In His Image | Page 3

confirming every other line of evidence.
A reasonable person searches for a reason and all reasons point to a
God, all-wise, all-powerful, and all-loving. On no other theory can we
account for what we see about us. It is impossible to conceive of the
universe, illimitable in extent and seemingly measureless in time, as
being the result of chance. The reign of law, universal and eternal,
compels belief in a Law Giver.
We need not give much time to the agnostic. If he is sincere he does not
know and therefore cannot affirm, deny or advise. When I was a young
man I wrote to Colonel Ingersoll, the leading infidel of his day, and
asked his views on God and immortality. His secretary sent me a
speech which quoted Colonel Ingersoll as follows: "I do not say that
there is no God: I simply say I do not know. I do not say that there is no
life beyond the grave: I simply say I do not know!" What pleasure
could any man find in taking from a human, heart a living faith and

putting in the place of it the cold and cheerless doctrine "I do not
know"? Many who call themselves agnostics are really atheists; it is
easier to profess ignorance than to defend atheism.
We give the atheist too much latitude; we allow him to ask all the
questions and we try to answer them. I know of no reason why the
Christian should take upon himself the difficult task of answering all
questions and give to the atheist the easy task of asking them. Any one
can ask questions, but not every question can be answered. If I am to
discuss creation with an atheist it will be on condition that we ask
questions about. He may ask the first one if he wishes, but he shall not
ask a second one until he answers my first.
What is the first question an atheist asks a Christian? There is but one
first question: Where do you begin? I answer: I begin where the Bible
begins. "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." I
begin with a Creative Cause that is sufficient for anything that can
come thereafter.
Having answered the atheist's first question, it is now my turn, and I
ask my first question of the atheist: "Where do you begin?" And then
his trouble begins. Did you ever hear an atheist explain creation? He
cannot begin with God because he denies the existence of a God. But
he must begin _somewhere_; it is just as necessary for the atheist as for
the Christian to have a beginning point for his philosophy.
Where does the atheist begin? He usually starts with the nebular
hypothesis. And where does that begin? "In the beginning"? No. It
begins by assuming that two things existed, which the theory does not
try to explain. It assumes that matter and force existed, but it does not
tell us how matter and force came into existence, where they came from,
or why they came. The theory begins: "Let us suppose that matter and
force are here," and then, according to the theory, force working on
matter, created a world. I have just as much right as the atheist to begin
with an assumption, and I would rather begin with God and reason
down, than begin with a piece of dirt and reason up. The difference
between the Christian theory and the materialistic theory is that the
Christian begins with God, while the materialist begins with dull,
inanimate matter. _I know of no theory suggested as a substitute for the
Bible theory that is as rational and as easy to believe._
If the atheist asks me if I can understand God, I answer that it is not

necessary that my finite mind shall comprehend the Infinite Mind
before I admit that there is an infinite mind, any more than it is
necessary that I shall understand the sun before I can admit that there is
a sun. We must deal with the facts about us whether we can understand
them or not.
If the atheist tells me that I have no right to believe in God until I can
understand Him, I will take his own logic and drive him to suicide; for,
by that logic, what right has an atheist to live unless he can understand
the mystery of his own life? Does the atheist understand the mystery of
the life he lives? No; bring me the most learned atheist and when he has
gathered all the information that this earth can give, I will have a little
child lead him out and show him the grass upon the ground, the leaves
upon the trees, the birds that fly in the air,