In our last lesson, we said we would continue the study of the development of materialism and atheism.
From what we have learned, we can now understand why it is that man has believed that there is nothing in the universe but matter and its properties.
He has said that man does not survive the existence of his physical body because there is no spiritual quality in man to exist after the body has disintegrated.
We can see that such an attitude upon the part of man toward life is a natural attitude, for with his five senses to which he is limited, he can contact nothing but a physical world.
It would be just as logical for the blind man to refuse to believe that color existed as for man with his five senses to say that the spiritual does not exist.
A fish might just as well say that there is nothing outside of water as for man to say that in this universe, there exists nothing but matter.
We have seen that the source of man’s knowledge is the central nervous system and its limitations are the physical universe and matter alone.
We do not want to give a wrong impression when speaking of the source of man’s knowledge. Thinking does not arise out of sense perception. Man has capacities for thinking, reasoning, reflecting, and memorizing that are not based upon perception; yet man’s mental powers and reasoning faculties have only the material of sensation from which to draw their conclusions.
Animals have sense perception; yet they do not have rational thinking. Rational thinking does not arise from physical sense perception. Yet our statement is true: man knows nothing except as it comes to his mind through one of his five senses.
In dealing with a man who professes to be a materialist and atheist, show him the above. Show him that the limitations of his knowledge are within the limits of matter and the utter fallacy of his refusing to believe that man is a spirit, or that God as a spiritual being exists.
Show him that one of two things must be true:
- The scriptural teaching that man is a spirit being and the body is merely the home of the spirit.
- The present-day attitude that man is only a physical being—that there is no spiritual quality in him, he is a part of nature just like a stick or stone, and he is only a physical mechanism.
Now, if the second attitude is true, there is no life after death and man need not prepare for death, or give it his attention here in this life. However, if the first teaching is true, we have no proof that man as a spiritual being does not survive the existence of his physical body. Explain to him that if this is true, it’s a problem that he should not neglect. Since he has no proof that man is not a spirit being and can never prove it due to his five-sense limitations about the nature of reality, it is well worth his while to give the matter serious and sincere attention.
We cannot prove to a man that he is a spiritual being, nor can he prove to us that he is not a spiritual being. Merely because a doctor cannot locate the spirit in man by dissecting his dead body is not proof that man is not a spiritual being. The doctor only his sense of sight and physical instruments; as we have seen, the spiritual realm cannot be contacted by the physical.
The one with whom you are dealing and whom you have led this far might reply to you by stating that it could not be proven that man was a spirit and that he himself did not believe anything that he could not prove.
Your answer to him would be that it is a very hollow science that will not believe anything it cannot prove.
Show him that we have no knowledge within any sphere that is not based upon vast assumption. For example, in our knowledge of the outward world, we have to first assume that our senses do not deceive us. We could never prove that they give us a true picture of reality. We could never prove that our memory can be relied upon. We would only find ourselves arguing in circles if we attempted to prove these things.
However, we do believe that our senses tell us the truth because to do so works. We believe that grass is green, the pavement is hard, and all the other phenomena of nature.
Richard Acland Armstrong in writing about these facts has said: “These beliefs [referring to our belief in the external world, the veracity of memory, etc.] are justified in that they work. They never land us in confusion. They never break down. As the daily haps of life turn up, a myriad an hour in infinite diversity, the beliefs fit into them all without a jar or a contradiction. While, if for a moment we attempt to depart from them we fall into utter confusion. This is the highest evidence we can have.”
In like manner, we assume that God exists, that we are spiritual beings capable of fellowship with Him, and that the Bible is a revelation from Him.
The only test that we can apply to these beliefs to prove whether they are true or not is the test that we applied to our knowledge of the outward world: does it work? Can we act upon the veracity of the Bible as we act upon our knowledge of the outward world? Does the Word never break down? Do we never land in confusion when we take what God says to be true?
When you have led a man this far, you can bring in something of your own personal experience. Show him that whenever you have acted upon the Bible, you have found that God comes upon the scene and that you therefore believe that you are justified in your belief.
Challenge him to make the same test. Tell him that if he is really sincere in wanting to know if God exists and He can fellowship, he can know the truth by acting upon God’s Word. Give him Romans 10:9–10 and some of the other Scriptures that we have given you for leading a man to Christ. Tell him that if he will act upon them, God will make them good.
QUESTIONS
- Explain why materialism has developed.
- How would you show a man the utter fallacy of refusing to believe that man is a spirit?
- How would you explain that all our knowledge is based upon assumption?
- What facts would you present to cause a man to become concerned about his soul?
- What challenge would you give a skeptic?