Dawkins and Me, Revisted
By Jeanne Gowen Dennis
If you read my blog post about Richard Dawkins, you might have gotten a wrong impression. I realize that I might have come across as proud, thinking I’m better than Dawkins and others who don’t believe as I do. If so, I apologize, and I hope you will allow me to clarify a few things.
Simply a Sinner Saved by Grace
First of all, I don’t think I’m better than anyone, including Professor Dawkins, other atheists, or people of non-Christian faiths. I am simply a sinner, like everyone else. We all fall short of the glory of God (Rom. 3:23) and deserve to be punished for rebelling against His holiness. But twenty-nine years ago, I accepted God’s free gift of salvation from sin through His Son Jesus: For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord (Rom. 6:23).
Living to please myself, I had missed God’s best plan for my life, and I had hurt others along the way, convincing myself that my sinful actions wouldn’t harm anyone. But it was a lie, a lie I believed and lived. However, when I sincerely sought truth, I found it, just as in Jeremiah 29:13: And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.
A Darwinist Turned Creationist
Before that time, I was just as avid a believer in Darwinism as Dawkins. What happened? God revealed Himself to me through His creation. As I sought truth, He opened my senses, mind, and heart to discover His signature all over the things He had made. Suddenly, I knew without a shadow of doubt that the marvels of nature all around me had been created by a Being unfathomably greater than the universe itself. And I knew that He, as my Creator, had the right to direct my life.
That’s why I find it so tragic that Dawkins and others who agree with him are missing the most amazing, magnificent reality of all. And it makes me weep to think of so many who will die in their sin, with no hope of heaven, because they believe the lies I used to believe.
Are You Courageous Enough to Seek Truth?
If that includes you, I challenge you to honestly seek the truth. If, as many claim, there is no such thing as absolute truth, then you won’t find it, so you have nothing to worry about. But if there is absolute truth and you’re missing it, then you’ve got a lot to worry about.
God either is or He isn’t.
And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him. (Heb. 11:16)
God either created or He didn’t.
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. (Rom. 1:18–20)
If He created us, then He is holy beyond measure.
Worthy are You, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and because of Your will they existed, and were created. (Rev. 4:11)
If God created us, then He is who the Bible claims Him to be, and we have rebelled against Him and gone our own way.
Yet your fellow citizens say, ‘The way of the Lord is not right,’ when it is their own way that is not right. (Ezek. 33:17)
If we have rebelled against Him, then as our Creator, He is just in punishing us.
Now if a person sins and does any of the things which the Lord has commanded not to be done, though he was unaware, still he is guilty and shall bear his punishment. (Lev. 5:17)
If we deserve punishment, then our only hope is that He will have mercy on us.
But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. (Rom. 5:8–9)
If you accept His mercy, repent of your sins, and believe that Jesus’ blood paid your debt to God, then you will be saved from God’s just wrath.
If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation. (Rom. 10: 9–10)
If you accept Jesus as your Savior and Lord of life and are saved, then you will become a new person.
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. (2 Cor. 5:17 NKJV)
If God changes you into a new person, you’ll know in your heart of hearts that He alone is God. He will be your greatest joy, and you’ll want to love and worship Him with all you are.
And though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, obtaining as the outcome of your faith the salvation of your souls. (1 Pet. 1:9)
The Biggest Difference
The most important difference between Dawkins and me is that Jesus lives in me and works through my life. But I often mess things up in spite of Him. Then I need to ask God’s forgiveness. When I do, He is faithful and just and forgives me. He cleans me up and restores my fellowship with Him (1 John 1:9).
It’s not because of anything I do or have done. It’s because of Jesus and His righteousness. Righteousness that was credited to me through His sacrifice on the cross (Eph. 2:8–9).
So the biggest difference between Dawkins and me is that I have been to the cross of Christ, and he hasn’t. I pray that he – and you if you have not been there – will find the way to Jesus before it’s too late.
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me. (John 14:6)
© Jeanne Gowen Dennis
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