by Michael G. Mickey
(11-1-08)

It's a sign of the times and, possibly, a sign to be featured on a bus near you. It reads: "There's probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life."

Both the BBC and Fox News have written stories recently detailing plans coordinated by the British Humanist Association (BHA) and supported by prominent atheist Professor Richard Dawkins to have 60 buses in London carrying the highlighted message above through the streets of London for 4 weeks, maybe longer. Under this plan, not only will there be atheist signs on the outside of the buses, there will be similar signs on the inside of them as well.

The worried atheist

Atheist Richard Dawkins is quoted by the BBC as saying the following, all of which is typical of the arrogance Dawkins is famous for (and is going to pay dearly for if he leaves this world having never accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior):

"Religion is accustomed to getting a free ride - automatic tax breaks, unearned respect and the right not to be offended, the right to brainwash children.

"Even on the buses, nobody thinks twice when they see a religious slogan plastered across the side.

"This campaign to put alternative slogans on London buses will make people think - and thinking is anathema to religion."

While Dawkins paints with a very broad brush when it comes to religion in this article, he is, as anyone who has ever heard him speak, primarily an enemy of just one religion - Christianity.

In the Fox News version of the BBC article, we learn that comedy writer Ariane Sherine started the campaign to get the atheist signs on the buses and why she did so.

She is quoted in the article as saying she "came up with the idea after seeing a series of Christian posters on London buses." She indicates she visited a website promoted on one of the ads and found it told nonbelievers they would spend eternity in torment in hell. Like Dawkins, except far more pleasant to the eye, the 28-year-old Sherine is a typical atheist as well.

While both Dawkins and Sherine claim not to believe in a god of any variety, there is a God that worries them so badly that they have to lash out at Him and all those who worship Him - the God of the Bible.

Dawkins is careful not to admit his fear of God, although I've seen fear of God in his eyes before, but Sherine, in my opinion, clearly demonstrates hers in the Fox News article.

She admits she saw a Christian sign, went to a Christian web site in spite of her atheism, which raises the question of why she'd do so to begin with, and then, upon reading of the divine judgment that awaits her if she doesn't repent of her sins and come to faith in Christ, decided to wage a war of misinformation against God that isn't going to lessen her fear one bit in the end.

Neither Sherine nor Dawkins, regardless of how many atheist signs they place on London buses, are going to be any less afraid of God at the end of their bus campaign than they were before it began. And why? Because God is still going to be God and they are still going to know it! What they may be able to gain for their efforts is a few converts to their way of thinking - people they hope will, by joining them in their foolish denials of the Most High, help them feel a bit safer in their lack of faith. It's a 'strength in numbers' mentality that never works for them, a bit funny to watch from afar.

There are no pink elephants!

Imagine that tomorrow you read in the newspaper that organizers of a campaign denying the existence of pink elephants had raised a walloping $113,000 in donations to place ads on public buses to support their position and an educated man like Oxford University biologist Richard Dawkins, for example, donated $9,000 of his money to fund the campaign just as he did in this bus sign effort. Would you laugh at the notion? I know I would! And why would I laugh? Because pink elephants don't exist, of course!

Who in their right mind, if they didn't fear pink elephants on some level, would shell out $9,000 of their hard-earned money to deny something they swear they don't believe exists? Arguably and logically, it would seem to me, no one would and yet atheists play these silly games with us, acting as if we're all a bunch of idiots for believing in God, incapable or unwilling of thinking! Personally, I THINK the only silly person involved in funding a campaign against pink elephants is someone who would do so when they don't even believe such a creature exists! Let's look at another example.

Atheists have a lot of fun mocking God by likening Him to a Flying Spaghetti Monster. Will anyone, in response to that goofiness on their part, ever see me shell out a cent to wage war against the Flying Spaghetti Monster? No, because to do so would only draw attention to something I know for a fact doesn't exist! But atheists? The people who tell believers that thinking is anathema to our faith? They are willing to spend $113,000 in an attempt to lead us to stop believing in God for their benefit, under the transparent guise of protecting us from the excessive worry that comes from our having a relationship with Jesus Christ.

Are You Worried?

As a believer in Jesus Christ, there are things I worry about, certainly, but nothing I worry about has to do with my relationship with Jesus Christ. Because of my relationship with Christ, I don't walk around feeling guilty because I make a mistake here and there any more than I worry about what the future holds for me. Come what may, God will see me through and I will arrive safely home at the end of the day.

I suppose, from an atheist's perspective, it's hard to imagine that trying to live a life holy and acceptable to a loving Almighty God is pleasant, even rewarding, but that's the case.

Because I have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, my life has purpose. No matter what comes my way - and I certainly have had my share of downright terrible days - I am able to ground myself in the knowledge that I have a God who loves me whose face I will someday behold in a land where there will be nothing to fear whatsoever!

When I am struggling with worry in my life, it isn't because of my relationship with God. It's because my faith in God is too weak at times for me to trust Him to the extent I should. My worry doesn't come from God; it comes from within me. Because that is true, in my times of worry, I take my broken spirit before the Lord in repentance and look to Him for the strength I need to live my life happier, healthier, wiser, and more lovingly than I am able to on my own.

Richard Dawkins refers to thinking as anathema to religion. In contrast, what I have just spoken to is anathema to the arrogant atheist! What am I referring to? Simply put, submission to God and faith!

The atheist, much like Satan fell long before them, is a fallen soul. He or she refuses to acknowledge that even the sovereign God of the universe's will should take precedence over their selfishness.

Rather than accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior and gain eternal life, the atheist would rather live their mortal life their way, free of any accountability to their Creator.

The atheist who has carefully chosen their friends and crafted their lifestyle to avoid references to God well enough can almost calm the searing guilt in their soul that torments them due to their rebellion against God, but, sooner or later, just as they near an almost euphoric state of denial, there it will be - a reminder on the side of a bus, a bumper sticker on the back of a car, a Christian handing out tracts at the subway station, a television channel they flip by just long enough to see the pastor of a local church crying out to Jesus that he might be able to lead one more lost soul to Christ. Try though they may, they just can't hide from God and it drives them nuts!

Atheist, are YOU worried?

All the bus signs in the world can't and won't change what you know to be true. And atheist? Talk all you like, but you know there is a God! Through His Creation you have seen Him to the extent that you are without excuse. You haven't seen God's face, but you've seen His handiwork, know that He exists and also that you are accountable to Him. There's no escaping this fundamental truth, not even through denial of the strongest form imaginable.

Romans 1:20: For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:

Biblical scholar David Guzik writes of Romans 1:20, "God has shown us something of His eternal power and divine nature through creation, by the things that are made. He has given a general revelation that is obvious both in creation and within the mind and heart of man."

If there wasn't a God, lost atheist, you wouldn't be nearly as motivated to try and remove Him from your sight as you are! You'd be no different than I am when it comes to fighting pink elephants - or flying spaghetti monsters. Only one of us needs to stop worrying and live their life. Guess what? It isn't me.

I'm not worried about my destiny; you are.

My future is secure in Jesus Christ; yours isn't.

People like me advertise Christ on buses to help others find the freedom I have to live my life in anticipation of a gloriously happy ending that no power on earth can steal from me; you buy signs on buses to comfort yourself as if you can somehow wish God away. It hasn't worked for you before. It isn't going to work for you now.

You and people like you have strewn all kinds of cash in denial of God. This you have done, due to your inability to think clearly, in service of the master you have chosen to serve - the god of this world, Satan. Barring repentance, you're on your way to hell as a result.

Stop worrying about God? I did that a long, long time ago when I accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior, but you? Atheist, you're still worrying and doing absolutely nothing but giving yourself greater cause to worry!

It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God, according to Hebrews 10:31, and that you'd do well to think on a bit, even worry about!

Jesus Christ loves you, atheist, but I have to warn you. As someone who studies Bible prophecy, I am compelled to tell you that your presence in the world today in such large numbers is demonstrative that the God you so want to wish away isn't going away. Quite the opposite to what you hope to see happen, Jesus Christ is on His way here, figuratively at least, not heading away.

While we don't know when He is coming, the Apostle Peter looked down through the corridors of time and prophesied of you as a sign that Christ's return is drawing near. I leave you with his words and pray you will come to faith in Christ before it is eternally too late. I do THAT because of a worry I have brought about by my Christianity. Please note, however, that I'm not worried for me. I'm worried for you because the clock is ticking toward Christ's return and you're running out of time.

2nd Peter 3:3-4: Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.