Biography Of God: A Six-Day Devotional By Skip HeitzigSample

Taking God Out of the Equation—and Bringing Him Back In

The first great reality Hebrews 11 points to is that God exists: to come to Him, you have to "believe that He is" (v. 6).

Does God exist? is the most fundamental question in the universe. I asked it as a twelve-year-old; everyone asks it at some point. And everything hinges on the answer—origin, purpose, meaning, hope. The Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoevsky brought up the issue in his 1880 masterwork The Brothers Karamazov. As his character Smerdyakov (a true atheist) in essence says to Ivan (an on-and-off atheist), "If there is no God, then everything is permitted."

The implications of this statement are ominous. Without God to provide protective boundaries to human intellect and ingenuity, our best impulses are subject to corruption and decay. Dostoevsky's statement was rooted in the work of many brilliant thinkers of his day—some of whom (and many since) took his statement as permission to promote atheism.

The classic argument that God is a cosmic killjoy is off the table if He doesn't exist. Not only is there no more good-cop-bad-cop thinking in play, but there is no cop at all. If God doesn't exist, then we populate this planet by chance. There's no design, no purpose. Dostoevsky's probing statement became a license for mankind to run with the ball, so to speak, away from God. Just read this summary of the most influential thoughts of his day, views that still hold sway:

If God doesn't exist, then Ludwig Feuerbach was right when he said that God is a mere projection of our humanity.

If God doesn't exist, then Karl Marx was correct to assert that the material is all that matters; Christianity is merely a reflex of capitalism.

If God doesn't exist, then Fredrick Nietzsche made sense when he said that our existence is senseless and useless.

If God doesn't exist, then Sigmund Freud was right when he said that God is an infantile illusion that should be discarded.

If there is no God—if all these thinkers were right and we're all alone in this universe—then what's the point? If we're not here by the design and purpose of a higher being, then all that's left is what we can make of life. And the human track record suggests that only leads to industrial and technological advancement coupled with spiraling depression and despair.

Denying God's existence doesn't provide answers. But if God does exist, then a whole other host of questions follow: What is He like? What does He want? What does He love and hate? An honest exploration of the evidence will enable us to find those answers—to the extent that I'll even say that it takes more faith to be an atheist than to believe in a personal God.

I've met many intellectually honest atheists. They grapple with the whole God question with sincerity, but I've found that a lot of them hold their position not for lack of intellectual satisfaction but for moral reasons. They realize that if they open themselves up to the existence of God, then they're accountable to Him. They would rather hold onto certain positions on issues or personal habits than trust that God has something better for them.

We all have doubts at one time or another about God. But are you willing to be honest with yourself, both intellectually and morally, about seeking the answers? Hebrews 11 asserts that if you want to come to know God in true faith, you must first believe that He exists.