The term “Christian Atheism” which sounds like an oxymoron, has been described as those who believe in G-d but live as if He doesn’t exist. Others describe it as an ideology in which the belief in the G-d of Christianity is rejected or absent but the moral teachings of Jesus are followed. Still other Christian Atheists want to remove what they see as the fairy tale elements of Christianity. They prefer to call this a non-realistic version of Christianity, rather than Christian Atheism. They say that they do believe in G-d but not in a fairy tale way.

But, all forms of Christian Atheism are contrary to the teachings of the Bible.

• First, to live as if G-d doesn’t exist is to be wicked according to the apostle James. The L-rd commanded us how we should live to be counted among His followers:

“…put aside all filthiness and rampant wickedness…be doers of the word and not merely hearers, deceiving yourselves. For if someone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a person who looks at his natural face in a mirror; then after looking at himself he goes away and immediately forgets what he was like.” (James 1:21-24 MOUNCE)

• Next, to follow moral teachings without honoring the G-d who gave them (Jesus), will result in an outcome similar to the dilemma that Paul described which points to the need for a Redeemer, the Redeemer which is proclaimed in the Bible.

^“For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice. Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.” (Romans 7:18-20)

•  And lastly, to remove the elements that one perceives as non-realistic (a fairy tale) is to pick and choose what portions of the Bible one wishes to believe, to invent one’s own god, a form of self-idolatry that leads to eternal destruction.

“…you shall bear the penalty for your sinful idolatry; and you shall know that I am the L-rd G-d.” (Ezekiel 23:49)

All good and evil (wickedness) relates to G-d’s perspective because G-d’s judgment stands as a moral absolute. Therefore, all wickedness denotes activity that is contrary to G-d’s will, damaging G-d’s purposes as expressed in His Word. Wickedness begins with the rejection of G-d. Sometimes it is the result of a lack of understanding of G-d and His ways. If not corrected, it then becomes a habit, and finally a compassion. Wickedness is a refusal to respond to the L-rd and leads to eternal separation from G-d. E. W. Bullinger says the root of the word indicates that the nature of “wickedness” is “breaking up all that is good or desirable” in the eyes of G-d.

The Bible story of the struggle between Jacob and Esau in the womb (Genesis 25:23-26) can be seen as the struggle between what G-d sees as goodness and what G-d sees as wickedness. G-d loved the goodness of Jacob, the son that coveted G-d’s birthright & blessings and He hated the wickedness of Esau, the son that was willing to sell his birthright but was angry about losing the blessings that accompany it. From the very beginning in the womb, Esau (G-d’s rejected) tried to kill Jacob (G-d’s chosen) by crushing his head (authority) with his heel. But Jacob grasped Esau’s heel and lived.

In the very beginning of the Church, Satan sought to do the same, to kill the authority of the firstborn (Judaism). He effectively separated Gentile Christians from their roots in Judaism when he raised up Emperor Constantine. Constantine usurped the authority of the Jewish leaders of the movement known as “The Way”, i.e. the Way of Holiness whose followers were known as Christians (followers of the Christ or Messiah).

“And a highway will be there; it will be called the Way of Holiness; it will be for those who walk on that Way. The unclean will not journey on it; wicked fools will not go about on it.” (Isaiah 35:8 NIV)

Constantine successfully hijacked Christianity when he formed the Nicene Council to write the rules for a new religion that forbade the celebration of the Sabbath, the Feasts of the L-rd, and the reading and studying of G-d’s Word. He also nullified the teaching that all believers are the priesthood of G-d (1 Peter 2:9).

Instead Constantine substituted a false priesthood, a false Sabbath day, false (pagan) festivals, and only allowed appointed ‘priests’ to read G-d’s Word. Constantine hated the Jews and sought to make this a part of the teachings of his ‘new’ Church. His wickedness destroyed G-d’s purposes in the Sabbath, the Festivals of the L-rd and studying G-d’s Word. He “broke up all that was good and desirable” in the eyes of G-d. His wickedness opened the door to much paganism in the Church.

G-d protected the Church from complete destruction and began to restore it when He influenced people to rebel against the Church’s command not to read G-d’s Word. Brave men rose up and translated the Bible into the languages of the common people at the peril of losing their own lives. G-d opened the eyes of even men in the Church, i.e. Luther, to see some of the error and deception perpetrated by the Church, deception that was used to control the people instead of teaching them truth. Just as the days before G-d sent the Israelites into exile, the Church had become an abomination to the L-rd.

^“Her priests have violated My law and profaned My holy things; they have not distinguished between the holy and unholy, nor have they made known the difference between the unclean and the clean; and they have hidden their eyes from My Sabbaths, so that I am profaned among them.” (Ezekiel 22:26)

And while the Church was snatched from the grip of Satan then, during what is known as the Protestant Reformation, Satan continued to infiltrate the Church with paganism. What began with a lack of understanding of G-d and His ways due to Constantine’s rules, became tradition, and now has become a compassion to follow after the rules of the Nicene council and many other wicked ways of the world.

Pagan practices have been given “Christian” names such as “Christian Yoga”, “Christian Karate”, “Christian Existentialism”, etc. The Church does not recognize the sin of idolatry connected with all forms of paganism because they do not read G-d’s Word for themselves. They fail to be “Bereans”.

“Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.” (Acts 17:11 NIV)

Instead, they depend upon the “shepherds” to read the Word and teach them. But, many “shepherds” are not teaching their flocks to “distinguish between the holy and unholy or the unclean and clean”. They do not keep the Sabbath or the prophetic Festivals of the L-rd (Leviticus 23), nor do they honor G-d in their marriages or in the tithe.

In spite of the fact that G-d created man in His own image, many Christians have created a god in their own image, a god willing to accept their “Christian” Atheism and their breaking of G-d’s commands.

Author Craig Groeschell[1] in his book, The Christian Atheist, said that there was a time when he measured his life against others rather than against Jesus’ life. He now acknowledges that this too is a form of Atheism. He lists twelve ways that you can determine if you are a Christian Atheist. Here some of them:

• When you believe in G-d but not in prayer.
• When you believe in G-d but won’t forgive.
• When you believe in G-d but pursue happiness at any cost.
• When you believe in G-d but trust more in money.
• When you believe in G-d but don’t share your faith with others.

Today, Christians are guided by their own feelings: “I like it”, “I don’t like it”, “I agree”, “I don’t agree”, “I believe” or “I don’t believe”. That is the essence of the existentialist mindset: “choices” are made on the basis of no standard except for what they “like”, putting aside what G-d ‘likes’ according to His Word.

Everything we think and do matters to G-d. Even more so, G-d cares about our motives in the doing of good deeds and in the worshipping of Him in the Sabbath, in the Festivals of the L-rd, and in our rejection of all forms of idolatry and paganism, all wickedness. The apostle Paul tells us “…all creation is waiting for G-d to show who His children are.” (Romans 8:19), i.e. those who are the “sons of G-d”. He instructs us that “Only those people who are led by G-d's Spirit are his children” (Romans 8:14). 

When all wickedness is put away, G-d will answer our prayers and heal our land:

“…if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” (2 Chronicles 7:14)

 Barukh HaShem (Blessed is the Name of the L-rd)