I subscribe to a magazine called The Progressive Farmer. On the last page of each edition the editor prints a bunch of quotes from famous people from the past or present. The following quote by self-proclaimed radical atheist Douglas Adams (1952-2001) caught my attention: “I’ve come up with a set of rules that describe our reactions to technologies: 1. Anything that is in the world when you’re born is normal and ordinary and is just a natural part of the way the world works. 2. Anything that is invented between when you’re fifteen and thirty-five is new and exciting and revolutionary and you can probably get a career in it. 3. Anything invented after you’re thirty-five is against the natural order of things,” (end quote). 

Immediately following that quote was one from the Bible from the book of Proverbs: “Choose my instruction instead of silver, knowledge rather than choice gold, for wisdom is more precious than rubies, and nothing you desire can compare with her. I, wisdom, dwell together with prudence; I possess knowledge and discretion,” (Proverbs 8:10-12). 

The greatest proof for God’s existence is that people’s lives are constantly changed. I’ve never heard of anybody who said, “My life was meaningless and without value until I found atheism. Now it has so much more meaning.” 

I have spent a few hours of my life sitting on the edge of the bed of people who are dying. I have never heard anyone denounce God or the existence of God. What I have witnessed are people, who perhaps all their lives had no use for God, find themselves suddenly seeking Him and in fear of death cry out for Him to save them. The Bible says that God has set eternity in the human heart, (Ecclesiastes 3:11). A person’s soul will not let him deny that.

I have read where some atheists have faced imminent death with great regret. For instance, atheist Caesar Borgia (1475-1507) said: “While I lived, I provided for everything but death; now I must die, and am unprepared to die.” Atheist Sir Thomas Scott, (1535-1594) Chancellor of England: “Until this moment I thought there was neither a God nor a hell. Now I know and feel that there are both, and I am doomed to perdition by the just judgment of the Almighty.” (preachitteachit.org).

In Ephesians 1, the Apostle Paul says that those who God has redeemed, have been accepted in the Beloved (Jesus). Are there any words more grand in any language than those four — accepted in the Beloved? The moment we repent and put our faith in Christ, God makes us completely, fully accepted in the Beloved — His beloved Son with Whom He is well pleased. And because we are in Him, God is also well pleased with us! The dictionary says that to accept means to receive willingly, to regard with approval, to value, to esteem, to take pleasure in or to receive with favor. Paul is saying in essence that the Father has accepted us willingly, with approval, with value, with esteem, with delight, not because we have in any way merited His approval, but because His Beloved paid the price in full for our approval. 

We are all sinners. Sin causes conflict. Sin causes conflict in the inner being of a person — that’s the nature of sin — it goes against the nature of God and until it is dealt with in a personal way, it causes trouble within us. To the person who is hurting today, grieving, crying, lost, and hopeless — there is a message of hope.

— Reflections appears regularly on the religion page. The column features a variety of local writers, coordinated through the Monroe Area Clergy Group. Kevin Cernek is senior pastor of Martintown Community Church.