Leaving Beyond – Grounded In Scripture

Written by: April J. Buchanan

When an atheist seeks to be consistent in his arguments and refuses to wrestle against his conscience and the law of God written upon his heart, he will eventually expose the inability of his worldview to account for the morality he knows to be true.

The atheist seeks to argue for a morality that is entirely independent from God. He makes the creature the ultimate standard by which right and wrong are determined, often appealing to what individuals or societies have come to regard as good or evil. Yet what one society declares acceptable, another may declare evil. One society may approve of cannibalism while another condemns it. One may approve of rape while another condemns it. If morality is ultimately determined by the creature, upon what objective foundation can one society declare another truly wrong?

The atheist has no objective standard within atheism by which he may ultimately stand. His moral judgments are ever changing as societies and individuals change. Laws may be just or unjust, but if God is excluded from the equation, what objective standard remains by which justice and injustice may finally be determined? The atheist may know that a law is unjust, but he must still account for the standard by which he calls it unjust.

The consistent atheist cannot borrow from the biblical worldview to answer that question. He cannot appeal to the law of God written upon the hearts of men, nor can he appeal to the fact that men will one day be judged by God. No. If he is going to reason consistently within his atheistic worldview, he cannot bring God into the equation. He must account for his belief in right and wrong without appealing to God as the ultimate foundation for objective moral obligation.

But the problem remains. He knows that some things are truly evil. He knows that some things ought never to be done, regardless of what a society may approve. He knows this because the law of God is written upon the heart of man. He may deny the God who gave the law, but he cannot escape the moral knowledge God has given him.

This is part of the great folly of atheism. Man, in his refusal to acknowledge God, declares himself wise while suppressing the very truth he cannot escape. He reasons as though he can stand independently of God, while the very faculty by which he reasons is a gift from God. The heart that refuses to consider God in its reasoning is not neutral toward Him. It is in rebellion against Him.

Yet we must never forget that the atheist is not beyond the reach of God’s grace. Can an atheist be saved? Yes. By grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. The atheist is no different from any other sinner in his need. He does not need merely better arguments. He needs Christ. The same grace that saves the religious man saves the atheist. Salvation belongs to the Lord.

The inconsistent atheist struggles when confronted with questions that expose these contradictions. His atheistic logic may lead him in one direction, while the moral law written upon his heart tells him something entirely different. When pressed to follow his own reasoning to its logical conclusion, he finds himself wrestling against conclusions he knows are evil. He then attempts to reconcile two opposing foundations, his atheistic worldview and the moral reality that is consistent with a biblical worldview. He cannot. His struggle only reveals the inconsistency.

Many recognize the folly of the atheist but fail to see how many within the church have bought the lie. They may reject atheism while embracing ideas that are just as opposed to the truth of Scripture. They may speak of spiritual warfare while abandoning the very foundation upon which the battle must be fought.

The battle is for truth.

The Christian, however, stands upon a firm foundation, Scripture. We need not be shaken when men seek to expose supposed inconsistencies in our faith. There may be questions we cannot answer. There may be objections for which we do not immediately have a response. But our inability to answer every question does not make the foundation upon which we stand any less solid.

And this is precisely why, when challenged, the world will often seek to persuade the Christian to reason from somewhere other than Scripture. The Christian must not surrender his foundation in an attempt to satisfy the demands of sinful men. There is nothing deficient in the Word of God. The problem is that sinful men hate the truth, and the truth exposes what they would rather conceal.

The Christian who places one foot upon the firm foundation of Scripture and the other upon the shifting ground of worldly reasoning has already begun to lose his footing. The world will gladly draw him farther away from Scripture, lead him into arguments built upon its own assumptions, and then mock him for standing upon the very foundation he was persuaded to abandon.

Many who think themselves to be fighting the enemy through strange practices are not waging the battle Scripture commands us to fight. They have mistaken spectacle for spiritual warfare and counterfeit power for the power of God. They may believe they are defeating Satan and his minions, yet they have abandoned the very foundation upon which they are called to stand. They are no threat to the enemy when they have surrendered the truth.

There is a battle. It is a battle for truth. And many in the church have already conceded. They have abandoned their true foundation and no longer know how to stand in the truth or proclaim it. They busy themselves with supposed spiritual warfare while neglecting the very truth by which the enemy is exposed and the church is strengthened.

There is indeed real spiritual warfare, but much of what the world sees and mocks as spiritual warfare bears little resemblance to the biblical reality. Spiritual warfare is not found in the spectacle and strange practices so often associated with it. The enemy seeks to deceive, distort, and suppress the truth of God. The battle is real, and the Christian must stand in the truth.

Dear saint, do not do it. There is nothing wrong with using sound arguments. There is nothing wrong with answering objections carefully and thoughtfully. We may reason from evidence, history, morality, and the world around us, but we must never surrender Scripture as our ultimate foundation and authority. If an argument is true, it will ultimately agree with the truth of Scripture. If an argument requires you to step away from Scripture in order to make Christianity acceptable to the world, it is not an argument worth standing upon.

Stand upon the Word. The world may mock you for it. Let them. You are not the fool for trusting the foundation God has given you. And if you must be considered a fool in the eyes of the world, then be a fool for Christ.