Richard Dawkins and Mr. Deity

Recently, atheist Richard Dawkins appeared in a short video titled “Mr. Deity and the Atheist.” In this very mocking video Dawkins speaks with a character playing God named “Mr. Deity,” and gives reasons why God doesn’t exist. “Mr. Deity” replies to his accusations, but his answers are even more mocking than Dawkins’ claims and are clearly attempts to make fun of God.

Dawkins tells Mr. Deity, who clearly is supposed to be representing the biblical God, “You know, it seems to me that if you really want to be useful you could do us all a favor and simply vanish.” Dawkins’ rationale for this is that, “The whole of your precious creation was made by evolution and you didn’t have to lift a finger to help it along. You’re completely redundant, not just lazy. Even if you weren’t lazy, there’d be nothing for you to do.” Dawkins claims that evolution has destroyed any need for God because we don’t need a Creator to get us here because everything can be explained naturalistically. Really, Dawkins has placed his faith in his religion of evolution and millions of years.

He adds, “And what’s more, we have science now, making you completely unnecessary.” By “science” he, of course, means evolution, which is historical science. This kind of science deals with the past and is therefore not directly observable, testable, or repeatable. Now, to prove his point that science has made God unnecessary he says, “Do you know that we just used science to do something truly amazing and quite difficult? We landed a probe on a comet.” Here he has done what so many secularists do. He’s used a bait-and-switch. He says that “science” (unobservable historical science) has made God redundant, but then he uses an example from “science” (observable, testable, repeatable operational science) to prove his point! But historical science and observational science are not the same thing!

Actually, it’s only because God exists and because His Word is true that we can even land a probe on a comet. You see, the universe is governed by laws of nature. But in a random, material universe that supposedly arose naturalistically, where do set, immaterial laws of nature come from? And what makes these laws operate the same way tomorrow as they do today? There are no real answers to these questions in an atheistic worldview. But there is a Creator, and He set the laws of nature in place at the beginning. And we can trust that these laws will work the same tomorrow as they did today because our unchanging God upholds and sustains the universe (Hebrews 1:3).

Dawkins’ comments should stand as a warning to those who compromise with man’s ideas of evolution and millions of years. They are opening the door to compromising with the rest of God’s Word. After all, if you can’t trust God’s Word in the very beginning, then where do you stop doubting? If we can’t trust God’s words in Genesis, then why should we trust God’s Word in the Gospels?

I submit that Dawkins is shaking his fist at God, because he refuses to submit to His Creator and recognize it is God who sets the rules. He refuses to acknowledge that man is a sinner in need of salvation. And because God has made it evident to us all that He exists and has written His law in our hearts (Romans 1 and 2), Dawkins is, in essence, putting his hands over his eyes and his hands over his ears. He is really shouting at God saying, “I refuse to see. I refuse to listen!” How we need to pray for this very lost soul!

Really, billions of years and evolution are an anti-God religion, and we must recognize them as such. Satan is very clever and is using the same attack he used on Eve, the Genesis 3 attack of “did God really say?” to make people question God’s clear Word. Ultimately, he wants to lead people to reject God entirely, like Dawkins does. This is why it is so important to stand on the authority of God’s Word from the very beginning, give solid answers, and preach the gospel of Jesus Christ to a dying world.

We can trust God’s Word because it was written by a God who never lies (Titus 1:2), and it’s confirmed by what we see in the world. I encourage you to stand boldly on the truth of God’s Word from the very beginning and refuse to compromise with man’s ideas. I also encourage you to equip yourself with solid answers from God’s Word so you will always be ready to give an answer “to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you” (1 Peter 3:15).

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,

Ken

This item was written with the assistance of AiG’s research team.