The Greatest Surprise

For the atheist who believes in Darwinian evolution the greatest surprise must be how could random molecules have collided and combined to produce something as spectacularly complex as you and me. Equally surprising for the atheist, if he were only willing to admit it, is the reality that he came from nothing, to become something, that in a very short while, will go back to nothing. How morbid a thought to think that you came from nothing and when you die you go back to nothing and that you only exist for the briefest period of time by pure chance!

As a Christian, on the other hand, what surprises me the most, is that as infinitely tiny and insignificant I must appear, inhabiting a planet that has almost eight billion other human beings, like myself, that exists in a universe that is populated by countless trillions of other planets, that the God who created it all wants to have a relationship with me! 

In both of these scenarios we, as humans, appear for a very brief period of time compared with eternity. And in both of these belief systems we are but a tiny speck (when measured against eight billion) that inhabits a tiny planetary speck (when measured against countless trillions) in a seemingly gigantic universe.

But in the atheistic belief system finding meaning as a chance speck that came from nothing and when he dies goes back to nothing is not really possible. However, as tiny and seemingly inconsequential we appear on the universal stage of life, we as Christians can rejoice in the fact that our Creator God considers us so special that He created us in His own image. And not only that, but He loves us so much that He sent His own Son, Jesus Christ, to die for you and me, to redeem us from certain eternal death by virtue of our sin – and that’s how much He wants to have a relationship with us.

The atheist must indeed lead a lonely life not knowing where he came from, what his purpose in life is, and what happens to him at death. But praise God the Christian knows the answer to all three of these questions and as a result can spend the rest of his life here on earth, and later in heaven, for all of eternity, getting to know His redeemer God better.

As a former atheist I praise God that He delivered me from the kingdom of darkness into His marvelous kingdom of light. He took my purposeless life and gave me purpose. And He let me know that the grave is not the end but just a new beginning!