The difference and the choice become crystal clear: either a person yields his heart and will to the rulership of God or he chooses to retain complete autonomy, irrespective of the consequences. God has revealed Himself in this world and in His Word. Man sees within himself a battlefield: there is that within him that tugs toward autonomy and manifests his depravity and that within him that points him to God, in whose image he was made. He must choose, for to live with the contradiction tears him apart. The words of Pascal are graphic:
What a Chimera* then is man! What a novelty, what a monster, what a chaos, what a subject of contradiction, what a prodigy! A judge of all things, feeble worm of the earth, depository of Truth, cloaca**of uncertainty and error. The glory and the shame of the universe.
In choosing between his options, a person’s essential dignity and ultimate destiny are at stake. In the atheist’s case, he pursues a self-indulgent glory, which ends up in shame. The Christian, recognizing his shame before God, is spiritually transformed to see the glory for which he was created. Herein is the point at which every atheist has to face up to himself with unadulterated honesty. It is only as he recognizes the poverty of his spirit that he finds the joyful surprise of a life enriched by God a thousand fold.
There is an unforgettable illustration in the very recent burial in Vienna of Empress Zita, the last Hapsburg Empress. Thousands fell in line behind the catafalque, drawn by six black horses. The procession came to a stop at the Capuchin Church, and there, a long-observed tradition was enacted. As a member of the funeral party knocked on the closed door of the church, a voice from within asked, “Who goes there?” The titles were read aloud: “Queen of Bohemia, Dalmatia, Croatia, Slavonia, Galicia. Queen of Jerusalem, Grand Duchess of Tuscany and Krakow.” “I do not know her,” came the response from within the church. A second knock, and the question of “Who goes there?” brought forth the response, “Zita, Empress of Austria and Queen of Hungary.” Again the reply, “I do not know her.” When the inevitable question was put the third time, the answer was simply, “Zita, a sinning mortal.” “Come in,” came the welcoming voice, as the doors were slowly opened.
The atheist’s biggest struggle comes here. A man rejects God neither because of intellectual demands nor because of the paucity of evidence. A man rejects God because of a moral resistance that refuses to admit his need for God. God invites each one to come to Him, the Author of life, and receive His salvation offered through Jesus Christ. Jesus Himself reminds us that it will profit a man nothing if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul. But to the one who trusts in Him, He offers life in all its fullness. Jesus said:
Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes…See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labour or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today, and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? So do not, worry, saying, “What shall we eat?” or “What shall we drink?” or “What shall we wear?” For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom, and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well (Matthew 6:25,28-33).
Man’s primary pursuit should be God Himself, and all secondary and tertiary pursuits fall into place. It is not accidental that the last paragraph of the last book of the Bible is punctuated with the word come! Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life” (Revelation 22:17)
*Chimera- An absurd creation of the imagination. **Cloaca- a sewer or a privy.
Reference: A SHATTERED VISAGE The Real Face of Atheism by Ravi Zacharias-Wolgemuth & Hyatt, Publishers, Inc. Brentwood, Tennessee.
