Atheism Vs. Practical Atheism
Atheism is the worldview that rejects the existence of God. Many atheists, like monotheistic religions, identify God as a transcendent and immaterial personal being who is maximally great in all of His attributes. To be maximally great means that there could be no other being besides God in existence (or even imagination) who would excel in the great-making properties that makes God who He is.
Practical atheism, however, is not specific to a worldview. Thus, one could profess himself to be of the religious or spiritual sort, but one acts as if nothing beyond what could be known by our five senses exists. Accordingly, their lifestyle choices in general and moral choices, in particular, will reveal the inconsistencies between their professed beliefs and what they actually believe.
I was introduced to the term, ‘practical atheism’ in one of my apologetics classes. Nietzsche, an atheist philosopher who lived from 1844 to 1900 spoke about it. He described how while God can remain in our conversations, the word will be nothing more than a linguistic convention. In effect, God is dead.
But Nietzsche was not the first one to mention practical atheism. C. H. Mackintosh, an Irish preacher who was before Nietzsche, used that term too. When polar opposites (a firm atheist like Nietzsche and a strong Christian believer and biblical commentator) agree on something, we (Christians) would better stop and listen.
The Stories of two Pharaohs and the Midwives
“Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. And he said to his people, “Behold, the people of Israel are too many and too mighty for us. Come, let us deal shrewdly with them…” (ESV Exodus 1: 8-10; Italics mine).
“But the midwives feared God and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them” (ESV Exodus 1:17; Italics mine).
First, let me draw a cause and effect connection that is clearly stated in those verses. When there is a lack of belief in God as the rightful moral lawgiver, there is human shrewdness which leads to nothing but the destruction of human life, even the most innocent and vulnerable among us. Pharaoh did not know Joseph or Joseph’s God. But there is a reason why the Scripture places the lack of knowledge of Joseph and Pharaoh’s attempt to kill the Israelites male babies. Knowing about Joseph alone has no power to change what Pharaoh was intending to do. Frankly, even if heard of him, who cares?
To know Joseph and of his story is to know about YAHWEH.[1] Joseph made it quite clear at the get-go who was behind his wise interpretation and recommendations to Pharaoh. Joseph states, “It is not in me; God will give Pharaoh a favorable answer” (Genesis 41:16). In other words, God and Joseph were inseparable. One cannot know Joseph and not know his God or what He has done for the Egyptians because of Joseph.
Thus, the Scripture was pointing out that not knowing God has its effects on our choices. The Pharaoh who saw the power of God in the life of Joseph yielded to Him and submitted his kingdom with great trust to Joseph and his God. In contrast, the Pharaoh of Exodus 1 did exactly the opposite by relying on his own wisdom. The result was catastrophic.
Commenting on Pharaoh’s pragmatic solution, Mackintosh states that,
All this is the reasoning of a heart that had never learnt to take God into its calculations…the moment you introduce God, all its reasonings fall to the ground…But why should we allow our minds to be, in any wise, influenced by reasonings and calculations which depend, for their apparent truth, upon the total exclusion of God? To do so is, in principle, and according to its measure, practical atheism.[2]
In other words, the exclusion of God and the practical implications of His existence on our lives renders us practical atheists, who live and behave in an indistinguishable manner when compared to those with “unrenewed heart.”[3] Practical atheists depend on the “apparent truth” calculated by and deducted from the surrounding seen circumstances. In contrast, a believer lives by faith that can see and know what is unseen by the physical senses (2 Cor. 4: 18, 2 Cor: 5-7, and Hebrews 11).
We also see the contrast clearly manifested in the midwives’, Shiphrah and Puah, choices. They refused to obey the commands of one of the greatest powers in their contemporary world. What a reckless risk-taking behavior made by these two women? If we don’t know how they perceived reality, we would not judge them as rebellious or stupid. If they had followed the reasoning of the king, they would have complied. However, they saw a reality that lied beyond what is perceived by human intellect and senses. They saw a moral lawgiver and a lord who is higher than the highest kings of the earth. They feared God more than Pharaoh. Their choices and behavior were consistent with their beliefs about God.
A Practical Lesson
Thus,
The wildest mistake which a man can possibly fall into is to act without taking God into his account… At best, everything that is undertaken, independently of God, can last but for the present time. It cannot, by any possibility, stretch itself into eternity. All that is merely human, however solid, however brilliant, or however attractive, must fall into the cold grasp of death, and moulder in the dark, silent tomb. The clod of the valley must cover man's highest excellencies and brightest glories; mortality is engraved upon his brow, and all his schemes are evanescent. On the contrary, that which is connected with, and based upon, God, shall endure forever.”[4]
In contrast, how wonderful is it to be such a believer whose life cannot be distinguished from his God and God’s work in him? Even an unbeliever can attest to that. Is this happening in our lives as Christians? Do we lead a life that attests that we worship a living God or a “de-supernaturalized Christianity” as my professor, Ronald Scott Smith, would say? That is, do we live a life that excludes the existence of God, who He is, what He has revealed to us and what He has in store for us in spiritual blessings and spiritual transformation?
A Likely Objection
If you are wondering, why the Pharaoh is to be accountable for his lack of knowledge of Joseph and his God, the following is for you. There is some hidden evidence that this was a volitional choice of not seeing for two main reasons. First, this Pharaoh is believed to have issued his evil commands to oppress the Israelites and then kill the first-borns between the years 1600 BC and 1539 BC respectively.[5] Meanwhile, he has witnessed a rapid increase in the Israelites’ population against human expectations. This should have been enough of a surprise for him to reflect and review what or who could be behind this. In a highly religious culture where fertility is perceived to be a sign of the blessings of the divine, the first thing that should have come to Pharaoh’s mind is the power of God. This would have led him to inquire about the Israelites, how they ended up in the land of Egypt, and to Joseph, and his God.
Second, murder is simply wrong. Intuitively, it is known that murder is wrong even for pragmatic reasons. However, when there is no God in the picture, a God who will and can hold you accountable for your moral choices, why not rule according to pragmatic reasoning? One must stop and reflect when their moral intuition condemns their pragmatic moral choices especially when they profess in a higher being on whom moral law is founded and in whom perfect goodness in found. Thus, at some point, Pharaoh had to make a choice between his moral intuition and his pragmatic moral reasoning. This implies that at some point also he was invited to explore why is it the case that there is such a moral conflict, which would have led eventually led him to the knowledge of God as the author of his moral intuition.
Conclusion
If you want to be a Christian and atheist at the same time. All you need to do is to talk like a Christian and live like an atheist. But, beware of the consequences and the accountability you will be asked for one day.
[1] When no one among the wise men and the magicians of Egypt was able to interpret the dream of Pharaoh, an odd coincidence brought Joseph from the dungeon to the Pharaoh’s palace. Joseph interpreted the dream and with his God-given wisdom, Joseph saved Egypt, the surrounding countries, and was the reason for Pharaoh’s increasing riches when all the Egyptians except the priests gave their life-stock and their lands to Pharaoh (Genesis 41, 47).
[2] Italics mine; C.H. Mackintosh, Notes on Exodus, https://www.stempublishing.com/authors/mackintosh/Pent/EXODUS01.html
[3] Ibid.
[4] Mackintosh, Notes on Exodus.
[5] https://biblehub.com/timeline/ These timelines are approximate. However, they are “based on traditionally accepted timeframes and general consensus of a variety of sources, including Wilmington's Guide to the Bible, A Survey of Israel's History(Wood), The Mysterious Numbers of the Hebrew Kings (Thiele), ESV Study Bible, The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, and Easton's Bible Dictionary.”