Fooled Again

I read somewhere that April 1 was "National Atheist Day" and I believed it, in fact, I told my wife it was so. Actually, I got fooled. Several years ago there was an internet story circulating about an atheist who sued in Florida because there were Christian holidays, but no atheist holiday. Supposedly the judge ruled that in Florida April 1 would be Atheist day because "The fool has said in his heart,"There is no God." (Psalm 14:1) and, of course, April 1 is "April Fools Day." Naturally, the story was false and anyone who believed that April 1st had become National Atheist Day was being fooled.

Yesterday I learned of a Facebook page entitled, "Pray for an Atheist", asking Christians to pray by name for an atheist friend or acquaintance during the month of April. I assumed the connection was to National Atheist Day. Come to find out it was chosen to correspond with the release of two new books, one on the causes of atheism and one by a former atheist. Again, I was fooled. Not that it mattered. I'm still glad I signed up to pray for an theist.

Today in John 11 I read about a lot of other people who were fooled. They thought they were going to a funeral, Lazarus' funeral. They were there for several days doing all the things people do at a funeral: weeping, eating, mourning. Then suddenly everything changed. Jesus stepped up to the tomb and after he finished shedding his own tears, called forth Lazarus alive and well!

John 11:45 says: "Therefore many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary, and had seen what Jesus did, put their faith in him." It's not surprising that many people would put their faith in Jesus after seeing a man who had been in the tomb for four days come out. What is surprising is that there were some fools there who did not believe. In fact, we are told in the next verse that some of them went and squealed on Jesus to the Pharisees.

This account convinces me that there will always be those fools who will deny God's existence and remain blind to all the evidence of his hand at work in creation and in our world every single day. Of course, they would consider me to be the fool. Richard Dawkins, probably the world's most famous atheist has said: "Religion teaches the dangerous nonsense that death is not the end." Dawkins would consider me a fool, indeed, a dangerous fool for believing such "nonsense."

But I've seen Jesus standing in front of the empty tomb of Lazarus. I've seen him cause a young man to arise from his own funeral bier. I've seen Jesus tell a dead child, "Little girl, I say to you, get up!" and she did. I've seen Jesus show his disciples his hands and feet, and eat a piece of fish in front of them to convince them he wasn't a ghost. I've heard Jesus say, "Because I live, you too shall live also," and because of what I've seen (in Scripture), I believe him, "fool" that I am. But that's okay. I'd rather be a "fool" for Christ, "For the foolishness of God is wiser than man's wisdom." So let the atheist call me a "fool" for seeing God's fingerprints all over creation, and for believing the accounts of his saving work in Jesus. Someday we'll see who was really fooled.