Bogdan Kipko

How To Avoid Being A Temporary Atheist

ā€”

by

Bogdan Kipko
in

There is a specific reason for why we at times can become temporary atheists. This condition occurs when there is a disconnect between our confessional and our functional theology.Ā We openly confess the truth of Scripture but fail to practically live out.

We declare that Jesus is our only Lord but quickly run to other lords when things are not going the way we expected. This conditionĀ deteriorates one very important aspect of the Christian life. The one area that gets hit hard when we practice this temporary atheism is our prayer life. I speakĀ specificallyĀ about this in the following video clip:

[tentblogger-youtube X-5H7IIGwHE]

The Apostle James reminds us in his letter that the prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working (Js. 5:16). When our prayer life is lackluster at best or non-existent at worst, it can be because we have forgotten to remind ourselves of gospel truths. It can be because we have stopped believing in the promises of God that He reveals to us through the Scripture.

Ultimately, every single promise that Jesus made to us is true and trustworthy. It is our lack of faith in His promises and His purposes that derails us to become temporary atheists.

We should cry out to Jesus, just like the father who had a son possessed with an unclean spirit: “I believe;Ā help my unbelief!” (Mark 9:24).

Question: When are you mostĀ susceptibleĀ to being a temporary atheist? How do you overcome this obstacle by again running to Jesus and asking God for a strong faith?Ā 

Comments

4 responses to “How To Avoid Being A Temporary Atheist”

  1. Yuliya Avatar
    Yuliya

    Its easiest to become a “temporary atheist” when God’s timing is quit off from our hand watch; answers to your prayers are delayed, and instead of curiuosly looking around, to see, “In what awesome way will God answer this one,” ..we try to control the situation. At least I do, trying to gain the control of situation, as if God ever needed my help, or forgotten.

    Reply
    1. Bogdan Kipko Avatar
      Bogdan Kipko

      Yuliya — exactly — this is so true — it is so important to continuously remind ourselves of God’s promises and God’s purposes. I would say the main reason people fail to connect their confessional and their function theology is because they do not preach the gospel to themselves.

      Reply
  2. John Avatar
    John

    Bogdan, what you are calling “temporary” I have heard called “practical” atheism. In other words, for all practical purposes many Christians cannot be distinguished from atheists. But Pastor Ven recently said in a sermon that we BEHAVE like we truly BELIEVE. So what conclusion should we come to? Have we forgotten or do we not REALLY believe what we confess? Hmmmmmm

    Reply
    1. Bogdan Kipko Avatar
      Bogdan Kipko

      John — thank you for the comment — Both of those terms you mention are getting at the same condition. I also agree with what Ven said. I always say that what you believe will determine how you live. The conclusion we should come to is that we become practical/temporary atheists when we refuse to submit to the promises of Scripture and neglect to preach it to ourselves consistently.

      Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *