Practical Atheism
Charles J. Aebi
My friend Ottis Castleberry told me about one of his fellow teachers who, knowing that he was a preacher, asked him to be his “priest.” He explained that he wanted Ottis to perform weddings and funerals when someone in his family married or died. That was the extent of his religious needs, and he did not want Ottis preaching to him about how he ought to live or worship. Other than weddings and funerals, he lived as though God did not exist. One paint-boss I worked for told me he believed in God and had once been so sick he had called on God but, at other times, he lived mainly as though God did not exist. Many, if not most Europeans, feel the need for a religious ceremony when they are born (christened), married, and buried; in other things, they live pretty much as though God does not exist. Such people are practical atheists; they live mostly without God.
Paul spoke of the Ephesians as having been atheists [atheoi, “without God”] before they became Christians (Ephesians 2:12), and we know he was talking about those among them who were Gentiles, because he says they were. We also know from Acts 19 that many of the Ephesians were idolaters—worshipers of the goddess Diana or Artemis. Paul said they were without God because they were practical atheists, living as though God (Jehovah, the God of Heaven) did not exist. Practical atheism is ignoring God in one's life, as did the Gentiles Paul described in Romans 1:18-32.
People often think of themselves as religious while not letting God have control of their lives. They are not like Ludwig Feuerbach who said God is a projection of the human mind; or Sigmund Freud who said God is an illusion; or Karl Marx who said capitalists use religion to drug wage-earners into accepting injustice now by the promise of heaven later; or Nietzsche who said God is dead. Instead, most of those around us give some lip service to believing in God, but they do not give Him a real part in their lives. They find God useful for special occasions and emergencies, but find little time to feed their souls on God’s word. Bibles are used mainly for decorating coffee tables and keeping family records in. Sundays are for boating, sports, and fun. They are preoccupied with material things—working for food, shelter, luxuries, and vacationing in search of pleasures. God’s commands or ethics regarding justice, honesty, and morality are ignored or even rejected. Artists, actors, and television personalities turn their attention to ridiculing religion, and even Christians sometimes are practical atheists, so caught up in ways of the world that they have little time for spiritual service.
The result of practical atheism is along the same lines as that of theoretical atheism: Christian moral values and standards have declined, and, in many or most places, those churches that insist on upholding Biblical principles have declined. Atheists have proclaimed their doctrines so widely and confidently that today many college teachers and other professional people consider serious Christians to be as ignorant and superstitious as witch doctors, and many "Christians" are ashamed of and apologetic for their faith!
So I ask, are you an atheist? Or, are you influenced by atheists? If not, do not live like one! Do not be a practical atheist; serve God full-time. –2660 Layman Rd., Vincent, OH 45784-9730. cjandi@juno.com