Some years ago, I was invited to speak at a girls’ school in the picturesque town of Enniskillen, Northern Ireland. I could tell the students were very sharp and fully engaged.
As I presented to them the reasonableness of Christianity, there was some serious pushback. Many of the students had been convinced of scientism, the view that science is the only source of truth. They let me know that God was an outdated hypothesis.
“Of course you know where that leaves us,” I replied. “If there’s no Designer, there’s no design. If there’s no Purposer, there’s no purpose. Forget about finding real love, ladies. That’s just a dopamine reaction in your brain. Everything is just chemistry and physics.”
Stunned silence. I think they imagined life could still have meaning and purpose even if God didn’t exist.
The high priest of scientism, Richard Dawkins, put it bluntly: “The universe we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is, at bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil and no good, nothing but blind, pitiless indifference.”
The editor of New Science magazine, Graham Lawton, puts it this way: “Your life may feel like a big deal to you, but it’s actually a random blip of matter and energy in an uncaring and impersonal universe.”
If you take God out of Genesis 1:27, it reads like this: “In the image of nothing, nothing created you.” You were created by nothing. During your life, nothing has ultimate meaning. When you die, you rejoin your creator—nothing.
The panic in the lecture hall became palpable. It seemed that none of their atheistic teachers had told them the punchline if this world is just a sick joke.
Rather than face it, or—far better—let me tell them more about the life of forgiveness, joy, and purpose found only in the Lord Jesus—the principal called a halt, returning the students to their classes.
L.D. Rue, believe it or not, is a philosopher of religion who doesn’t believe in God. He writes, “The universe is blind and aimless…dead and void of meaning.” But he also knows it’s grim for people to live without hope or purpose, so he has a suggestion.
Calling the idea of a senseless universe “a monstrous truth,” he says the only antidote to total despair is to embrace “a noble lie.” Pretend you matter.
Professor Rue is virtually quoting Romans 1. There it states that humanity “exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever.” (Romans 1:25)
Be honest. Science offers us tremendous benefits, but it can’t answer the questions of a toddler: “Why, Mommy?” and “What’s that for, Daddy?”
Only our Maker can tell us why He made us. And that’s where the Bible comes in. Life’s most pressing questions are only answered when we realize the Bible’s core message: God formed us. Sin deformed us. Christ transforms us.
That’s why I join the apostle Paul in saying, “I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes.” (Romans 1:16)
It’s the perfect experiment. “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved.” (Acts 16:31). Trade in the lie for the life of peace and purpose.
Article published May 31, 2025 in the Commercial Dispatch.