Once upon a time every basic education included Latin and Greek. I had that- it’s called a classical education and it helps to know what words mean. The meaning of these four words is important for two reasons – 1st – Jesus is the Word of God, so all the words of faith and religion need to be understood accurately.
2nd, our life of faith can get messed up enough without also losing track of what words mean. Our knowledge of Him is clarified when we know words clearly. Word study is one of the main ways to study the Bible.
Atheist
In Greek and also Latin the prefix “a” means a “lack of” or “absence of.” To be an atheist then is to believe that God does not exist at all. From the standpoint of logic this position is indefensible because one cannot prove a negative. We have a court system for people who are accused. If they can prove they were nowhere near the scene of the crime then they will be freed. That is as close to proving a negative as you’ll ever get. As Maria’s sang in the Sound of Music “Nothing comes from nothing, Nothing ever could” leaving the atheist without an First Cause – but I digress.
A true atheist will not Boo God as many noisy delegates did at the 2012 Democratic Convention in Charlotte NC. You don’t Boo someone you don’t think exists. {In all fairness, they were booing the convention chairman who overrode their negative voice vote – but never mind – God sees and remembers as He said to Ishmael’s mother in the desert. Genesis 21}
Anti-theism
But most people are not atheists. These are anti-theists, that is they are actively against God. Those people do Boo. Anti-theism got its big push in the 60s with Madelyn O’Hare kicking God out of the school curriculum and that will end who-knows where. This is the group that believes if you don’t talk about something then it can be ignored; these are the same people who say “I don’t have cancer, I don’t have cancer” but they die anyway. Denial solves nothing. The Bible says, “they didn’t want God in their minds.”
28 And because they did not think it worthwhile to acknowledge God, God delivered them over to a worthless mind to do what is morally wrong.
Romans 1:28-32 (PHILLIPS)
I love the Philips translation because he nails sin so well…or try this version.
28-32 Moreover, since they considered themselves too high and mighty to acknowledge God, he allowed them to become the slaves of their degenerate minds, and to perform unmentionable deeds.
Well, fine but do other people have to be mindless too? Not really. Someday America will open up free speech again and we can say what we will about God anywhere – including in schools. Meanwhile we can see that the Bible acknowledges deliberate ignorance as an act of the will, not just inattention to the truth, and its origin is pride.
Agnostic
The agnostic is someone who has unanswered questions about the person and work of God. If they cracked a Bible they would learn, I suppose, but even then the skeptic is always among us. Agnostic comes from two Greek words, “a” without and “gnosis” the foundation word for know, knowledge, ignorant, etc. These no-believers are still alive and possibly can be reached.
Anti-Christ
The final classification is the word anti-Christ. In this case the word “anti” does not mean “against” but rather “instead of” – it is a substitution. While Satan is against Christ his greatest goal is to be instead of Christ, to be worshiped and to take the place as the ruler of the world. If you look at the world today, would you honestly like to be ruler? Probably not.
But never mind. We know the devil is nuts so his goals are crazy too. The Anti-Christ, when he comes, and many people think those days are very soon, will not have horns and a pointy tail, but be very attractive. Men have always wanted a messiah because life is hard and a messiah offers a way out – quick and easy. But we already have a Messiah and His way out is spelled out. It’s through Him.
P.S. Rogers and Hammerstein, both Jews, wrote the Sound of Music and were theists.
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3 Responses
That definition of atheism is not quite right. The atheism as you described it “to believe that God does not exist at all” is actually what Philosophers like Anthony Flew would call “hard” atheists. On the other hand, there is “soft” atheism, which is merely a lack of belief in God. Soft atheists do not make the claim that God doesn’t exist. They may acknowledge that God could exist, but they will not accept that claim until proper evidence has been provided.
Similarly, there are explicit and implicit atheists. Explicit atheists have considered the idea of God (and not just the Judeo-Christian God, but all gods) and have rejected the belief in all of them. Implicit atheists either have not given the idea of deities much thought, or, though they do not believe, have not rejected belief. Likewise, anyone unfamiliar with theism is an atheist because he or she does not believe in a god (newborn infants, for instance).
You were correct to point out the atheists at the DNC were booing the convention chairman and not God. Some atheists are particularly vocal about the separation of church and state. They aren’t booing God so much as they are booing the presence of religion in politics. If the DNC inserted language about Allah or Zeus or Thor into the convention, these atheists would be equally as irate.
Anti-theists don’t ignore conversations about God. Quite on the contrary, they are some of the most vociferous objectors to the whole concept of God! Anti-theists talk about God quite a bit, and the most outgoing anti-theists engage in regular public debates with theists; often in crowded arenas, auditoriums, and lecture halls.
Thanks for your careful and reasoned reply. Since I limit myself to 300-600 words I did not include these valid details.
I would have preferred that the Convention Chairman put the issue to a paper ballot; clearly the Nayes were not 2/3rds noisier, but the Yayes had no majority at all. I would have thought the democratic (small d) thing would be a true vote. In addition I doubt if there is any reason to think that God-issues will be driven from politics since all government originally started with a powerful person who eventually made himself a deity, until proven otherwise. The Emperor of Japan lost his deity after World War II as an example of this.
According to scriptures, my basic text, infants are theists from the day they are born because the spirit of Man is God given before birth and is ageless. The body and the soul must develop before these realities can manifest themselves. Jesus said of children “Their’s IS the kingdom of heaven” not was, not will be, but present reality.
Thanks again for your comment.
Unfortunately the Democratic Party (democratic in name only) would not boo and hiss any other god but the Judeo-Christian one. We know this because only that God makes moral demands. The others are based on expected behaviors, some good some bad. Man without God is basically lawless, an attitude and action the Judeo-Christian God rejects.