To be an atheist is to play Russian roulette with all barrels loaded. An atheist can’t win. Of course, he feels and acts like a big player, until the trigger is pulled.
The issue isn’t the existence of God. If the atheist is wrong and there is a Creator, then he was wrong. He gambled and he lost. No big deal. The real gamble is that there’s no hell. That’s what makes the player sweat, just a little. “What if?” is the deep and nagging doubt. He believes it’s worth the excitement of the game, yet atheism isn’t a mind game; it is intellectual suicide.
We know that there are a number of deadly bullets that aim right into the brain of humanity:
1. Creation. Could you believe that any book could come into being without an author? There was nothing. No paper, no ink. No cardboard. No editor. No author. Nothing. Then a Big Bang changed everything. Then time produced a book with a cover, binding, coherent words, page numbers, and chapters, all in perfect order. Such thoughts are truly insane. You cannot have order without intelligence creating order. And there cannot be an ordered creation without an intelligent Creator.
2. The God-given conscience. All sane people have a conscience. It comes with the package. It’s an inbuilt judge in the courtroom of the mind. It makes moral judgments, even when its voice is not wanted, and its voice only addresses that which is moral. It doesn’t speak when my tie doesn’t match my shirt. But it does speak if I steal a tie from a store. Why is that? Where did the conscience come from? Why do all civilizations have the knowledge that it’s wrong to lie, kill, steal, etc.? Our social surroundings may shape the conscience, but they don’t create it. It is the inner light that God has given to every one of us, and it leaves us without excuse for our sin.
3. The witness of Jesus Christ—the true and faithful Witness, before Whom every knee shall bow. The challenge to any atheist is to read the testimony of Scripture. Any honest skeptic will have no choice but to come to the conclusion that “never a man spoke like this Man.” He claimed to be God in human form. He claimed to have the power to raise all of humanity at the resurrection of the dead, with His lone voice. He claimed to be pre-existent, and that He came down to this earth to do the will of God. To make such claims, He could only have been a simpleton (that doesn’t match His matchless words), a liar (that doesn’t match His impeccable moral teaching), insane (then billions down through the ages have followed the teachings of a madman), or He was who He said He was. God in human form.
Finally, there’s the Spirit of Almighty God, who watches every thought and every deed, and will bring every work into judgment, including every secret thing, whether it is good or evil. No one will get away with a thing. No murder will go unpunished. No rapist will get away with rape. Perfect justice will be done. But the justice of Almighty God is so thorough He will see to it that thieves, liars, fornicators, blasphemers, adulterers, and all who have transgressed the moral Law (the Ten Commandments) will get equity—that which is due to them.
Death is the trigger that will send eternal justice like a speeding bullet into the heart of the sinner and take him to Hell. It will end the game of life in a heartbeat, and no second chance will come. So, if you are an atheist, let me reason with you. You cannot win. Think about your life. Think about eternity, while you still have time.
Ray Comfort is a best-selling author of more than 60 books. He is also founder of Living Waters Publications and co-host of an award-winning television program with actor Kirk Cameron.