An atheist who listens to our call-in radio program recently sent me a copy of an article by Phillip Adams, an atheist in Australia, which appeared in the Madalyn Murray O'Hair publication, American Atheist (July, 1985). Adams said he did not believe in God. "Haven't believed in him (or her, or it) since I was six."

I guess we were supposed to take the fellow seriously in what he said. If so, you could only call him a six-year-old atheist, He thinks all believers in God are dumb, but we're not that dumb!

I do not remember much about age six in my life. But I do vividly recall raising three children through age six. They were trying to learn their ABC's, or trying to learn to count to 25, or trying to print their names, or trying to decide if they liked chocolate ice cream better than vanilla and many other six-year-old-type problems. However, we are asked to seriously believe that Adams, at age six, had weighed all the evidence and had come to the conclusion that there was no God and that he was an atheist. Come now, stop fooling around. At age six, one would have had trouble pronouncing "atheist" and I am certain he could not have spelled it. If you think intelligent people are going to believe that, your ignorance is sticking out.

This six-year-old atheist has grown to be a thing to behold. He now speaks of God as "unnecessary, albeit charming fiction, like the tooth fairy, the Easter bunny or Father Christmas... like ... the Cheshire cat... thumbing his enormous nose at rationalists, humanists, Atheists and sundry heretics." This intellectual giant has struggled over what God should be called. He ridicules religion for using the word "God." He reasons, "Why not call it E=mc2? Or nothing? Or Jubilation T. Cornpone?" He says religion sees God "as a grumpy old bugger glaring balefully down at an unworthy world, just aching to demolish it, to judge and to pulverize." Our marvelous atheist sees religion as "bed-time stories. . . so much whistling in the dark." He sees God as an idea, "A very small one . . . a nervous idea. A timid, pip-squeak of a notion . . . a bit like the Wizard of Oz. . . . The idea of god grows in the way a balloon grows, a membrane inflated by ignorance."

The Apostle Paul talked about some folks who "did not like to retain God in their knowledge." He said they became vain in their imagination and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools who changed the truth of God into a lie (Rom. 1:21-28).

At age six, Phillip Adams became an atheist and he remains an atheist today. But something is going to happen which is going to change him beyond his wildest imaginations. The Bible teaches us that God has exalted Christ and given Him a name which is above every name. The purpose of God is that every knee should bow at the name of Jesus and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father (Phil. 2:9-11). Now, this bowing and confessing can take place while we are living on this earth and it can result in the salvation of our souls. Or, we can wait until the judgment, when every arrogant, haughty, ignorant soul shall come to know the truth that there is a God and Jesus is His Son and confess Him then. Then, for an eternity in Hell every atheist will be finally be compelled to believe in God.

I received a bulletin the other day with the following quotation:

Life With Christ Is An Endless Hope: Life Without Christ Is A Hopeless End.

Our purpose in serving the Lord is that we might partake of that Hope in an eternal Heaven with God. The atheist is rushing, whether he realizes it or not, to the hopeless, dead-end despair of an eternal Hell. If we are wrong in our belief in God, and the atheist is right, we have lost nothing. If we are right, and the atheist is wrong, he has lost more than his sick, perverted, cynical mind can imagine. I am not six years old anymore but I have chosen to believe in God. And, I'm not even ashamed of it!

I was just thinkin', this six-year-old atheist is going to become a believer! Isn't that ironic? The Psalmist declared, "The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. Corrupt are they, and have done abominable iniquity: there is none that doeth good" (Psa. 53: 1). An atheistic six-year-old mentality is not very becoming in an adult, is it? Ours is not "the tooth fairy" position. That more suitably describes the posture of the atheist. That smug rationalism, so easily offered in ignorance, shall one day give way to weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth.

Guardian of Truth XXIX: 22, p. 678
November 21, 1985