The Atheist Thinker

A lot of times, I see Christians with a burning desire to see atheists saved... and that's a good thing.

However, those same Christians do not understand the mindset that an atheist has.

So, what tends to happen is that the Christian spends the majority of their time trying to prove that God exists.

The Christian has the false idea that if they can only get the atheist to believe in God then the gospel becomes obvious.

This is not the case. If an atheist becomes convinced of the existance of God via arguments and evidence, they become a deist... not a Christian.

It's because of this bad positioning why atheists believe that Christians simply have a mental acknowledgement of God.

To an atheist, God is nothing but an imaginary friend. God exists in the mind of the individual... period, and once the individual ceases to acknowledge the imaginary friend (God), it no longer exists.

A lot Atheists and Christians both believe that it is simple to go to either side.

One reason for this is the false representation of the faith from Christians.

"...and it don't take all that to be a Christian..."
- Fanatic by Lecrae

"just make a decision for Christ"

"just come to God"

Statements like the ones above give a false representation of what salvation is.

The bible tells us that salvation is a miracle. Everytime that God saves someone, a miracle is taking place. So, for a Christian to say it's easy to become a Christian isn't true.

The bible shows us that simply believing that there is a God doesn't save. Even if one were to believe Jesus was God, that still doesn't save.

Some might balk at that second thought, but scripture tells us that even Satan and his angels believe... and they aren't saved.

So you see, we need to make a clear declaration that nothing short of a miracle will save the soul of a sinner.

A lot of Christians do not understand the enormous gravity of what is going on when God saves them... and that is understandable.

But instead of being informed by the scriptures and declare that, they declare what they think happened (they came to God and you can too), when it's not an accurate picture of what happened (God created in them a new man so they could, convicted them of their sins, drew them to Himself, and upon seeing/recognising God's holiness... they repented).

What the atheist doesn't see is a living breathing relationship with God, and that's partially our fault.

So believer's must understand that this is the atheistic mindset. This is why atheists look at Christians as delusional. They see us as taking a childhood issue (imaginary friend) and blowing it way out of proportion.

Since salvation is of the Lord, the main thrust of our evagelism towards atheists should be about the gospel, not convincing them that there is a God or that the Christian God is the only true God or that Christians have a relationship with God.

These should be declared, but the focus should be on their breaking of God's law and the penalty for doing so.

It's God's prerogative when He decides to convict them of their sins and open their eyes to His holiness.

Our job is to preach the gospel.

After all, what does it profit a man to have all his atheistic arguments refuted but not have the gospel... the display of the merciful and gracious love of the living God, explained to him so that he understands it (in so much that he can actually understand it)?