Another Atheist Finds God
By John Scott, Dallas, Texas

The Associated Press recently reported that Professor Antony Flew of England now accepts the existence of God.[xix] That was newsworthy because Professor Flew had been the world’s leading intellectual champion for atheism for more than a half century. He changed his mind on the basis of recent scientific developments. When asked if his admirers might be upset with his newfound belief, he reaffirmed his commitment to Aristotle’s principle: “Follow the evidence, wherever it leads.”

Of course Professor Flew is not the first atheist to have changed his mind. The meeting in 1950, where he presented his most famous paper on atheism, was chaired by a former atheist. His name was C. S. Lewis, the author of Mere Christianity, a book that is still being published and persuading atheists to change their minds and hearts.

“Science Finds God” was a cover story in Newsweek in 1998.[xx] Time Magazine had run a similar story in 1992.[xxi] They reported that some of the world’s leading scientists, including some former atheists and Nobel Prize winners, believe in God. Some have shared their faith in writing.[xxii]

This proves that scientific knowledge does not stand in the way of a belief in God. But has science affirmatively proved the existence of God? Some scientists say yes, but others still say no.

So where does that leave the rest of us—the more than 99 percent of the world’s population who are not scientists? Very few of us have enough time or expertise to analyze the massive amount of complex data that Professor Flew and others are relying on when they say scientific evidence leads to God.

Isn’t there some other way to find God, something simple enough for everyone who struggles with doubt or disbelief?

I believe there is. It’s an experiment, but it’s not complicated. It’s consistent with scientific principles, but virtually anyone can do it. I tried it when I didn’t believe in God, and it worked. It changed my mind, and my life. That simple experiment has led many others, including both scientists and non-scientists, to believe in God.

One way to describe the experiment is to break it down into seven steps. That makes it more orderly than my actual journey because I took some wrong turns before finding the way. But the seven steps describe those parts of my journey that turned out to be headed in the right direction.

The following description of the experiment is presented in the form of suggestions for those who are willing to try it.

The Experiment

Step 1: Admit that God is a possibility. An atheist must live with this chilling thought: “If I’m right, I will never know that for sure; but if I’m wrong, I could live to regret it.” That’s one reason I read over 200 books containing arguments both for and against the existence of God. But after all that reading I came to only one certain conclusion: No one can prove the negative claim that God does not exist.

I knew that before reading those books.

This first step, for some, is just to stop being an atheist and become an agnostic.

Step 2: Acknowledge that if there is a God, you need His help. I once assumed that religion had to begin with a belief in God. But the great Scottish scholar William Barclay said, “The beginning of all true religion is a confession of one’s need for God.”

Even an agnostic can do that.

This step was easy for me, as it is for virtually everybody. My willpower was like an old battery in my pocket radio; it worked, but not for long. And I could not just will myself to possess two things we all desire most: a sense of purpose and peace of mind. I read many self-help books, only to discover that self-help just wasn’t nearly enough. Not even close.

In other words, I acknowledged my need for help from a power greater than myself.

Some call that humility. I just call it reality.

Step 3: Make a decision to apply the “act as if” principle to God. While reading those books debating the existence of God, I finally zoomed in on a recurring suggestion: Instead of just reading arguments, try an experiment.

William James, the famous medical doctor-psychologist-philosopher-Harvard professor, observed that most of our functional beliefs—in all areas of life—start out as “act as if” experiments. Francis Bacon, who formulated the scientific method, said, “The best proof by far is still personal experience.” Albert Einstein said, “Only experience is knowledge; all else is information.” C. S. Lewis said that faith “is really finding out by experience that it is true.” And we all say, “Experience is the best teacher,” and, “There is no substitute for experience.”

I had lost confidence in secondhand faith based on tradition. Now I would try firsthand faith based on experience. (In retrospect, I can see that’s what my religious tradition had tried to get me to do in the first place.)

At that point I bogged down in a swamp of questions: Where does one look for instructions for acting as if God exists? Which religion? Which branch of that religion?

I emerged from that swamp with a simple, achievable plan. After reading about the major religions, I decided to look for my “instructions” in only one place, a very small set of teachings. They’re so small they can be read in less time than it takes to watch a movie. Yet those few words have had a greater positive impact on more lives than all other words ever spoken, written, or enacted into law. Those are of course the words attributed to Jesus Christ in the four gospels.

That’s not all that drew me back to Jesus. While reading about other religions I noticed that even non-Christians had an extremely high regard for him. Gandhi was profoundly influenced by the teachings of Jesus. Some Hindus believe Jesus was God in human form. The Dali Lama has described Jesus as a “fully enlightened being.” The Koran says many of the same things about Jesus as the Bible: he was born to the Virgin Mary, lived a sinless life, performed many miracles, was a Messenger from God, and will return as the Messiah to bring peace to the world. Even secular scholars regard Jesus as the most influential moral figure of all time. I found it hard to believe that someone of that moral stature would lie about who he was. And I was impressed by the historical fact that many witnesses to his life, death, and resurrection chose to be tortured to death instead of recanting their story. Many may die for secondhand lies they believe are true, but not for firsthand lies they know are false.

So I returned, not to the roots of my earlier faith, but to the seeds of those roots—the words of Jesus. I read from one of those Bibles in which his words are printed in red. And I found to be true something Albert Schweitzer said: “There is deep significance in the fact that whenever we hear the sayings of Jesus we have to enter a realm of thought that is not ours.”

Some call that a ring of truth.

In any event, that’s where I found the remaining steps.

The first three steps had been thinking steps that needed to be done only once. The next three were going to be action steps to be done every day.

Step 4: Pray as if God exists. It is no more hypocritical to pray to a God you’re not sure exists than it is for a scientist to act as if some other hypothesis is true. Both are honest efforts to find out the truth. As my friend Preston Bright told me many years ago when I was struggling with doubt, “Sometimes the best evidence of God is an answer to your prayers, and you will never have a prayer answered if you don’t pray.”

I took my instructions for praying from the Sermon on the Mount. It tells us to pray privately and daily. It also includes a model prayer (that came to be called The Lord’s Prayer). I tried to make my daily prayer time sort of a two-way communication; I talked to God, read from the scriptures, and then sat quietly for a few moments. I was testing the biblical passage: “Be still and know that I am God.”

Step 5: Be good to yourself. This step answers the question that naturally comes to mind when you decide to act as if God exists: What kind of God? Answer: a God who loves you, and expects you to do the same. This comes from what Jesus called one of the two greatest commandments: “Love your neighbor as you love yourself.” If God wants you to love others as much as you love yourself, it follows that God wants you to love yourself as much as the Creator wants you to love others. And the word love, as used here, is not a noun about a feeling; it’s a verb, an action word.

So be good to yourself.

The test question for this step is not, “Will this make me feel good?” It is, “Will this make me feel good about myself?”

Step 6: Practice the golden rule, including worldly charity. Surveys show that most people, including non-Christians, regard the golden rule (“treat others as you would have others treat you”) as the highest point of all moral thought. Jesus himself said it sums up all the laws and prophets (Mt 7:12). It tells us how to treat everybody, even the rich and famous. But Jesus placed the highest possible emphasis on down-to-earth charity—worldly charity. He spoke very specifically about helping others who need food, water, clothes, and shelter, and those who are sick, lonely, in prison, poor, crippled, or blind (Mt. 25:31-46; Lk. 14:13-14).

The other steps are about what God can do for us. This is the only step requiring us to do something for others. Jesus warned, in the strongest possible terms, that worldly charity is not just an option for bonus points (Mt. 25:31-46). Yet surveys show that just over half of all Christians who are active in church are not active in charity. Are they on the easy path Jesus warned about, instead of the harder path that “few” ever find? (Mt. 7:13, 14)

I decided not to take that risk. So I began doing some volunteer work, and found it to be deeply gratifying. In fact, no step in the experiment has brought me more joy than this one. At many levels we help ourselves when we help others.

Step 7: Take the public step. The religious basis for the other steps can be strictly private. Others may notice improvements in your behavior, but they don’t have to know religion has anything to do with it. But this step is clearly religious and must be done in public. This step is to participate in organized religion. I had misgivings about that. But most of my excuses for not going to church made no more sense than saying I’ll never eat another vegetable because: (1) my parents made me eat them when I was a child; (2) some of them weren’t good; (3) there are too many to choose from; (4) the people who sell them just want your money; and (5) some vegetarians are hypocrites because they have healthier-than-thou attitudes, but sneak around and eat meat.

After reflecting on it, I could not ignore the fact that Jesus attended religious services. And he said we must acknowledge our faith commitment publicly. He also taught that going to church is not something we do for God; it’s something God wants us to do for ourselves. We need to recharge our physical and spiritual batteries.

So I started going to church.

At first I was a bit put off by some judgmental members, and one who was downright dishonest. But I had to remind myself that all worthwhile movements attract some fanatics and frauds. And nobody’s perfect. So churches, like all other human institutions, are filled with imperfect people (including me). But many churches are worth attending, and you only need one. And I found one. So can you.

The Results

The experiment worked like a miracle. I experienced dramatic improvements in my physical, emotional, and financial health. A friend at the office, after returning from an extended foreign assignment, asked, “What’s happened to you?” He said I had “completely changed . . . for the better.” My own son, following an absence of only a few months, asked his mother, “What’s happened to Dad?” She told him it was “something spiritual.” My little mustard seed of faith was removing some mountains of bad habits. I was actually doing more of what those “self-help” books recommended. All my relationships got better. I’m still far from perfect of course, but I am, at worst, a lot less bad than ever. And I enjoy a deeper sense of purpose and much more peace of mind.

At first I wondered if these seemingly miraculous changes were the results of something that was just psychological. But I was too happy for the experience to worry about the explanation.

I call that a practical level of faith. If my faith had never progressed beyond that point, I would have remained deeply grateful and never looked back. But it didn’t stop there.

My faith has grown to a spiritual level. I have felt God’s presence in ways that left no room for doubt. There have been moments when I knew God was there, sometimes during my prayer time but more often while engaged in charity work. At other times I trust the memories of those moments, just as we still believe in the sun at midnight.

In short, I quit trying to find God by sitting in a chair and reading arguments. I got up and tried the experiment of acting as if God is real. I discovered, as William Temple said, “The person with an experience is never at the mercy of someone who merely has an argument.”

Footnotes

Updated Sunday, October 23, 2005