For My Friend Who No Longer Believes In God (Hypothetical)

I Have Lost My Faith In God!

A Letter To My Friend

Dear Lloyd,

                    How are you my friend? Hoping this letter finds you in peace today. I am so happy that you reached out to me with your concern. This is significant. Actually, this is major – a big deal! For your concern deals with life and death. Still, you’ve come a long way and I hope to encourage you on this Faith journey.

I see you have concerns about the existence of God – that you see no evidence to support your Faith. I am sorry to hear that. I pray by the end of this letter to have given you just a bit of information that may help you with the answers you seek. I know you are a reasonable person, so let’s see where the evidence leads. I know you have read the Bible before and in it you’ll find proof of God’s existence, but I’d like to address your concerns from a different angle.

Without a doubt, one of the best-known arguments for the existence of God is that of the “Moral Argument”. Over your many years of life, I am sure you realize that something inside of you differentiates between good and evil, right and wrong. This is called Objective Morals. These are “values we hold dear that guide our lives” (Craig, 172). If we start here, whether or not you agree, there are some things that are just wrong, and it is so “independent of what people think or perceive” (Craig, 173). Take robbing a store – If you decide to do this, already you know that such an act is wrong. While there are written laws on the books that punish such an act (confirming that robbing a store is wrong), your conscience will tell you “Lloyd, this is wrong”. Tied up in this Moral Argument are moral duties and moral values. Moral duties are concerned with that which is right or wrong, while moral values concern that which is good and bad (Craig, 172). During the time in which you had Faith, you surely can remember an internal compass guiding your behavior. You relied on that which was greater than you for discernment. That internal compass is God.

Here’s what philosophers call an ontological foundation in support of the existence of God through the existence of moral values:

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What happens to the individual who becomes a Christian? Is there an instant cessation of sinning? Is there mastery of addictions? What of the effects of sin – are they erased? John Frame in his excellent presentation on Presuppositional Apologetics (213) provides us with an excellent insight on the issue at hand. He says “No. Becoming a Christian does not immediately erase all sin and its effects”. You see, God forgives our sins, but we will not be perfect till we get to heaven. Christians will sin. But we can choose not to:

8 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.  (1 John 1:8-9)

The journey is a lifetime of pursuing Christ and His righteousness. We still struggle to overcome temptations and we still commit sin, both with the mind and the body. It is God who deals with all sin as He “forgives our noetic sins in Christ” (the nature of unbelief that affects our reasoning and knowledge, disobedience to God’s words). Frame describes the Christian as “regenerate, born again and a new creation: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come” (2 Corinthians 5:17). So how is the believer different from the unbeliever? 

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The foundation of the Christian faith is belief in Jesus Christ – His birth, life, death and resurrection. The Christian believes in obtaining righteousness through faith in Jesus Christ; that he or she is sanctified in Christ Jesus by His calling (1 Corinthians 1:2). Therefore, the words of Christ upon which this faith relies must be trustworthy, and Christ has made it so. The words of the Bible are supported by eyewitness testimonies (first hand, recognized by scholars) and the revelation of His deity and resurrection; by manuscripts attesting to the Bible’s claims; by historical sources (confirmed by credible historians), not the least of which are historians from the first and second century. Christ ensured His claims are never left without a witness.

We also see throughout the Scriptures God making the claim that the words thereof are “inspired or God breathed” (2 Tim. 3:16-17) and that He is speaking (Gen. 1:3; Lev. 26:2b). Not to mention the fact that He supports His own existence through miracles. Surely such a God would make provisions for claims and attacks against His word. Jesus told His disciples His words are life (John 6:63) and Paul affirmed that the mysteries of God were not left up to chance but carefully given to Apostles and Prophets to record for the benefit of all (Eph. 3:1-5). The words of God are trustworthy, it is men that reject it.

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