Atheism's Catch-22

1. Introduction. This article will address the four 'Catch-22' factors plus advice on how to escape Catch-22:

- the AGE factor

- the HELPLESSNESS factor

- the FOOLISHNESS factor

- the PRIDE factor

- ESCAPING Catch-22.

1.1 The AGE factor.  Age is a critical factor to consider. For instance, as time goes by, the older an unrepentant person becomes and the longer he/she waits to repent and make his/her peace with God, the (i) more sin he/she has accumulated to repent from and (ii) the less time he has left to do it in. So, as time goes by, this person is daily compounding his/her problem further until (i.e. if he/she never repents and/or makes his/her peace with God) he/she has waited too long and now, having accumulated such an oppressing number of crimes and/or sins for so long, he/she eventually has no more time (nor the will) left to repent in to make his/her peace with God. The Bible warns:

   ”Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them.” [Ecclesiastes 12:1].

1.2 The HELPLESSNESS factor.  The older a person becomes and the weaker or more feeble he/she grows because of old age (or illness) the less he/she is able to reach out for help in his/her own strength, or, the less he/she is able to lift himself/herself up by his/her own bootstraps from the morass of accumulated crimes and sins or lifelong bad and dysfunctional habits and practices (e.g. atheism or agnosticism etc.) he/she finds himself/herself bogged down in. The weaker he/she is, the more he/she stands in need of the Saviour (Jesus Christ) to save him/her and salvage his/her life; yet, at the same time, the weaker he/she had become  and less able (or willing) to ask Jesus to help him/her. The Bible warns: 

   "Call on Me in the day of trouble; and I will deliver you, and you shall glorify Me. [Psalm 50:15].

1.3 The FOOLISHNESS factor.   If a person never reads the Bible and refuses to believe in and repent to GOD, he/she is (according to the Bible) foolish, for the simple reason that he/she will have no wisdom, because he/she does not fear GOD.

(Fear of God > Knowledge > Wisdom). 

   In other words, the more foolish he/she is, the less he/she will fear GOD and the less he/she fears God the less wisdom he/she will have; in other words ... the more he/she needs GOD yet the less he/she will be inclined or capable of asking for His help. The Bible warns: 

   ”The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom.”  [Psalm 111:10a].

   "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction." [Proverbs1:7]. 

1.4 The PRIDE factor. The door out of the prison-cell and 'Catch-22' of Atheism is locked from the inside by the key of pride; the atheist can leave it any time he/she wants to but ‘wanting to’ would demand from him/her to renounce atheism, a public embarrassment of which the thought probably is too ghastly for him/her to contemplate. The Bible teaches:

   "Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall." [Proverbs16:18].

2.2 Escaping Catch-22. "For all those things hath mine hand made, and all those things have been, saith the LORD: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word." [Isaiah66:2]. 

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