If Someone Says​—⁠‘I Don’t Believe in God’

You might reply: ‘Do you mean that you do not believe that there is a Creator, or is it that you have seen so much hypocrisy in the churches that you have no faith in what they teach?’ If it is the latter, you might add: ‘There is a great difference between the churches of Christendom and true Christianity. It is true that Christendom has oppressed people, but Christianity has not. Christendom has waged war, but Christianity has not. Christendom has failed to provide proper moral direction, but Christianity has not. God’s Word, the Bible, does not support Christendom. On the contrary, it condemns Christendom.’

Another possibility: ‘I have had interesting conversations with others who felt as you do. Some of them said that they just could not reconcile belief in God with all the suffering and wickedness in the world. Is that how you feel?

Consider examples: Does the fact that knives have been used to murder prove that no one designed them? Is the use of jet aircraft to drop bombs in time of war evidence that they had no designer? Or is it rather the use to which these are being put that is causing grief to mankind?

Is it not true that much disease is a result of man’s own poor living habits and his spoiling of the environment for himself and others? Are not the wars fought by humans a major cause of human suffering? Is it not also true that, while millions suffer from lack of food, there is more than enough in other lands, so that one of the underlying problems is human greed? All these things give evidence, not that there is no God, but that humans are sadly misusing their God-given abilities and the earth itself.