Distinguishing ATHEISTS, AGNOSTICS and BELIEVERS
People can be grouped into three general categories when it comes to the topic of God:
- Those who embrace atheism.
- Those who claim agnosticism.
- Those who believe in an Intelligent Creator of all things.
Let’s look at all three, as well as consider the individuals who crossover to one degree or another:
Atheists
An atheist is a person who believes there is no God, aka intelligent Creator of the Earth, Universe and all living things. The Bible flat out calls such people “fools” (Psalm 14:1 & 53:1), which is the Hebrew word nabal (naw-BAWL), meaning a stupid, senseless or wicked person.
Why would the Holy Scriptures brazenly call atheists fools, especially seeing as how a lot of really smart people are atheists, such as professors at universities? However bright and educated they might be, the Bible calls them fools because belief in God is simply a part of human make-up; it’s in our spiritual DNA. Creation itself inspires belief in a Creator and basically screams out God’s existence, as observed in these passages:
1The heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
2Day after day they pour forth speech;
night after night they reveal knowledge.
3They have no speech, they use no words;
no sound is heard from them.
4Yet their voice b goes out into all the earth,
their words to the ends of the world.
In the heavens God has pitched a tent for the sun.
Psalm 19:1-4
18The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 19since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.
Romans 1:18-20
So, belief in an Intelligent Creator comes natural to people born into this messed up world and is expected in light of the glaring evidence. They basically have to be “talked out of it” to become an atheist, which is what atheistic professors love to do in our secular universities (You can learn about this here).
But, please understand, that the LORD has compassion — sympathetic understanding — concerning our plight in this fallen world. In other words, God knows how godless our societies are and how we are brainwashed in many cases to not believe, sometimes from childhood. As it is written: “The LORD is good to all; he has compassion on all he has made” (Psalm 145:9).
Elsewhere, Christ said, “Everything is possible for one who believes” (Mark 9:23) to which the father of an ill son exclaimed: “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!” (9:24). This reveals that doubt can coexist with belief and that seeking God for help in overcoming unbelief is a valid action.
Agnostics
The Greek word for ‘agnostic’ is agnostos (ag-NOHS-toss), which means “unknown or unknowable.” So, an agnostic is someone who admits to not knowing the nature of ultimate reality. In short, they claim ignorance on the topic — they don’t know if there is a God or not; and, even if there is, this Creator is apparently unknowable. If you remember Ozzy Osbourne’s song from the early 80s “I don’t Know,” that’s what he was saying.
Agnostics are a step up from atheists because they’re not arrogant enough to insist that there is no God or an intelligent design behind creation. This takes humility, which is good because humility attracts God’s favor (James 4:6, 1 Peter 5:5 & Proverbs 3:34).
Before I turned to the LORD at the age of 20, I was an agnostic. I simply didn’t know what the truth was concerning ultimate reality and refused to arrogantly say “There is no God.”
It should be pointed out that there is sometimes a fine line between atheism and agnosticism. For instance, someone may technically be an agnostic, but be an atheist in attitude and practice.
Believers
The Greek word for ‘believer’ is pisteuó (pist-YOO-oh), which naturally means to believe, have faith or trust. Hence believers refer to those who believe in an Almighty Creator with the ideal of having an actual agreement (covenant, contract) with the LORD.
When the New Testament speaks of believers, it’s talking about New Covenant believers, whether of Hebraic stock or Gentile. This refers to people who have accepted the Good News of the message of Christ:
…the message concerning faith that we proclaim: 9 If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them.
Whoever confesses Jesus Christ as Lord and believes in their heart will experience spiritual regeneration— that is, rebirth within (John 3:3, 3:6 & Titus 3:5).
A good verse that distinguishes between believers and unbelievers (whether atheistic or agnostic) can be observed here:
Tongues, then, are a sign, not for believers but for unbelievers; prophecy, however, is not for unbelievers but for believers.
To be expected, there are other types of believers, including semi-believers and false believers (who obviously aren’t really believers)…
Abram Believed in Pre-Judeo-Christian Circumstances
Before there was an Old Covenant that the LORD had with the Israelites and the New Covenant that God has with believers, Abram (aka Abraham) was a believer and Yahweh acknowledged it (Genesis 15:6).
Since the holy LORD only works with fallen humans through covenants, God made an agreement with Abram (Genesis 15) and Abram complied as he received additional revelation from the Great I AM (e.g. Genesis 17:9–14 & Genesis 17:23–27).
Hebrews Who Don’t Really Believe
The Israelites in the Old Testament may have all been of Hebraic stock and had a covenant with the Great I AM, but they weren’t all believers. For instance, Numbers 13-14 details how Moses sent twelve Hebrews from each tribe into the Promised Land in preparation to take it, but ten came back with a spirit of fear, discouraging the masses, while two had a spirit of faith — Joshua and Caleb — in other words, they believed and so were true believers (Numbers 14:6-9). The ten doubters were dyed-in-the-wool Hebrews, physically, but they weren’t children of Abraham in the spiritual sense because they didn’t have a spirit of faith, aka a spirit of belief. Joshua and Caleb, by contrast, were Abraham’s true offspring, not just in flesh, but in spirit as well. For more details see this article.
Proselytes
A proselyte in the Scriptures refers to a Gentile who believes in the God of Israel to the extent of undergoing circumcision (Acts 13:43).
God-Fearers
A God-fearer likewise refers to a Gentile who believes in Yahweh and therefore observes some of the Mosaic Law, but hadn’t yet submitted to circumcision. Cornelius is a good example of a God-fearer in the Scriptures (Acts 10:2).
Those “Not Far From the Kingdom of God”
This is how the Lord described a Teacher of the Law that answered a question wisely (Mark 12:34). It shows that someone may not be a believer in the message of Christ (yet), but they’re closer to salvation than others. See this article for more insights on this.
False Believers
This refers to people who say they’re believers and do things typical of believers — like go to assembly, speak Christianese, and carry a Bible — but they actually don’t believe and therefore aren’t walking with the LORD at all. Paul made several references to such bogus believers (2 Corinthians 11:13-15, 2 Corinthians 11:26 & Galatians 2:4) with this notable insight:
They claim to know God, but by their actions they deny him.
The Lord also noted false ministers (Revelation 2:2) and elaborated on the topic here:
15“Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. 16By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? 17Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. 19Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.
21“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ 23Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’
Matthew 7:15-23
Since people like this aren’t really believers, they’re either atheists or agnostics masquerading as believers because it’s in their best interest to do so or they’re doing it for carnal reasons. Such false believers can be recognized by their fruit — they don’t produce fruit of the spirit on a consistent basis, but rather works of the flesh (Galatians 5:19-23). For instance, a ‘brother’ who constantly engages in gossip/slander concerning blameless believers and even fivefold ministers is acting like satan (Revelation 12:10) since devil — diabolos in the Greek — literally means slanderer or accuser. Such impenitent people are guilty of the sin of false testimony!
A good example of a false prophet today would be that pro-sodomite “bishop” who spoke at President Trump’s Inaugural Prayer service, which you can see here. A real bishop, by contrast, would boldly call those who foolishly engage in sexual immorality & perversion to repentance, not play their advocate (e.g. Matthew 4:17 & Luke 13:5).
Related Topics:
SPIRITUAL GROWTH Is Like Climbing a Mountain
FAITH — What Is It? Why Is It Important? How Does It Grow?
The Seven Keys to SPIRITUAL GROWTH
Spiritual Growth — The Four Stages
Can You Fix Your SPIRITUAL FOUNDATION If It’s Faulty?
(Pseudo) Science Is the “New God” and Dubious Scientists Are the “New Gods”
Understanding the Religion of LIEberalism
Once Saved Always Saved? — Answering the Best Arguments
comments powered by Disqus