Atheism, the belief that there is no God, has become increasingly visible in today’s world, not necessarily because it is new, but because cultural, scientific, and philosophical shifts have given it a stronger public voice.
Believe it or not, popular books written over 100 years ago had a strong influence on what atheism is today.
Altizer, Thomas J. J. G. W. F. *Hegel (1770–1831) wrote that “God is dead” (Hegel, 506), and Friedrich *Nietzsche (1844–1900) took the concept seriously. He wrote, “God is dead! God remains dead! And we have killed him” (Nietzsche, no. 125). In the 1960s, Thomas J. J. Altizer drew out the radial implications of this form of atheism in his “death of God” theology. There are several kinds of atheism. The traditional atheist believes that there is not now, nor ever was, a God (see FEUERBACH, LUDWIG; FREUD, SIGMUND; SARTRE, JEAN-PAUL). The semantical atheists assert that the term God is dead—that religious language has no meaning (see AYER, A. J.; ACOGNOSTICISM). The mythological atheists, of whom Nietzsche is representative, affirm the myth that God was once alive but died in the twentieth century. Conceptual atheists believe that there is a God but that he is hidden from our view, being obscured by our conceptual constructions. The practical atheists contend that God exists, but we should live as if he does not, not using God as a crutch for our failure to act in a spiritual and responsible way. Altizer was a dialectical atheist. He held that God actually once lived but then died in our century in stages. First, God died in the incarnation (when he left heaven and became man). Then he died on the cross at the crucifixion. Finally, God died in our consciousness (the last hundred years or so) (see ATHEISM). Sources T. Altizer, The Gospel of Christian Atheism. T. Altizer and W. Hamilton, Radical Theology and the Death of God. N. L. Geisler and W. Corduan, Philosophy of Religion. G. W. F. Hegel, The Phenomenology of Spirit. F. Nietzsche, Joyful Wisdom. J. A. Robinson, Honest to God.
© 1999, 2012 by Norman L. Geisler Published by Baker Books a division of Baker Publishing Group P.O. Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287
The fool has said in his heart,
“There is no God.”
They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds,
there is none who does good. (Psalm 14:1, MEV)
John16:8-9/1:29. The unpardonable sin is that of unbelief in Jesus. So, what is the remedy for that situation.? John 3:16. “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”
Cross Commission Ministries 