that great conviction. I’d love to have it myself.
            If you’ll permit me to sound cynical (but actually realistic)… devotional reading has left me further disillusioned with Christianity, most other believers that I’m with can’t identify with my wrestlings and are unhelpful in their assumptions, Sunday worship and preaching leaves me feeling worse than ever, prayer seems no more effective than talking to a ceiling fan, and I wonder if Scripture is as God-inspired as my church (and 2 Tim 3:16) claims.

          • CrossHugger

            No reason to apologize for cynicism. I am cynical by nature. Something I have to work on also. Could it be your church? Thank you for the compliment. I do not think I am worthy of a lofty compliment. We should thank God for people of faith and divine appointments. Sometimes God places people in our paths for a Divine appointment. Scripture is God inspired but remember churches are houses full of sinners. That is why we are supposed to go there. We go to worship God, repent for our sins, get the forgiveness we need and get ready for another week. Churches are run by men and woman. Unfortunately sometimes they stray from Scripture and make church in their image and all about their program, not Gods. There are a lot of churches that have changed Scripture to mean what they want and not the Truth. as a believer in Christ I should be concerned about others and their eternity. Truly it breaks my heart to see what you are going through but there is hope. I have seen too many times in my own life where I have made a hash of things and have found forgiveness at the foot of the cross.

          • Deborah C.

            Hello again Jay Tee,
            I’m not one to comment on blogs but your comments have really reached my heart. I want to encourage you to continue to read your Bible. No fancy reading plan. Just start at Genesis 1 and keep on reading. I wish you would read some each day. Will you pray as you read and ask God to give you understanding? He knows your struggles. He knows our weaknesses and frailty. Have you talked with the pastor at your church? I am not one to lightly advise changing churches, but if your pastor is not available to you or not giving you the time and support and prayer that you need, I wonder if you are in the right church. I say this as someone who left a mega church after 14 years. There were a lot of programs and busyness but no true pastoral care. I am now in a small church with a pastor who knows me and my family, knows my struggles, is available for a phone call, email, or face-to-face visit whenever we need him. He is a true pastor and watches over us. It seems to me that the fact that you are thinking so deeply about all this and saying that you want it to be true despite your doubts indicates that God is indeed at work in you. He may have a long, tough road for you. I don’t know. Just please don’t give up. You can see by the posts here that there are those of us, even complete strangers, that care about you. That is the work of God in us.

          • Jay Tee

            Thanks Deborah. I’m really encouraged by your comments and those of others here. I have been talking with various pastors, and there too I find encouragement to keep on going and not give up. It’s still a long lonely road, though.

          • Deborah C.

            I pray you have a rich Easter, Jay Tee, filled with God’s grace.

    • AlanDueck

      Jay Tee, are there specific things you are questioning or struggling with, things you’d like to have answers to but can’t seem to get?

      • Jay Tee

        Too many to count it seems, and every day there are more. I think at heart the issue is experiencing an enormous disconnect between faith (or Reformed theology) and reality. A few examples:
        * The Spirit supposedly works faith through the Word. It’s not happening in my case – or in countless others.
        * If the Holy Spirit is God and is really present in Christians, you’d think you’d notice some difference in Christians, whereas in reality there are many atheists whose lives are much more stable/happy/etc than many Christians.
        * Scripture – how can we know it is really God’s Word? Why doesn’t God speak today? Why not the Qur’an or another holy book?
        * The injustice of sending billions of people who haven’t heard the gospel to hell, just because some of our ancestors ate the forbidden fruit.
        I long to have some resolution. But at the moment faith doesn’t resonate for these and many more reasons.

        • John Oliver

          Jay Tee, thanks for sharing so candidly. May I ask a question? Are you conscious of your own sin? In other words, does your conscience tell you that you break God’s laws? I’m curious to know. And if so, what do you do with those thoughts? Thanks!

          • Jay Tee

            Conscious of sin, doing things wrong… yes, I know I’m not perfect. But for me, it doesn’t go as far as orthodox Christianity goes in so far as being convinced I am “totally depraved.” The theology I grew up with tells me I am, and therefore I need Christ as a Saviour, but life experience doesn’t bear out that everything is full of sin.
            To be clear, I’m not saying that there’s not a lot of sin in the world, or that people don’t do bad things (I’ve seen a lot of evil!); rather, that I’m not sure the problem is as bad as Christianity says it is, and so I’m not sure that the solution of the Son of God’s incarnation, death, resurrection, etc is even necessary. (So, if I were trying to evangelize myself, I don’t think sin would be the best place to start.)
            What do I do with my conscience accusing me of sin? I try to do better next time, increasing in love for other people. I’m not sure if the Holy Spirit has ever actually helped me in this department, and there are plenty of atheists out there (who presumably don’t have the Holy Spirit to help them out) who seem to do at least as well as most Christians in living decent lives.

          • John Oliver

            Well, that’s the crux, isn’t it? If we don’t think sin is what God says it is, or more specifically, our sin, we won’t need the Saviour God says we need. You certainly know the right words, but I do believe that truly seening our sin in the light of His goodness is the only way we really turn. I don’t understand how that happens, clearly not by mere words. I will pray for you tonight. “Indeed, none who wait for you shall be put to shame…”Ps. 25:3

          • Brian Zylstra

            I can empathize a lot with your doubt. I think about a lot of the same things. The thing I think about in regard to sin is how it relates to God’s purpose. If sin so easily entangles that it pulls us away from living as we should, then it’s easy to see that people can be fine and happy in sin. Sin doesn’t have to make people bad or miserable (often it does); it just has to get us to live a purpose other than God’s purpose. That’s one of the reasons why we see so many decent non-Christian.

            As far as the Holy Spirit goes, there are many things that He does, one of which is to convince me that my only hope is Christ. I may fall 1000 times, the Holy Spirit convinces me that Christ saved me, to repent, and to turn to him as Savior. As much as I’d like to be free from sin or to see some sort of resistance grow to sin, the fact is sin will be around until Christ returns. My hope is not in my perfection here, but in Christ. Sanctification, yes, is becoming more like Christ, but it is also trusting in Him more. I’ve found more growth to happen when I grow in love of my Savior who saves this wretched sinner than in picking a sin to defeat to live a better life.

          • Guest

            *sin, not din

        • AlanDueck

          Jay Tee, these are very important questions you raise. Thanks for taking the time to list some of the issues that are troubling you about faith.

          I too have had struggles with doubt in the years since becoming a Christian. I’d like to be of help. Would you be open to a conversation about this? You are welcome to contact me directly. Just call me at (775) 455-0101, or go to my page at http://www.sermonaudio.com/graceopc1 and click the email link.

          Take heart, doubt is not the end of faith!

          May our gracious God encourage and uphold you in Christ.

          –Alan

          • Jay Tee

            Thanks Alan. I’ll email you soon.

        • Mark

          As a non-believer, Jayson, these are indeed excellent questions. I think there are two paths you can walk, what you want to believe to be true, and what is true. Your heart may lead you to the former, and your brain to the latter. Good luck friend!

    • Deborah C.

      Hello Jay Tee,
      I can’t improve upon what the others have said and advised but I will commit to pray for you. I really admire your honesty. I hope you are in a good church where the Bible is preached and there are people there who are well equipped to answer your questions, pray for you, and pray with you. Please be encouraged – it is no accident that you came to this blog!

  • Abandon Window

    And people call atheists arrogant. This is too funny.

    • Duncan Idaho

      Care to elaborate?

      • Abandon Window

        Claiming to know people better than they know themselves. It’s silly. If you’ve got arguments, make your arguments–don’t just say, “They already know I’m right and they just won’t admit it.”

        • Dave

          There is no argument to make. The facts before a person are clear. A person sees a house and knows there was a designer/builder, yet observes creation and says “random!”. How much more complex is the universe? Would you debate someone on the existence of the home builder?

          • Abandon Window

            I wouldn’t debate anyone on anything. I’m not interested in changing yours or anybody else’s mind. All I can say is if there is a home builder, I think he (it’s always a ‘he’ in these stories, isn’t it?) did a lousy job. People keep dying of natural disasters and diseases in this big old house of his. What’s up with that?

          • Dave

            Good question. Why do those things happen? It really reverts back to original sin, that we all have fallen short of the glory of God and all like sheep have gone astray. The result of sin is that now death has entered the world. The question that really should be asked is “why does anything good happen at all?” since there is no one who does good and that there is no one righteous, but we have all broken the law of a just, holy, perfect God. This of course leads us to a need of a savior and God’s love for His creation. “While we were sinners, Christ died for us”. So Christ, the perfect Son of God, was sacrificed and paid the penalty of our rebellion so we could be saved through faith in Him. I too am not trying to change your mind. I am just sharing the Gospel. It is not about being right, but about a person’s soul.

          • Monty Lookloy

            Abandon, the believer in God is not the only one who has to answer the question of evil found in natural disasters. Everyone has to deal with the issue. What answer does the atheist or naturalist has for this. I know that I dont have all the answers but the reality Gods existence means that there are. Also note that evil is not just the things we find inconvenient because it thwarts our idea of happiness. It also includes hatred and lying and envy. Are we sure we want God to stop all evil now. We would all be dead if that were the case.

          • Abandon Window

            What I like about naturalism isn’t that it has answers, but that it doesn’t make promises it can’t keep.

          • Monty Lookloy

            What promises has Christianity made that it can’t keep?

          • AlanDueck

            Genesis 1 & 2 will tell you about the Builder and the house. Chapter 3 (and following) will explain why it looks like it does today. Hint: it wasn’t always like this, and won’t be like this forever (that’s the promise unfolded from Gen. 3:15 onward).

          • Jay Tee

            I’m with Abandon on this one. The fact that is clear (at least to a Western thinker) is: there IS a universe. How one interprets that is always a matter of interpretation, and we cannot impose our own interpretation on someone else as if they should see that as an obvious fact.

          • Dave

            I am not sure anyone is trying to impose any interpretation, though some may. However, while we all come across the evidence with our own presuppositions that does not mean there is no truth. So the question then becomes what is the truth?

  • Beth

    How do we know God is good? Suppose we never see this goodness in our life.

    • Mark

      If someone lives long enough to think about whether or not God is good, he has been good to them.

    • AlanDueck

      How do we know God is good? Look at the cross. That should be you and me nailed to that wood. Instead, God gave his own Son, his beloved to give life to whoever will believe.

  • http://www.evangelismeveryday.com/ Bobby Blakey

    Thanks for upholding the truth of Romans 1! In our evangelism we should not give away what the Bible says here that the existence of God is self-evident through his creation!

  • Gary Causer

    Mind reading? Who knew…thanks for the explanation….

    Molon labe

  • Karen Bignell
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