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Question: Is there a true atheist? What is the difference between
an atheist and a non-believer?

1. The word atheist refers to one who does not believe that there
is a God.  I suppose by a "true" atheist, the caller means one who
really, deep down, does not believe that God exists.  God, in His
word, acknowledges that there are those who do not believe in Him.
In Psalm 14:1: "The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God."
The verse continues, "They are corrupt, they have done abominable
works; There is none that doeth good." (From Leupold,
Psalms.p.139:) Fools have always said there is no God...When men
deny God's existence or live as though He were not, then wickedness
prevails: men "have acted wickedly, made their doings abominable."
Atheism bears its proper fruit in rotten conduct.

2. No one becomes an atheist because of a lack of evidence in the
existence of God.  The multi-faceted design of our universe crys
out that there is a God. "The heavens declare the glory of God; and
the firmament showeth his handiwork. Day unto day uttereth speech,
And night unto night showeth knowledge." The things that are made
cannot be explained apart from the eternal power of God.

3. To the contrary, men become atheists, in spite of overwhelming
evidence for His existence, because they refuse to have God in
their knowledge (Romans 1:28). Psa.10:4: "The wicked, in the pride
of his countenance, saith, He will not require it. All his thoughts
are, There is no God."  Occasionally, there is an atheist who is
honest enough to admit his true motive for atheism: "I had motives
for not wanting the world to have meaning; consequently, assumed it
had none, and was able without any difficulty to find satisfying
reasons for this assumption....The philosopher who finds no meaning
in the world is not concerned exclusively with a problem in pure
metaphysics; he is also concerned to prove there is no valid reason
why he personally should not do as he wants to do....For myself, as
no doubt for most of my contemporaries, the philosophy of
meaninglessness was essentially an instrument of liberation. The
liberation we desired was simultaneously liberation from a certain
political and economic system, and liberation from a certain system
of morality. We objected to the morality because it interfered with
our sexual freedom."(Aldous Huxley. "Confessions of a Professed
Atheist." IN: Report: Perspective on the News. Vol.3 June, 1966.p
19, as quoted in Reason and Revelation, Vol.1. p.27).

4. Regarding the difference between an atheist, and a non-believer,
if by non-believer you mean one who does not believe in God, there
would be no difference.

5. But as the song by A.W. Dicus truly says, There is a God, He is
Alive, In Him we live, and we survive. From dust our God, created
man; He is our God, The Great I AM.

6. But as for me I know that my Redeemer liveth (Job 19:25).



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