Demonstration of the Atheist's Folly, Part Three

The second reason Charnock gives for the folly of atheism (again, the first reason being swimming against the tide of the universal testimony of mankind) is that it is foolish to deny God's revelation of himself in creation, what is termed general revelation. To support this he cites Romans 1:19, 20: "[S]ince what may be known about God is plain to [wicked men who suppress the truth], because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities--his eternal power and divine nature--have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse." Paul could not be more explicit.

Charnock employs an analogy of a mirror--just as in a mirror we see a true (if not complete) depiction of the image of a person or object, so creation reflects the glorious image of its Creator. The heavens are especially eloquent on this point (see Psalm 19, for example). "Where Scripture was not revealed, the world served for a witness of a God."

He then elaborates this concept by looking at four aspects of how creation testifies to the reality of God: the very existence of creation, its harmony, its preservation, and its several purposes. We will look at these in more detail.

Charnock's First Summary Statement

Apologies for my brief silence--last week was rather busy.

At the conclusion of his first extended discussion of the folly of atheism, Charnock observes, "[I]s it not a folly for an atheist to deny that which is the reason and common sentiment of the whole world; to strip himself of humanity, run counter to his own conscience, prefer a private before an universal judgment, give the lie to his own nature and reason, assert things impossible to be proved, nay, impossible to be acted, forge irrationalities for the support of his fancy against the common persuasion of the world, and against himself, and so much of God as is manifest in him and in every man?"

I expect there is much in those words to which a contemporary atheist would object, but Charnock is not done with his argument. The next series of posts will address the testimony of general revelation--how God has manifested proof of his existence by the things he has created.

Demonstration of the Atheist's Folly, Part Two

Charnock gives as his second reason that it is foolish to deny general revelation, i.e., God's declaration of himself in his creation. Of course, he cites Romans 1:19, 20 as a supporting text. He also employs the analogy of a mirror, with creation reflecting the glorious image of its Creator. In this regard, he considers the heavens to be particularly good at this.

"Where Scripture was not revealed, the world served for a witness of a God."

Charnock then develops (at some length) four propositions about the witness of creatures: in their production, harmony, preservation, and answering their several ends. I will take each of these up in sequence over the next several posts.

Demonstration of the Atheist's Folly, Part One

Before I start, let me take note of new information that an atheist named Paula Kirby wrote a strongly-worded article published in Friday's Washington Post decrying Christianity and promoting atheism as a superior worldview. If I can find the article I may try my hand at answering her charges, and seeing if Charnock--as we have followed him so far--has anything to say.

But back to Charnock. He states that his first reason supporting his contention that atheism is folly is that it is foolish to deny or even doubt the "universal testimony of mankind." By this he means that no human society in his experience had ever been based on atheism or maintained it as a principle tenet. He observes three aspects of this testimony:

1) It is universal. No nation in all history previous to the mid-17th century had denied the existence of God as such, although many societies have differed substantially as to the specifics (polytheism, henotheism, pantheism, monotheism, etc.). I observe parenthetically that Charnock could not have known about the skeptical and Marxist revolutions that began in the 18th century, although subsequent experience has demonstrated that the resulting societies were unstable or successful for awhile due to severe repression, indicating that long-term official atheism is untenable.

2) It is consistent and uninterrupted. Throughout the turmoil of human history, religion as an ordering concept has stood. Men have had ample opportunity and motive to debunk it but none have done so firmly and finally. Even Satan did not attempt to deny God's existence in any of his interactions with mankind recorded in the Scriptures.

3) It is natural and innate. This means that the sense of God's existence is part of the makeup of man and impossible for him to root out of himself, although certainly many have tried (once again, Romans 1).

And yet, says Charnock, this persistent sense is not a mere tradition, else why this one concept has been preserved and all the rest (according to religious thought and observance) controverted and dissimilar? And, neither is it a conspiracy of human leadership to keep their subjects under control; he develops several reasons why this cannot be the case (no evidence of it, no manner of its communication in a pretechnical civilization, no cohesive plan; goes contrary to the grain of most politicians, who have generally lacked a reverent fear of God and tend to introduce corruptions of worship rather than preserve the good; no one has ever confessed to such a conspiracy, and how could it have remained secret for so long; who gets the credit as its originator). Nor can it be a product of fear, meaning terror, of God, for the notion of God must precede being terrorized by him; no one fears what is not recognized.

The Light of Reason

Contemporary atheists like to characterize themselves as smarter and more intelligent than theists; some even go so far as to advocate the term "brights" for themselves, implying that those who believe in God are the "not-brights," or perhaps the "dims." But this seriously prejudices the case and misrepresents the place of reason in theism. It also mistakes the role of reason in atheism, which is far more dependent on irrationality than most atheists realize or care to admit.

Belief in God, most particularly the God of the Bible, is a matter not just of faith (itself often grossly misunderstood by believers as well as unbelievers) but of reason. Christianity is a reasonable faith. God has revealed himself intelligibly in creation and in Scripture; the prophets and apostles repeatedly appealed to general revelation as testimony to the reality of God.

Charnock employs the analogy of the sun as he seeks to illustrate the maxim that "revelation always implies a revealer." In the process of emitting light, by which all else is seen by normal vision, the sun reveals itself and attests to its being.

The Benefits of Debunking Atheism and Affirming the Existence of God

1) It will help expose and then root out the cause of unrighteousness in a society.

2) It is vital to religion and the proper worship of God, which is a further boon to society.

3) It makes the individual believer a better Christian, for he is enabled to know why he should believe and not just because his parents and community so instruct him. In other words, he personalizes his faith.

4) It counteracts our secret atheism and informs our worship and devotion.

5) It enhances our love of God.

Contrary to the opinions of many of our contemporaries, Charnock clearly affirms the good that true religion does for the individual and the community. An unbiased study of history will bear this out. The difficulty comes in that true religion must be propagated anew every generation. The struggle against our natural corruption is constant.

Atheism Is "A Grand Folly"

Charnock tells us that atheism is a stubborn denial of what is so plainly evident from reason, the testing of nature, and the being of man himself, to the point that it actually degrades a man. Recall that Charnock wrote in the middle of the 17th century in England. He observes that ordinarily he would consider it a waste of time to defend the existence of God, but that there had been in his day a proliferation of atheists (who styled themselves free-thinkers) as well as a rise in moral corruption, which he links together. As he will discuss shortly, open atheism had been espoused very rarely in Western civilization and practically not at all for the preceding millennium in Europe. So for Charnock the rise of open atheism was a new phenomenon; he did not know, as we do now, that things would only get worse in succeeding centuries. Be that as it may, he wrote in order to refute the arguments being raised and to lend encouragement to his fellow Christians--a proper study and understanding of God as he really is being of much benefit in dispelling the secret atheism that can plague even professed believers and hence reduce the outworkings of such corrupting influences.