The Psychology of Atheism

The greatest terror that grips us is the thought of being held accountable before the uncompromising scrutiny of a holy God. In this brief clip, R.C. Sproul exposes the real reason why people profess to be atheists.

Transcript:

The Apostle is saying that there is a psychology to atheism. He goes on to say what it is that we fear more than nature, more than meaninglessness, is that the greatest fear that any human being has by nature is to be held accountable by a God who is holy. Because, in the presence of the holy, we are immediately exposed of being unholy. The God of Scripture is a God who is omniscient, who knows everything about us. He is a God who is omnipotent, who is all-powerful. He is a God who is altogether holy. And worst of all, He is immutable. There is no hope that He’ll ever grow weak and lose His omnipotence. There is no hope that He’ll ever have a senior moment and lose His knowledge of everything that I’ve ever done. He will never get Alzheimer’s disease. There’s no hope that He’ll ever compromise His righteousness or His holiness. Because He is immutably holy, immutably omnipotent, and immutably omniscient, and all these things are revealed through nature, and we know it by nature. Because that is so terrifying, it is our basic disposition as fallen creatures to have a vested interest to flee, since Adam and Eve fled the garden and hid in the bushes because they were naked and they were ashamed. That’s the biggest barrier we have to coming to a full understanding of God—that we, too are naked, and we know it.