Student Voice

Why don’t people believe in God?
Jan 14, 03:51 PM
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Before we begin, it’s important to clarify what is meant by saying someone “believes” in God. For the purposes of this discussion, I’m going to define a believer in God as a Christian – as Christ follower. This is someone who has fully trusted in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of their sins (Romans 10:9,10). This is someone who wholeheartedly strives to live his or her life in a way that honors Jesus’ sacrifice and gives glory to God. There are many people who believe that God exists, but many fewer who have actually put their complete trust in Jesus. With that said, every person who doesn’t believe in God probably has a their own, unique reason as to why. With the space that remains here, I will try to show what the Bible has to say about this question.

The story here literally starts in the beginning with the first human beings, Adam and Eve. In the Book of Genesis, God tells Adam that he can eat from any tree in his garden, “but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die” (Ge 2:17). Well, we all know that Adam and Eve didn’t do so well at keeping that simple command. They decided to snack on some of that fruit bringing sin into the world for the very first time. Now, why would they do that? Why didn’t they believe God? Why didn’t they trust that God knew what He was talking about? The answer to those questions can pretty much clue us in as to why people today don’t believe in God.

First, Adam and Eve ate the fruit because the serpent (probably some form of the Devil) deceived them into distrusting God and His motives (Ge 3:1-5). The serpent convinced Eve that God was just hiding something great from she and Adam and so she grabbed the fruit. This is no less true in our day and age. The Devil is still actively out there working to confuse people and get them to mistrust God. The Devil’s also trying to convince people that there’s something out there that’s better than God. Like he did with Adam and Eve, the Devil tempts people to believe that there is something out that’s more fun and fulfilling than believing in and living for God. As a result, people get so busy pursuing things like money, fame, and comfort that they never have time to see that what they actually need is God. Many people come to the end of their lives and realize that all the money, fame, and comfort in this world does not fulfill them and satisfy their souls. Unfortunately, many people die before they make this realization.

Secondly, Adam and Eve ate the fruit because it “was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom” (Ge 3:6). Not only does the Devil distract us from the truth of God, but we also distract ourselves. Just like Adam and Eve, we all are drawn toward things that we think will taste good or feel good, things that will satisfy us in the short term. Now, eating good food, watching TV, being on the internet, having relationships with opposite sex, and even education aren’t completely terrible in and of themselves – they all have a time and a place in our lives. The problem comes in when we want these things so bad that we totally don’t see all the ways that God is trying to get our attention. Like I said before, nothing can fully satisfy us apart from a relationship with God. For example, I spent many years and thousands of dollars trying to become a great soccer player. I became pretty good at it, but did that ever totally satisfy my soul? The answer is “no”, and I spent many of those years distracted by soccer so much that I missed a lot of the awesome things God was trying to teach me. All of this discussion is presented in the clearest fashion by Jesus’ Parable of the Sower in Luke 8:1-14 and I encourage you to read it.

Finally, the Gospel of John gives us perhaps one of the most compelling reasons why people don’t believe in God: Pride. By the time John chapter 12 rolls around, many people had seen Jesus do amazing miracles like heal blind guys and raise people from the dead. In fact, in John 12, the group of people talking with Jesus had heard the audible voice of God. Yet, John reports about these same people that, “Even after Jesus had done all these miraculous signs in their presence, they still would not believe in him” (John 12:37). Why didn’t these people believe in Jesus? In their pride, these people weren’t willing to say that the way they were living was wrong. These people had a set up a system for how to make themselves right with God and Jesus was totally challenging that system. Fully believing in Jesus means saying that you have messed up and sinned so bad that you can’t fix things yourself. Ultimately, it means saying to God that you’re utterly hopeless without Him, without the forgiveness of sins that only Jesus can bring. This is a really hard and humbling realization that many just aren’t willing to come to.

Ultimately, the Bible is clear that none of us can believe in God if he doesn’t reveal Himself to us first. Right after the above verse in John 12, John quotes the prophet Isaiah:

This was to fulfill the word of Isaiah the prophet: “Lord, who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?” For this reason they could not believe, because, as Isaiah says elsewhere: “He has blinded their eyes and deadened their hearts, so they can neither see with their eyes, nor understand with their hearts, nor turn—and I would heal them.” – John 12:38-40

If you’re not sure if you believe God or you have some of the roadblocks that have been discusses here, I encourage you to be honest with God. Honestly tell Him your concerns, He can take it. Sincerely and humbly ask Him to reveal Himself to you; I doubt you’ll be disappointed.

— Andy Saltarelli


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