An atheist and a theist happened to sit beside each other on a park bench one sunny morning. The ensuing conversation between the two was not the usual chummy stuff but something to start your day with an unusual perk.
Theist: What a fine morning the Lord has made!
Atheist: Oh did he? Who of them is he who made this fine morning?
Theist: He is the Lord, our God.
Atheist: I have not met him, have you?
Theist: I have not met Him either, but I know there is He.
Atheist: How could you know there is he when you have not even met him, much more talk to him?
Theist: Faith. I strongly believe there is God.
Atheist: I do not believe there is God unless there is evidence that he really exists.
Theist: Think, you and I, the world we are in, the plants and the animals, where do you think we have all come from?
Atheist: You tell me.
Theist: God came before us, with no beginning and no end. He created the universe and every living thing in it, including man. It is as logical as your math. Somebody taught us that 1 + 1 = 2 and we accepted it as true. Likewise, the sun and the stars do not happen to be there all along. Someone must have created and placed them where they are and is continually directing the natural order of things. That Someone must be all-powerful to do that. We have witnessed the limitations of man, so that Someone is no man, but a Being no less than supreme. Like your math, the theory of creation follows logic and therefore acceptable.
Atheist: Easy and not so fast. What if there are other supreme beings and not just one? How could you be sure of the one you credit the creation to and call God?
Theist: 1 + 1 could equal to 3 but we accepted it as 2. There could only be one accepted truth.
Atheist: What about physical evidence that there is God?
Theist: Not all evidences leading to the truth are limited to the physical. We know that there was a George Washington and an Adolf Hitler whom we may not have seen nor touched in person. There being physically absent in front of us today does not mean that there were no Washington and Hitler before.
Atheist: And so what does that say about there really is God?
Theist: Written history and experiences of people that had interacted with them were proofs that they existed. God had the Bible, the prophets and the saints.
Atheist: Washington and Hitler were born mortals like you and me. They are gone from this earth forever. There is no more George Washington and Adolf Hitler. So is God gone too?
Theist: God is eternal. He lives and reigns forever. He is the Supreme Being. Both Washington and Hitler are none of those. There is still God. He may have sent His Son to live as Man but the Son is in heaven again to reign as God.
Atheist: What makes him God and above the ordinary?
Theist: He is perfect and all-knowing. He is without imperfections and he can well see into the future, attributes which not even extraordinary mortals possess. The discussions between a believer and a non-believer will never end. No answers will be sufficient for an atheist who does not believe in the existence of God at all, and who doubts and questions all the beliefs about God.
Works Cited
- “What is Atheism?” 14 Jan 2007. Christian Apologetics and Research Ministry. 28 Apr 2008. <http://www.carm.org/atheism/positions2.htm>
- “Theism.” 2008. Theism.Info. 28 April 2008. < http://www.theism.info/>
