There’s a popular quote by atheist Steven F. Roberts that many nonbelievers cite or paraphrase when debating Christians that says, “I contend we are both atheists. I just believe in one fewer God than you do.”
The atheist is saying that since we Christians don’t believe in Baal, Zeus, Odin, Vishnu, Quetzalcoatl, or any other god other than the God of the Bible, then we assume the same lack of belief system. They just take it one deity further.
So what’s the difference ?
Well it doesn’t take much to realize that this argument is constructed in a way to throw the believer off guard. Let’s look at the two members of the argument. An atheist and a theist. The word atheist comes from the Greek atheos. The prefix a meaning “without” and theos meaning “god”. In other words atheism is the belief that there is no god or gods. No Supreme Ruler whatsoever. The atheist’s worldview is completely shrouded and perceived in the material realm. That anything outside it is pure speculation and unprovable (or not proven yet).
However, for the theist (Christian in our case) the material realm is just another dimension of reality. For us there is also the spiritual realm. The spiritual realm is, in fact, the truest reality because it existed first. God is spirit (John 4:24) and He created all that exists (Genesis 1, John 1:3) in the spiritual and material world.
Now let me point out that Christians during the 1st century were called atheists because they rejected the pantheon of greco-roman gods of the surrounding culture. This was also because the Christians of the day had no temple, priest, or sacrifice, as Romans would have recognized. Yet, believers in Christ saw Jesus as the temple. He is the only way to the Holy of Holies. Believers in Christ saw Him as priest because He is the Ultimate High Priest. Believers in Christ saw Jesus as the sacrifice because of the work He accomplished on the cross. He is the sacrificial Lamb of God and no sacrifice is needed after Him. (John 1:29; Hebrews 4:14; 10:10-11, 19-20)
After the resurrection of Jesus and the birth of the Church there was no “physical” representation of their God like the Romans had. The Romans had statues and Caesar. If you didn’t worship as they worshipped and whom they worshipped then you worshipped nothing. Therefore, the term atheist was applied to early Christians out of ignorance and out of insult.
In the Martyrdom of Polycarp, Polycarp is brought before the Roman governor for trial. The governor has the intention of making Polycarp betray his Christian brethren. Polycarp must say, “Away with the atheists” or else be condemned. He looks around at “the crowd of lawless heathen”(the pagan Romans) and says “Away with the atheists” flipping the name on to his accusers. (Martyrdom of Polycarp 9:2)
But, let’s be reminded. Atheists reject all gods. They reject false gods and the true God, Yahweh. They don’t just reject one more god than Christians. They reject THE God. The only true and living God. Even though God has made Himself plainly evident through His creation, atheists won’t come to the knowledge of the truth. (Romans 19:21)
However…
Atheists might reject the notion of gods as supernatural, ethereal beings, but they still have gods. We all serve something or someone. We all worship something or someone. Whether it be ourselves, pleasure, fortune, fame, other people, hobbies, pets, nature, gods made of wood or gold, or the God of the Bible; something gets our worship whether we choose to accept the notion or not.
This brings us to the first two commandments:
1)You shall have no other gods before Me [Yahweh]
2)You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them. (Exodus 20:3-4a)
If we have broken these commandments, and we all have if God is not who we worship, then we make ourselves idolaters. Anything other than God that gets our worship has become an idol. These are Paul’s words in Philippians 3:18-19
18 For, as I have often told you before and now tell you again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. 19 Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is set on earthly things.
If this is true of you today, please understand that God wants to be the object of your worship. He knows that anything else that competes for your attention above Him is a false god. He knows that no other god can bring you true joy and fulfillment. Anything else is an imitation and will never come close to the perfect love, holiness, and eternality of God. Don’t be blinded by passion for the things of the world. Things will break. Trends will fade. This world and everything in it will pass away. God and His Word are forever. And don’t place any person above God. Human beings are imperfect and all have fallen far short of God’s glory. But, God is not man that He should lie or change His mind. Nor will He ever leave us or forsake us. So, give your worship to God and to God alone because He alone is worthy.
Derrick Stokes
This post was originally published as “…ONE LESS GOD…”? at https://theologetics315.wordpress.com/2016/11/13/one-less-god/
Trading some thoughts on this topic over at http://outshine-the-sun.blogspot.com/2017/02/estranged-notions-stephen-colbert-vs.html?m=0 fwiw ~~~
Ron Kindley,
Well, the best I can suggest is to search/google etc. “one less god apologetics” or something like that as you’ll get folks with far more constructive comments that anything I can offer. The only point that seemed interesting to me was that Non-Theists in fact *do* have beliefs about the very same thing which the term “God” in fact referents. The quote of Feser was from his “Why Is There Anything At All? It’s Simple” at
[1] http://edwardfeser.blogspot.com/2013/10/why-is-there-anything-at-all-its-simple.html
…and reminds us to replace the word “God” with what we *all* have – namely a belief and/or a set of claims about *the* ultimate source of reality – which is what the term “God” in fact defines or referents or lands on. Non-Theists have beliefs about and make claims about the ultimate source of reality or about the “….metaphysical wellspring of all ontological possibility….” and when they deny that they have beliefs about “that” and make claims about “that” they are revealing something less than honest (…or an uninformed premise…).
Some other resources:
[2] http://edwardfeser.blogspot.com/2011/04/one-god-further-objection.html
[3] http://edwardfeser.blogspot.com/2011/04/further-thought-on-one-god-further.html
[4] http://rzim.org/a-slice-of-infinity/one-less-god/
Those four take it from the direction of pointing out that the claim of “one less god” has not been intellectually honest about the definition of “GOD”. The claim of “one less god” does not realize exactly what it is claiming does not exist, and that is why Feser suggests removing the term *God* and replacing it with something like, say, “reality’s ultimate source” and so on. But, generally, those four links talk about the failure to address the actual meaning of the word “God” as per Christianity or Classical Theism.
However, the quote from Feser in which he suggests removing the word “God” from the discussion turns that around 180 degrees and reminds us all that the Non-Theist *also* has *his* “ultimate cause of things” or *his* (….to borrow the semantics of D.B. Hart….) own “…metaphysical wellspring of all ontological possibility….” Sean Carroll is a good person to read (…The Big Picture and poetic naturalism etc…) as one follows the Non-Theist’s “wellspring” into, well, into various “layers” of what ends up in the syntax of “…useful but not true…”.
One’s T.O.E. or “theory of everything”, whether Theist or Non-Theist, might, at some ontological seam somewhere, annihilate both reason and logic as this or that reductio ad absurdum ensues. It seems even the Non-Theists of late have lost the will to deny that very thing of their own “explanatory terminus”. But then we’ve no rational reason to embrace it. One may have an a priori commitment to embrace absurd ends, but the rational cannot by definition embrace absurdity and in fact is rational to reject such forced ends – even if that forces ends akin to [God].
So, where 1, 2, 3, and 4 look at the question from one direction, the opposite direction is brought in by the quote from Feser asking that we remove the word “God” and replace it with something akin to “the ultimate source of reality” and that is helpful in that it reminds us that we *all* have our own *God*. The Non-Theist who denies that isn’t being forthright. We all have our own beliefs or claims about the “….metaphysical wellspring of all ontological possibility….”
__________
scbrownlhrm
Fascinating. Sounded like a well constructed comment to me. Thank for your input.
Everyone has his or her explanatory terminus.
Can you elaborate more into this for me please “One fewer God”. I value your knowledge in this. Thank you.