The Spiritual Bigfoot
All premise, no proof.
September, 2024
An occasional objection to the gospel is the "argument from unbelief." This is the claim that some people would believe—even want to believe—but they lack enough evidence to convince them. That supposedly disproves God's absolute goodness. It means He's deliberately keeps salvation hidden from people ready to accept it. Yet the strength of the argument disappears once one realizes something about "sincere nonbelievers:"
They don't exist.
If that seems reductive, please bear with me. Given what the Bible says about sin, the human heart, and God's presence in His creation, it becomes obvious. Faced with God (Hebrews 4:13; Revelation 20:11–15), every nonbeliever will expose a lack, not of intellect or information, but of will. Those who come to faith understand that their prior disbelief was active rejection, not passive indifference (2 Corinthians 5:16; Titus 3:3; Romans 5:10).
God puts demonstrations of Himself in our everyday experiences and in His creation (Romans 1:18–20; Psalm 19:1). We are biased when interpreting that evidence. First-century Pharisees knew all the necessary Scriptures and saw Jesus perform miracles. Yet they claimed to reject Him for good reasons (John 5:39–40; John 7:17). People claiming there isn't enough evidence for God are closed off to the evidence they've already seen (Luke 16:19–31).
Some seem earnest about a topic, and call themselves objective, yet always manage to avoid certain conclusions. Even secular worldviews accept this. The most obvious example is a conspiracy theorist. They wear superficial sincerity over a stubbornness that actively refuses to submit to truth. My experience indicates that the "person of sincere non-belief" is the spiritual equivalent of Bigfoot. Lots of people claim such things exist, but everything falls apart as soon as you look closely. Sightings of the mythical creature never survive examination. Every self-labelled sincere non-believer—always, in every case, without exception—has at least one "I won't" disguised as an "I can't." There is always some hurt, pride, desire, preference, ego, or idol where deliberate choice breaks the chain of reason and sincerity.
And genuine truth-seeking is most definitely a chain, not a toggle switch. Sincerity and openness matter well before the very last step. A person can "sincerely" believe a conclusion they have not carefully considered. That's often a deliberate choice. If the process wasn't earnest, neither is the result. God wants all people to be saved (2 Peter 3:9). He's open to anyone who seeks Him (Hebrews 11:6, Matthew 7:7–8). He gives evidence in nature (Psalm 19:1), reason (Psalm 14:1), and personal experience (Luke 19:10). Nobody can claim they didn't get enough from God to get started (Romans 1:18–23). Or that He didn't provide a way to move forward (Matthew 7:7–8). Those who reject Him are not doing so in complete honesty and sincerity. Somewhere, they're holding back—ignoring something, rejecting something, refusing something—to protect their unbelief (Romans 1:21–23).
Biblically speaking, we don't know because we don't want to know. We ultimately don't believe because we don't want to believe (Proverbs 19:3). The concept of a person who sincerely, wholeheartedly persists in honest disbelief is nonsensical according to the biblical worldview. Disbelief is not the result of a genuine search for truth—even if the person convinces themselves it is.
This applies just as well to self-identified believers, of course. God isn't fooled by anyone (1 Samuel 16:7). The person who drops a faith they once claimed was following preferences and demands, not deeply sincere belief in God. Jesus specifically referred to self-labelled believers who'd be rejected in judgment (Matthew 7:22–23). In that moment, they'll be forced to admit that something other than God was their deepest priority. Anyone who winds up lost will concede that on some level they ignored or misinterpreted truths according to their own preferences (Philippians 2:10–11).
God will never hold a person eternally accountable for their intellect. Or for the efforts of other people. But everyone is accountable for whether their interest in Him is legitimate. Scripture indicates that all nonbelievers deliberately choose not to pursue evidence where it leads, in some form or fashion. No person will ever be lost because they were not a "little bit smarter" or "just a bit uninformed." But many will be lost because they were not a "little bit more willing" to follow the evidence they were given.
Like a student who is brilliant but does not study for an exam, the nonbeliever cannot claim, "you're failing me for not being smart enough." Or even, "there is no way I could have known the right answer." Like the teacher, God will say, "I'm failing you because you didn't do what you could have done to pass. You chose not to pursue what you knew I wanted you to investigate."
What we see and experience is influenced by our intent. Ether we desire to know truth, or simply want our desires to be true. The ultimate problem of unbelief is not intelligence or information. It's whether the person wants to accept the truth (Matthew 7:7–8; John 5:39–40).
-- Editor
