A Universe Without God: The Irrationality of the Atheist

In order to understand our world around us, whether in the informal sense of day-to-day living or in a formal,scientific manner, we must accept that every object that has come into existence and every action must have a cause. That is, when the pool ball rolls across the table, we understand that something hit it. We could never develop an understanding of the laws of the universe if we didn't have this presupposition.

However, in order to avoid invoking God, the atheist posits that the universe had a beginning without a cause. He even gives it a name, the Big Bang, as if naming it explains it. Whether he believes that matter came into existence at that point, or holds to a steady state of pulsing matter with repeated big bangs, he must imagine an event of that unimaginable scale without a cause.

That presupposition, if consistently followed through, must eliminate the possibility of a comprehensible universe. If things or events can occur without causes, then irrationality rules, planning is impossible, science is impossible. Thinking is impossible.

Of course, people would not be able to function in the world if we lived according to that presupposition. How can I even fry an egg for breakfast if I operate as if events and things have no causal connection? Yet people do exactly that.

How does that happen?

It's easy enough to explain. The atheist makes such an extreme assumption to rule God out of his consciousness. Then he lives his life with the opposite supposition, that all things and events actually occur in a God-made world that operates according to rational laws, such as that of cause and effect.

The Bible describes exactly this schizophrenic mentality: "The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For His invisible attributes, namely, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks to Him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools" (Romans 1:18-22).

Speaking through the Apostle Paul, God exposes the self-deception of atheism. The created world shows the existence, sovereignty, and righteousness of God. That is why the universe is understandable to us. But the atheist seeks to maintain the illusion of autonomy, that he is sovereign, not God (confer Genesis 3:5), so he is forced to suppress his awareness of God. Since the triune biblical God is why the universe is rational (Acts 17:28, Colossians 1:17), by excluding God, the atheist's world becomes irrational and incomprehensible. Therefore, in order to function in God's world, the atheist compromises, without admitting the compromise, by denying God with his mouth, while acknowledging God with his life. Thus, to use Paul's words, they become fools.