My Decision to Become an Atheist after Seeing All These Tragedies Take Place

So, just this week everyone has witnessed on the TV news or on location, if you live there, the aftermath and damages made by the tornadoes in Oklahoma in which lives were lost and houses destroyed. It is truly devastating and horrific what power the weather can have over our lives. Just a short time before this event, we witnessed another disaster at the Boston Marathon in which bombs had been planted by terrorists and many were injured and lives were lost. Just a short time before this, 26 lives were lost in a shooting by a sniper at Sandy Hook Elementary in a small town in Connecticut. Sometime before this event, in Fukushima, Japan we witnessed a nuclear disaster caused by a Tsunami. Sometime before this there was a devastating earthquake in Haiti. I am not even sure if I can keep up with all the terrible things that have been happening around our planet, and in our own neighborhoods. I am sure that many other bad things have taken place and I don’t recall them at this time or perhaps forgot the chronological order in which the ones I mentioned have taken place. Perhaps I say the foregoing because I am overwhelmed by everything, and if we watch the live broadcasts from all the news reports we can become fatigued by all the tragedies. I have heard some say that we have almost become desensitized by all the news, and I am sure that many prefer to sit and watch a sitcom on TV, instead of seeing all the tragedies.

I, for one, do not think I have become desensitized, but instead perhaps overwhelmed and fatigued; however, I cannot seem to be able to ignore these events. So, after seeing all this in Oklahoma and reflecting on all these events I mentioned previously, I decided that I was going to become an atheist. I got mad at God, and said how He could allow all these things to happen and for humanity to withstand so much pain and suffering. Of course, the fact that I am into apologetics makes me aware that this is classic atheistic reasoning, and just because I decide to be mad at God and pretend that He does not exist is not really going to make him go away just because I decided. In fact, the opposite of this foregoing thought is a higher possibility. Regardless, of my temporary stupidity, I decided to stay mad at God and remain an atheist. Well, that probably lasted no more than 3 hours because of Scripture and the Holy Spirit making me aware of the stupidity.

So, what happened that made me reflect and decide to stop this short-lived atheistic trip? Well, I simply began thinking about the Book of Job, and the story of Job which is told in it. I am not going to tell you the story, but I do suggest that you read it one day, if you haven’t because it is possible that it is the oldest book in the Hebrew canon. Anyhow, to make a long story short, Job basically lost almost everything he had at the very beginning of the story. He lost his children and live stock. Jobs wife even told him at one point to “curse God and die.” I am sure you can imagine all the devastation, which is similar to all these tragedies I mentioned before. Now, Job didn't listen to his wife or any of his friends that advised him, but he did question God, and in Chapter 38, God answered him. What did God say to Job? In Chapter 38: 4, God said to Job: “Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? Declare, if thou hast the understanding (JPS Tanakh).”I think Job got put in his place immediately because he realized that God is! Similar to Job, when I was talking to myself and pursuing this newly found atheism being mad. God said the same thing he said to Job to me: “Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? Declare, if thou hast the understanding (JPS Tanakh).” Honestly, I got put in my place immediately, and the short-lived atheistic trip was over. Furthermore, God also said in my mind what he said to Jeremiah in Jeremiah 1:5 which was: “Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee, and before thou camest forth out of the womb… (JPS Tanakh).” Well, in my case those words eliminated my atheism entirely. I do understand that perhaps this type of experience will not work with everyone that is atheist by turning them into an instant believer, and I do not wish to offend anyone by oversimplifying their atheism. However, the fact that I believe does not answer why God allows these tragedies completely, but I do understand that He is God and His thoughts are not my thoughts and perhaps I will never know the answer because there is no need to know the answer because the reason is perhaps related to what we do and how do we respond when these tragedies when they occur on our side of the time continuum because I am sure that he knows exactly what his part is with relevance to them outside the time continuum. That last sentence is definitely too long, but I will leave it as is…lol. So, what should we do with these tragedies?

When tragedies occur, my suggestion is to be of assistance if possible, and anything that we can do to help just do it. Jesus said: “Love God with all your heart and love your neighbor as yourself.” I think that this foregoing advice applies to all things. Whatever we would want for us, we should want for our neighbor, and that includes anything. I think I have said enough for now, but I suppose that my short-lived atheistic experience helped me revisit some of my beliefs and reinforce them a bit. I am not saying that I may not have doubt again in the future, but for now I am good. Blessings to all, and I hope you enjoyed reading this post.

Reference:

JPS Tanakh

Brief Thoughts on Hell, Part 4: Hellbound the Movie

For part 4 of this series on Hell, I am simply promoting Hellbound, the movie. Hellbound is a documentary by Kevin Miller that asks the questions: Does hell exist? If so, who ends up there, and why? “Hellbound?”

Below are two reviews on the film:

“A brave and refreshing documentary”

~ Huffington Post

“…stimulating documentary on the hot topic of eternal damnation…”

~ Justin Chang, Variety

My suggestion is that you go to its website and start getting acquainted with the movie, and then see it as soon as possible. The link to the trailer is below.

Does Hell Exist? If So, Who Ends Up There, And Why? - Hellbound the Movie

Reference:

http://www.hellboundthemovie.com/

Brief Thoughts on Hell, Part 3: Durante degli Alighieri

Durante degli Alighieri, in short, is known as Dante to us today. Dante lived from about 1265 to 1321. Now, in case you didn’t know, why he is relevant to the subject of Hell, I am about to tell you. I am also glad that this post includes the phrase “brief thoughts” because it implies that I am not going to write too much about the subject, and that is good because there is a lot to say about Dante with relevance to his role in Western history, but I am keeping my comments short. However, I highly recommend that you research him when you have the time. And, indeed, much has been written about this man, Dante Alighieri. Dante was born in Florence Italy, and he is the author of The Divine Comedy (Divina Commedia in Italian). The Divine Comedy is an epic poem which illustrates Dante's journey through Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise. Serious and scholarly works were always written in Latin during the time in which Dante lived; therefore, it was considered a comedy because it had been written in Italian. The poem is an allegorical view of life after death that basically represented the theological idea on this subject that the Western Church had adopted up to this moment in time. Moreover, some of the perceptions represented in this literary work are still held by many today.

My thought on the book, which I highly recommend reading, is that Dante was seemingly at times making literal assumptions on the subject just like many do today. However, the book was perhaps a metaphor of the politics of Dante’s time. In Bells Chiming the Eleventh Hour: Dante Alighieri's Inferno and Three Processes of Civilization, Peter Y. Clark said:

“The first and most obvious influence in Dante's life and in the Inferno appears within the scope of Florentine politics. Dante,like many Italians of his day, felt that to be a decent citizen one must be politically active; he possessed no shortcomings there. However, he not only was a man of action, but he was a man of thought; and hence his civic life reflects his opinions about political events.

Dante considered himself a citizen of Florence always, even in exile. He loved the city with an unyielding and undying intensity. As A. P. d'Entreves points out, she "is the root of his knowledge of and interest in politics," and his pride in her is evident in his concern for her.1 Tirelessly he asked her fate from all in hell, and when asked about his origin he declared: " Where the lovely Arno flows, there was I born and raised, in the great city/ "2”

Well, before this is no longer just a brief thought, I will stop writing here. However, Dante’s view of Hell has been very influential in Western history, and I encourage everyone to study his life and works. Until next time, for now!

2 Allen Mandelbaum, The Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri: Inferno: A Verse Translation, Notes by Allen Mandelbaum, Gabriel Marruzzo, and Larry Magnus (New York: Bantam Books, 1982), XXIII, 94-95. All further references to this work are in the text.


Reference:

Bells chiming the 11th hour : Dante Alighieri's Inferno and three processes of civilization.
By: Clark, Peter Y.. Source: Christianity and Literature, 35 no 2 Wint 1986, p 5-15.