Tackling the predominance of atheism in western society

Why is it bringing us closer than ever to proving God is real?

Debunking the claim that religion is the major cause of war

A picture of what is to come under militant atheism

A ‘Berlin Wall’ set to collapse, says university professor

Are you investing in fake or fortune?

Visiting family and friends over the past fortnight naturally exposed me to conversations – and television programmes – with which I am generally unfamiliar.

Among these was the intriguing BBC programme Fake or Fortune which, for this particular episode, focused on a rather beautiful portrait passed down through an aristocratic family line.

As it was unsigned, no-one was sure who had painted it. It was generally accepted as the work of a high-calibre artist of the mid-19th Century which, if proved to be the case, would fetch around £8,000 at auction.

However, another expert was convinced it was the work of the famous Thomas Lawrence, which would increase its value exponentially to some half a million pounds! And, indeed, it proved to be one of his!

The Stakes are High

There’s a lot at stake over the question of who’s behind a particular work of art. I got to thinking how this inevitably also applies to the Creator of the world: is God behind the beauty of our Creation, or are we to put our trust in Charles Darwin’s ideas?

Come to that – who wrote the Bible? Was it God, or man? These are big questions, and the stakes are high in terms of the answers.

According to the Apostle Paul, the acknowledgement of God as Creator is of vital importance. In fact, he points out, the denial of such leads to a progressive unravelling of civilisation itself.

According to the Apostle Paul, denying God as Creator leads to a progressive unravelling of civilisation.

Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Paul writes that men suppress the truth by their wickedness (Rom 1:18) – and the first casualty is the truth that God is Creator (vv19-20). As a result, their thinking becomes futile and they worship created things rather than the Creator (v23). This in turn leads to sexual degradation and the shameful lusts of lesbianism and homosexuality (vv26-27).

At the same time, it leads to “a depraved mind” (v28) filled with “every kind of wickedness” – even inventing ways of doing evil (vv29-30).

In this letter to the 1^st-Century Christians in Rome, Paul was writing in the context of a civilisation that was well on its way to being unravelled – and remarkably comparable to 21^st-Century Britain! Strange, and yet we are constantly being told that things have ‘moved on’…

Whose Hand?

The psalmist wrote: “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands” (Ps 19:1).

Sir David Attenborough enthuses over the wonderful creatures God has made without ever mentioning their Maker, but sure to always emphasise how many millions of years it has taken each species to evolve. Yet Scripture says that God created the world in six days!

Yes, the stakes are high. Our values depend on recognition of whose hand is behind the canvas before us. A life lived in the knowledge of him through whom all things were made (John 1:3) – the greatest ‘artist’ of all time – will be truly priceless.

As Jesus asked, “What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?” (Mark 8:36). Knowing Jesus is the key to life. “He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life” (1 John 5:12).

A life lived in the knowledge of him through whom all things were made (John 1:3) – the greatest ‘artist’ of all time – is truly priceless.

Rebuilding the Walls

I don’t believe the residents of Derbyshire’s Whaley Bridge, threatened by a breach in the reservoir above them, merely crossed their fingers as the BBC correspondent reported they were doing. When a further thunderstorm was forecast but subsequently passed over the village, I am apt to conclude that residents had taken to genuine prayer. There are no atheists in a trench, they say.

The church built on the Mount of Beatitudes – the reputed site of Jesus’ famous sermon. Picture: Charles Gardner

As exemplified by the Whaley Bridge crisis, the walls have broken down in British society. And as in Nehemiah’s day, when the walls of ancient Jerusalem were in ruins, we too must return to the God of Israel if we wish to rebuild our country on solid foundations.

Concluding his famous Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said: “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock.

“But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash” (Matt 7:24-27).

Reflections following the death of Stephen Hawking.

Following the death, last week, of Professor Stephen Hawking, many tributes have been flowing across the scientific world and surfacing in the media. One example comes from the University of Cambridge, where he spent most of his academic career (see here).

When I was at the University of Cambridge in the early 1970s, I would often see him being helped out of his disability vehicle at the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics. There was already an aura surrounding him - perhaps a combination of respect and wonder at the perseverance of such a crippled young man and an acknowledgement of his sharp mind.

So, whilst agreeing with much that has been said following his death, I would like to add a word of caution concerning the exciting scientific theories of our day.

Taking Hypothesis as Fact

Despite all the hype, there is much speculation that requires us to have discernment in these days of growing deception. Are there really black holes? Is there really such a thing as Hawking Radiation? The popular press frequently takes as fact what the scientific world presents as hypothesis.

Furthermore, when we follow the trail of a theory through to its consequences, we often discover that a scientist is really trying to advance an agenda – perhaps trying to explain the origin of the universe or the nature of life. These experts are trying to find answers as much as the average citizen. The next step is to claim that their theories cancel out a need for a Creator God. This was the case with Hawking – which should be a prompt for us to suspect his entire hypotheses.

The popular press frequently takes as fact what the scientific world presents as hypothesis.

There is so much of this sort of thing rising to the surface today that we must see science as a potential tool for the powers of evil. When a humanistic media reports on scientific theories that feed a humanistic, atheistic mentality, we have to be careful that we are not drawn in to accept what is simply speculation, thinking it fact.

Popular Science

If I were to speak even more strongly, I would say that more and more, public presentations of science are far from good science. One reason for this has been a drive in recent years to popularise science. Richard Dawkins had this remit for some years and this resulted in an out-and-out attack on those of us whose faith is founded on biblical truth. With little opportunity for Christians to respond within a media biased towards his point of view, Christians have talked more among themselves than on a public platform.

Then there is David Attenborough, who for many years has brought to the television spectacular programmes on wildlife and pictures of our planet. With modern-day camera facilities what has been presented has been truly spectacular. Yet, there is a difference between spectacular photography and the validity of a scientific commentary that is more founded on unproven evolutionary theories than on hard science. And so, the truth about Creation is hidden from public view.

Now, another popular presenter, Professor Brian Cox, with his colleagues, has come centre-stage, feeding the public beguiling arguments about the origin of the universe as he presents spectacular images of outer space. Indeed, views about the so-called ‘Big Bang’ origin of the universe and Darwinian evolution are not so much argued as assumed, these days. For many scientists, it is not worth risking their career to argue otherwise.

Scientific Proof…or Faith?

Yet, science can never take us beyond conjecture when the instruments used to investigate theories of the origin of the universe are themselves part of Creation. Thus, all science must start with hypotheses and all proofs must be based on assumptions. Therefore, scientists who claim to have ‘proved’ theories such as the ‘Big Bang’ and evolution (and I might add to this the Theory of Relativity) must have based their ‘proofs’ on assumptions.

All science starts with hypotheses and all proofs are based on assumptions.

Any scientist knows this, but it is a fact that passes the general public by in popular presentations. It is when the assumptions become a sort of faith that we must be even more concerned, and that is where science is taking people today.

Among the basic assumptions of more and more scientists these days is that there is no need to believe in a Creator God. This is the strange ‘faith’ behind much science today, but it is as insecure as the sand on which Jesus warned his hearers that we should not build.

Writing God Out

Just as scientists must have a sort of ‘faith’ in order to claim proof of their theories, so have Christians - though in quite a different way. Secular science’s faith is that there is no God. Our faith is founded on the Rock that is Jesus, who was with the Father at the creation of the universe.

The tool for recognising error in the beguiling scientific atmosphere today is the gift of discernment. We must test all things and the beginning of our testing is to recognise the foundations on which ideas presented to us are built – foundations not of truth, but of belief.

Stephen Hawking was a remarkable man, but he was a man who did not believe in the God of Creation. With all due respect to his amazing life, his humour, his ability to communicate despite severe bodily limitations, he was, nevertheless, a man. We serve the God whom he chose to write out of his scientific theories.

As UK Christians remember the Holocaust this week (27 January marking the day in 1945 when Auschwitz was liberated), they have been reminded that it was spawned by godlessness and the rejection of faith.

Amalek Cruelty

Steven Jaffe,¹ a member of the UK's Jewish Board of Deputies, was addressing a largely Christian audience at a church in Sheffield, Yorkshire. He said the exodus from Egypt was immediately followed by the battle with Amalek, who had no reason to attack Israel. There was no territorial dispute or history of conflict, for example. And they attacked the sick and the elderly – those who were most vulnerable (Deut 25:17-18).

"The conflict with Amalek is not over", he said. Amalek denied God and his power in the same way the Nazis did, and the latter mirrored their lack of mercy. Jaffe recalled that Britain's former Chief Rabbi, Lord Sachs, was once asked where God was during the Holocaust, to which he is said to have replied: "Where was man?"

Growing Godlessness

My worry is that the growing influence of rank atheism in Britain and Europe will have a bearing on the future of anti-Semitism. The poisonous view that God does not exist naturally leads to godless behaviour and thought, even among those previously tutored in godly ways. The result is that even some who claim to have faith, and who perhaps stand in pulpits, start believing the lie that is proclaimed so often through almost every strand of media.

My worry is that the growing influence of rank atheism in Britain and Europe will have a bearing on the future of anti-Semitism.

It is indeed frustrating that, as fast as we spread word about the horrors of the Holocaust, vowing that it should never be repeated, the vile infestation of anti-Semitism creeps into every crack and crevice of our broken society, as the walls of our Judeo-Christian civilisation come crashing down around us.

Loathing of Israel

In polite Britain, hatred of Jews is generally not expressed openly, but often takes the form of a loathing of Israel, so that the very mention of the Jewish state is enough to raise the hackles not only of the politically-aware man in the street, but of the semi-biblically aware man in the pew.

As Jaffe told the Bush Fire Church, such loathing cannot be explained in rational terms. But he was spot on, I believe, in linking the phenomenon with a society that has thrown God out of the window. Pledges of never letting it happen again are not enough, in my opinion; without a recovery of faith in the God of Israel, there can be no guarantee that another holocaust won't take place.

In recent months, Iran has been boasting of how its nuclear deal last year "has provided an historic opportunity to...face threats posed by the Zionist entity"². It is well to recall that the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Haj Amin al-Husseini, collaborated with Hitler, setting the stage for today's jihad against Israel.³ And yet, bizarrely, former Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and current Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas have both publicly denied that the Holocaust ever took place.⁴

In polite Britain, hatred of Jews is generally not expressed openly, but often takes the form of a loathing of Israel.

Holocaust memorial, Berlin. See Photo Credits.

Light in the Darkness

Against such a dark background, however, there is plenty of encouragement. The Sheffield gathering heard much about the heroic acts of so-called 'righteous Gentiles' like Sir Nicholas Winton, who rescued 669 Jewish children from Czechoslovakia in 1938. Generations of people – almost 7,000 of some of the world's greatest doctors, lawyers, teachers and inventors – owe their lives to the act of one man's efforts to help Jewish children escape the Nazis.

Last year in Leeds the Shalom Declaration was launched, with hundreds signing a commitment to pray for the peace of Jerusalem, fight anti-Semitism and promote solidarity with Israel. Steven Jaffe himself said that this is sending out a clear message of Christian support for Britain's Jewish community. "There isn't a corner of the British Isles that the Shalom Declaration has not been signed", he said.

On the faith front, we were told that "there are more Jews learning the Torah today in Israel that at any time in our history", preparing them well for the great event we are perhaps soon to witness when Jesus reveals himself on a grand scale to his brothers in the flesh.

Forgiveness Vital

Though many Jews quite understandably have a problem with this, especially with the Holocaust in mind, we are reminded that the key is forgiveness. When Joseph revealed himself to his brothers, he had already long since forgiven them for acting treacherously against him.

Pledges of never letting it happen again are not enough: without a recovery of faith in the God of Israel, there can be no guarantee that another holocaust won't take place.

British television viewers were recently treated to a remarkable Channel 4 documentary, The Girl Who Forgave the Nazis,⁵ recounting the story of how Hungarian Jew Eva Kor, now 81, a former inmate of Auschwitz, has publicly forgiven 94-year-old Oskar Groenig, the death camp's former accountant, who was recently sentenced to four years in jail for his part in the Nazi's evil scheme.

Eva and her twin sister Miriam were experimented on by the infamous Dr Josef Mengele, but survived the camp. Eva said: "It's time to forgive, but not forget...I believe that forgiveness is such a powerful thing...and I want everybody to help me sow these seeds of peace throughout the world."

This takes amazing courage. But it is worth remembering that Jesus, our Messiah, made the first move when he prayed as he died in agony on a cross in Jerusalem: "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing." (Luke 23:34)

"Praise the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits – who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases..." (Ps 103:2-3)

"Seek the Lord while he may be found...for he will freely pardon." (Isa 55:6-7)

Charles Gardner is author of Peace in Jerusalem, available from olivepresspublisher.com.

References

1 Jaffe works with the British Board of Deputies as a Communal Engagement with Israel Consultant. See Board of Deputies website. Jaffe has previously reported elsewhere on Christian support for Israel.

2 Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, in Beirut, 12 August 2015. See Times of Israel coverage here, written by Newman/AFP.

3 Soakell, D. Christian Friends of Israel's Watching Over Zion newsletter, 21 January.

4 Ibid.

5 Originally broadcast on Channel 4, Saturday 23 January, 8pm. Still available on 4oD.

Over the next few weeks we will use some recent surveys from the Brierley Consultancy to delve further into what God is saying to Britain. Each instalment will feature statistics on a different set of trends, followed by biblical analysis from Monica Hill.

Hard factual evidence drawn from different kinds of surveys can help Christians to ascertain exactly what, where and how our society is changing, and can equip them both to pray and to take action where necessary.

Christians should be alert to current trends and be prepared to act to bring things into alignment with the ordained will of God. While nothing can take place outside the sovereign will and knowledge of God, not all activities are God-ordained.

This week: The Rise of Secularism: YES, I have NO religion!