The Real
Sorrow of Atheism
Last week I was listening to Catholic
Answers Live on Immaculate Heart Radio, and it was a rather unique
program. They hosted a two-hour forum
for atheists and agnostics to call in and have questions answered.
I was quite edified by both the
charity and respect both sides displayed.
But by the end of the show, there were two things that particularly
struck me.
The first is that, although “professional”
atheists like to use very intellectual-sounding language, the arguments for
atheism are shockingly weak. I have long
known that a man’s degrees usually have no relation to his intelligence, and
sadly often they are inversely proportional to his wisdom. But to hear intellectuals argue on either
side of the existence of God, it is almost unbelievable how one-sided the
debates are. (I am not here speaking of
the callers to last week’s show, but rather the “intellectual” atheists who
usually fuel their world views.)
The second thing I came away with was
a profound sadness. The callers all came
from unique personal backgrounds, and some were more clearly hungering for God
than others. But the one thing that can
be said of every atheist and agnostic is that they have no idea how much they
are loved.
The love God has for us is completely
unfathomable. If we really understood
it, it would probably overwhelm us to the point we would literally die of love. I doubt our weakened human nature could
contain that kind of love this side of Heaven.
But those of us who are Christian do have
a profound, if limited, understanding of the love of God. We are sons and daughters of a Father Who
loves us more than any human father ever could.
We are spouses of a Divine Bridegroom who offers a self-giving Love
greater than the most romantic and sacrificial unions any husband and wife has
ever experienced. We have been called “friends”
by One who was willing to humble Himself more than any human being ever could
and then give His life for the very people who killed Him.
This knowledge changes
everything. It changes everything about
who we are, what our purpose is, and the entire meaning of life. And all of us have friends or family who deny
that this God who is Love even exists.
They go through their whole lives trying
to find intellectually satisfying justifications for their atheism, as if that’s
the only angle to the question. Or they
wallow in anger over some quarrel with the Church or some sin of which they are
not willing to let go. And they go on
living, completely unaware of how much they are loved.
What a tragedy. The only greater tragedy is if one rejects
this Love for all eternity.
What can we do? Certainly we need to know how to answer the
intellectual challenges of atheists.
Some are honest intellectuals who, when presented with intelligent
arguments for Truth, will embrace it and rejoice in it.
But more than that, we need to be
images of the Love of God. We need to be
willing to help heal the brokenness caused by sin or some other pain, and we
need to love them, deeply and unconditionally.
Then, when they experience divine love, even dimly through us, their
hearts may be softened to the Divine Lover who pursues them unceasingly.
There is a story about Mother Teresa
which I particularly like (and may have referenced before):
It seems she took in one of the many
people she picked up off the streets of Calcutta. This was an older man, dirty, diseased and
dying. Mother Teresa cleaned the filth
off of him, dressed his wounds, and provided him with food and a bed, all with
the pure and humble love that was so unique to the saint.
Finally, she asked him, “Would you like to hear about Jesus?”
“Is Jesus like you?” the old man asked.
“No,” she replied, “Jesus is not like me. But I try to be like Him.”
“In
that case,” he responded, “I want to become a Christian.”
