Hebrews 3:15
While it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation.
Weekend run-ins with atheists
Very frequently, I go out door knocking on Saturdays. I really enjoy inviting people out to our church, but more importantly, getting the opportunity to have spiritual conversations. Most of the time, people don’t want to hear it and close the door, but sometimes I get to talk with an atheist. We get the privilege of speaking with all types of people who have a variety of beliefs, but I want to focus on atheists.
To me, they’re the most difficult to deal with for a bunch of reasons. Most of the time, they’re very rude and confrontational. Several times, I’ve had men come to the door and immediately tell us they don’t need God or church, and demand that we leave without giving us a chance to speak. Some of them even have evil in their eyes. There’s an air of hatred coming from inside of them that can give you chills.
I’ve found a good way to calm the situation is to say, “If what I am saying is fake, nor the truth, then there’s no reason to get upset.” It’s a nice way to show them their heightened emotional state while also bringing the conversation back down to reality. After all, if the gospel of Jesus Christ is fake, there is no need to get all angry over it. I don’t get upset if a person witnesses to me who believes in a false religion because I know the truth.
Pride
To be honest, I’m still learning about pride, and how it can manifest itself in people’s lives, but I can point to a couple of character distinctions concerning prideful atheists.
First, atheists think they are at the center of the universe operating as their own God. In my experience atheist don’t want anyone telling them what to do or how to behave. The idea of surrendering their life to God is silly because they have it all figured out.
Secondly, a lot of times, these types of people are smart and successful. God was very gracious to them and gave them talents and abilities that have allowed them to succeed past their peers. Instead of being humble and acknowledging the reason—God—they are so gifted that they believe their achievements are because of their own abilities. Of course, we as believers know they are blessed by God.
Finally, they are know-it-alls! They know everything about any topic you bring up, haha. When it comes to Christianity, they can tell you 10 reasons why it’s not true, but we know all of them are false. Time and time again, I hear them say the Bible was written by man; therefore, it has to be corrupted, or it’s untrustworthy because of that. Another one I hear is, if God were all-loving and all-powerful, why would there be evil and suffering in the world? Who created God… and so on and so forth.
Lack of understanding
Now, there is a reason why these people are so mixed up and full of pride and arrogance. In my opinion it’s because they don’t possess understanding of the Kingdom of God. I can back this up with scripture.
In the book of Matthew, in chapter 13, Jesus tells a parable about the sower.
At the end of the parable Jesus says something interesting in verse 9 “Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.”
He was speaking to great multitudes of believing and non believing people when he gave this message. It wasn’t a group of people that had ears and didn’t have ears. He was actually saying whoever has understanding let him hear. I believe he was talking to saved people and they are the ones who can understand.
In verse 12 He says “For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath.”
What He is saying here is whoever is saved has understanding and will continue to gain understanding from the Holy Spirit. But nonbelievers don’t have much understanding, and the more they deny God and the Holy Spirit, the more of their understanding will be taken.
Verse 13-15 He says “Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand. And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, by hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive: For this people’s heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.”
Atheists have been around for a long long time. Jesus dealt with them 2000 years ago, and it’s the same for us. They have harden hearts and lack understanding because of it.
He tells his disciples in verse 16 “But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear.’’
He is talking to a saved Christian who walks with him and believes in Him. As saved Christians we can rest in the fact that we can understand the Kingdom of God and be helped by the Holy Spirit.
Conclusion
This is really where I wanted to go with this post. It is very dangerous to develop yourself in a prideful way. If pride and arrogance dominate your character, it will increasingly get to the point of no return. God is always knocking on the door; it’s our job to let Him in. We will never be able to do that if we aren’t humble and surrender to Christ. God will not put up with the demands of a prideful man. We must come seeking God humbly and with a desire to be saved from our sins and eternal damnation and hell.
If an atheist keeps pushing away the Holy Spirit, God will stop knocking. You might be thinking “how can someone blaspheme the Holy Spirit?” I will say it can happen mutable ways.
Witnesses—The Holy Spirit can work through saved Christians who witness to atheists. If they don’t want to hear it, or try and prove the witness wrong, then that alone can blaspheme the Spirit.
Personal conviction—If God is convicting you to listen to a witness or read a Bible given to you and you don’t listen this, that to is blaspheming the Holy Spirit.
Supernatural experience–It’s not God’s will for anyone to perish. I believe everyone is given some type of experience that shows them God is real. A lot of times I hear these people tell me something that is supernatural but they don’t want to acknowledge it is from God—therefore they blaspheme the Holy Spirit.
Bad mouthing—Speaking negatively against God will harden your heart very fast. Throwing your fist in the air towards God and cussing Him out is blaspheme. Blaming him for your suffering, and not wanting healing, but just reveling in the anger will push the Spirit away also.
Matthew 12:31“Wherefore I say unto you, All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men: but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men.”
Beware, nonbelievers! You can come to a place where you have pushed God away and there isn’t a time of repentance available to you. You’ll have a heart of stone, so I doubt you’ll want to repent, but you must stop pushing God away before the little understanding you have is dried up and you end up with a hardened heart. It comes to a point in an atheist’s life where they have committed the unforgivable sin. It’s so sad to see that when I’m out witnessing.
This was a heavy one for me because recently I’ve dealt with some of my family whom may have come to a point of no return. You can only encourage people so much, and share the gospel with them so much until its too late. Don’t let that be you!
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