Why Atheists Wage War Against God: Vain Minds

Paul Derengowski, ThM

Previously it was seen that the first reason why atheists wage war against God is because they spend their time suppressing the truth in unrighteousness.  In this brief survey we will take a look at Reason #2, which is futility or vanity of the mind.

According to Romans 1:21, it tells us, “For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God, or give thanks; but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened.”

God has revealed himself to all of humanity, not only internally, but externally.  Internally mankind is cognizant of God’s existence and reality, mainly because man has been created in God’s image.  Even though man is in abject rebellion, that rebellion has not negated God communicating to man through his conscience.  Man in his lost state, however, chooses to suppress that communication until God revives him.

Externally, God’s “eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen” (Rom. 1:20).  The irony is that the atheist frequently clamors for empirical evidence to prove God’s existence, with sight being one of the standards he has chosen to prove otherwise.  He cannot see the very thing God says he can, proving just how prejudiced and slanted the atheist standard has become amid his blindness.

That said, the atheist still knows God, but he will not honor him as God, nor will he give Him thanks (v. 21).  Instead, the atheist mindset is literally handed over to futile or vain (Gr. emataiōthēsan) thoughts, opinions, or logic (Gr. dialogismois), about everything.  It is not that the atheist is totally stupid; it is that he cannot make sense out of that which he knows.

To add insult to injury, the seat of the atheist’s being or emotions has been darkened (Gr. eskotisthē).  Rather than walking in the light of God’s revelation and presence, the “fool” is left to grope about or wander through life blindly; relying on his perverse judgment to try and make sense out of an otherwise senseless existence.

Such vanity of mind does not deter the atheist.  His arrogance leads him to proclaim his own wisdom (v. 22).  He is the measure of all things, as he contradictorily believes in the very thing he says does not exist, namely God.  It is just that he has taken God’s place, or perhaps has placed some animal or thing on God’s throne, as the object of his adoration (v. 23).

Of course, the atheist amid a display of false humility often asserts that he is not religious, and that he has no creed or doctrine which he subscribes.  But, such fraudulence is easily exposed by only asking a few moral questions, like, what is truth or what is good?  A vain mind cannot produce a reasonable or logical answer to either.  A vain mind can only point to itself as the basis for anything, which in reality is no the basis for anything.

So, not only does the atheist wage war against God because he suppresses the truth, but also because such suppression has led him to inherit a futile mind as his reward.  Whereas a logical, rational, reasonable person would acknowledge God and honor him accordingly, the atheist can only rail in the darkness, exchanging the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds, and four-footed animals and crawling creatures.