Theological Term of the Week

atheism
“[T]he view that there is no God, no Supreme Being that deserves our worship and gives meaning and direction to the universe and human life.”1

• Scriptural applicable to atheism:

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened (Romans 1:18-21 ESV).



The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” (Psalm 14:1 ESV)

• From The Belgic Confession:

Article 2: The Means by Which We Know God

We know him by two means:

First, by the creation, preservation, and government of the universe, since that universe is before our eyes like a beautiful book in which all creatures, great and small, are as letters to make us ponder the invisible things of God: his eternal power and his divinity, as the apostle Paul says in Romans 1:20. 

All these things are enough to convict men and to leave them without excuse.

Second, he makes himself known to us more openly by his holy and divine Word, as much as we need in this life, for his glory and for the salvation of his own.

• From What’s Your Worldview? by James N. Anderson:

[O]ne of the toughest challenges Atheist worldviews face is explaning how anything can be objectively good or bad if there’s no God to sere as the ultimate standard of goodness. The same goes for objective meaning and purpose: if there’s no God, then it seems that the universe can have no ultimate meaning, purpose, or direction. The universe just is what it is and does what it does; there’s really no good or bad about it, objectively speaking.

Learn more:

1. Theopedia: Atheism and New Atheism
2. GotQuestions.org: What is atheism?
3. Gary Gilley: The New Atheism
4. Phil Ryken: Atheism
5. Carl Trueman: The New Atheism
6. Christopher Hitchens and Doug Wilson: Debate on the Existence of God (video)
7. Greg Bahnsen and Gordon Stein: The Great Debate (video)
8. James Anderson: The Atheist’s Guide to Intellectual Suicide (video)

Related terms:

• finite godism
• materialism
• monism
• monotheism
• open theism
• panentheism
• pantheism
• relativism
• skepticism
• Unitarianism

Filed under Worldviews

1From What’s Your Worldview?: An Interactive Approach to Life’s Big Questions by James N. Anderson, page 43.

Do you have a a theological term you’d like to see featured here as a Theological Term of the Week? If you email it to me, I’ll seriously consider using it, giving you credit for the suggestion and linking back to your blog when I do.

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