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.

Three Aspects of Atheism

In the next section of this discourse, Charnock sets out and defends three propositions:

1) "An atheist is a great fool." Bear in mind what has already been said about fools and folly. I can think of several contemporary figures that illustrate and confirm the truth of this statement.

2) "Practical atheism is natural to man in his corrupt state." Looking ahead, the second discourse in the book is dedicated to the subject of practical atheism, so Charnock has much to say on this.

3) "A secret atheism...is the spring of all the wicked practices in the world."

We will take up each of these propositions in sequence over the next several days.

The Threefold Denial of God

The fool/atheist denies God in three ways: that God exists, that he rules and provides, and that he is perfect in part or all. The second denial is subtle in that it is tantamount to actual or pure atheism; it is born out of a desire to do as the fool pleases, without being held to account, and ends up in denying God's existence out of wish-fulfillment. This sort of a man wants the lights extinguished so that he can indulge his lusts in secret, in the dark, where no one can see them. I am reminded of Jean-Paul Sartre's expressed disgust at what he called the "voyeur God," whose prying eye saw all and allowed no privacy for indulgence whatsoever. I am also reminded of the behavior of cockroaches--they go about their sordid business in the dark and instantly scatter when the light is flicked on. Not a very flattering analogy.

Charnock will develop each of these thoughts further, but first he pauses to examine the second half of Psalm 14:1.

1) They are corrupt. This is the outworking of a denial of God. Impure men desperately deny a holy God. They cannot bear to be in his presence.

2) They have done abominable works. This follows from their corruption. As a man thinks in his heart, so he is, and by his fruits you shall know him.

3) There is none that does good. Ouch. This is the universal condemnation of fallen man. Painful as it may be to accept, there is some atheism in all of us; even professing believers are subject to it (Titus 1:16). By our sins we deny God. For his part, God's judgment for our sins also entails us being given over to our evil passions so that we confirm ourselves in our condemnation (Romans 1).

The entire text is an indictment of man's corruption, complete and extensive. And lest anyone thinks he can escape, Paul (to whose exegesis we must submit) extends the embrace of this verse to everyone, Jew and Gentile (Romans 3).