Occasionally someone tells me that he is an atheist (doesn’t believe in God) or an agnostic (not sure there is a God).
Such skepticism is rooted in one of three things:
1. Intellect. Some skepticism is intellectual. There are people who have delved so deeply into philosophy and science that they have more questions than answers. They demand more information than anyone can ever know, so they become skeptics. Most skeptics would like for you to think their problems are intellectual. However, few people have ever given God that much thought. They don’t care that much about him. Honest intellectual skepticism is almost nonexistent.
2. Emotions. Much skepticism is roofed in emotional experiences. The person had a bad experience with some person (a parent, preacher, friend) or group who was closely associated or identified with religion. Their disappointment and rejection of the person led to their disappointment in and rejection of God and Christianity. They never separated their feelings from the facts. So they threw the baby out with the bath water. While this person raises the same old intellectual questions, the problem is an emotional rejection due to past experiences.
3. Morals. Most skepticism is rooted in immorality. The person wants to live like the devil, and the most comfortable way to do that is to deny God. Their skepticism is not real. It is a smokescreen to cover up their sin.
The real tragedy with most skeptics is that they aren’t honest. They have never really tried to find out the truth about God. They have almost no firsthand knowledge of the Bible. They have never read it for themselves. They deal in secondhand knowledge, hearsay evidence, and distorted ideas about the Bible, God, and the church.
As someone said, “Atheists can’t find God for the same reason a thief can’t find a policeman.”