By David Ryser
If
all the world’s a stage…where does the audience sit? (George Carlin)
When I was a young man, George
Carlin was my favorite comic. Carlin was
everything I was not. He was hip. He was cool.
He was edgy. He was
irreverent. He was profane.
Okay, I was irreverent and profane,
but I wasn’t any of those other things.
And Carlin was hysterically funny. And shocking.
And poignant. Simultaneously. He made you laugh and think at the same time. He delighted and horrified audiences with his
comic routines such as “Seven Words You can Never Say on Television.”
Carlin was also a self-described
atheist.
Now let us put aside for the moment
the fact that atheism is an absurdity.
Atheism is preposterous. There is
no such thing as an atheist. An atheist
is not someone who does not believe in God.
A person who does not believe in God is simply an unbeliever. An atheist is someone who declares…as an
undeniable fact…that God does not exist.
In order to be an atheist, one would need to know everything and have
been everywhere; otherwise, it would be possible for God to exist outside of
the “atheist’s” limited experience. Once
this possibility is admitted, the person is no longer an atheist.
If you must know everything (be
omniscient) and have been everywhere (be omnipresent) in order to be an atheist, then the only person who
can be a genuine atheist is God.
It may come as a surprise to many
that George Carlin was raised in church.
He also was educated at a parochial/religious school. He was taught the basic tenets of the
Christian faith both at home and at school.
Carlin was not a self-described atheist because he had never heard about
Jesus. He was a self-described atheist
because he had heard about Jesus.
Perhaps I should explain that.
Over the years, I’ve had the
privilege to talk with a number of people who claim to be atheist. I have found these people to be thoughtful
about why they’ve concluded there is no God.
They are open about their quest for the God they could not find. Most were genuine seekers of God at one time.
And all of them were raised in
church.
Some were abused by the religious
system…or by religious people…in various ways.
Some stopped believing in a God they could not please, no matter how
hard they tried. Some lost faith in a
God that did not answer their cries at a time when they really needed Him. Some could not believe in a fire-breathing
tyrant who would brutally murder His own Son to prove His love for them. Some could not grasp the concept of a loving
God who is eager to cast them into hell if they misbehave or fail to appease
Him in some way. In short, they could
not believe in a God that doesn’t exist.
If believing in a God that doesn’t
exist is atheism, then I am an atheist.
Because I have found that these
same people are very open to hearing about the Jesus of the Gospels. They respond positively to the Jesus I
know. And I wonder if George Carlin
would have wanted to meet Jesus if someone who knew Him…who represented Jesus
accurately in word and deed…and knew George…would have offered to introduce
them?
Our misrepresentation of God by bad
theology and bad living has turned more people away from Jesus than all the
demons on earth.
I am often struck by all of the
scriptures in the New Testament, especially in the epistles of Paul, where the
apostle encourages the people of God to live righteous lives. Unlike the preaching in our churches, Paul
does not command Christians to live uprightly so they can secure their place in
heaven. He wants them to live
transformed lives so that people will see God at work in them and respond positively
to Him. When the people of God live
sinful…or religious…lives, it misrepresents God. Unbelievers get a false image of God and His
work, and they reject both.
Imagine the early believers’
reaction when Paul said to them, “the name of God is blasphemed among the
Gentiles because of you” (Romans 2:24; cf. 1 Timothy 6:1 & Titus 2:5).
So when I saw the quote by George
Carlin, my mind turned to all of these things…eventually. Actually, my initial response was simply to
answer the question: “If all the world’s
a stage…where does the audience sit?”
They sit in the pews.
Responses to this article are
welcomed. You may contact the author at drdave1545@yahoo.com
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