Atheism, the non-believers

I've always had a difficult time with people who are atheist.  I could accept agnostics, or those who basically would say "I don't know", but to totally state that there is no God without even a shadow of a doubt that there could be something else out there that they simple can't understand has always bothered me.  I'd come to the conclusion that it was an act of extreme arrogance.  I've recently gained a new insight into this topic by a little light. 

I had been struggling with an encounter in which an atheist I know stated that he did not believe in ghosts but did believe in aliens.  I was dumbfounded that he could believe that there was a greater probability in aliens than that there could be a God.  I related this to some of my friends and one of them also agreed with him that he found it easier to believe in aliens than in God.  So I took a step back and thought there must be something else going on here than just arrogance.  This evening I was struck by the thought, which I believe came from Jesus to help me understand, that it's not just arrogance which leads people to reject God.   I don't know about all atheists but now believe that it is often centered in a fear of not being loved by God.


Even Luisa found it difficult to accept the idea of not recognizing God.

And my always lovable Jesus, moving in my interior, showed me the whole Creation. How much sublimeness! What magnificence! How many harmonies! What order! There is not one point, either in Heaven or on earth, in which God has not created something special and distinct – and with such mastery that the greatest scientists, before the smallest thing created by God, feel that all of their science and mastery is an absolute nothing compared to the things created by God, which are full of life and of motion. Oh! how true it is that to look at the universe and not to recognize God, not to love Him and not to believe in Him, is true folly! All created things are like many veils that hide Him; and God comes to us as though veiled in each created thing, because man is incapable of seeing Him unveiled in his mortal flesh. The love of God for us is so great, that in order not to dazzle us with His light, frighten us with His power, make us feel ashamed in front of His beauty, annihilated before His immensity, He veils Himself in the created things, so as to come in each created thing and be with us - even more, to make us swim in His very Life. My God, how much You have loved us, and how much You love us!

Vol. 17, June 3, 1925



And Jesus states that each of us has a choice to make, to open our eyes to the light that is around us or to keep our eyes shut and stumble in the darkness.

           “Take a look at how ungrateful men are to Me.  The light of the sun fills the whole earth, from one end to another, in such a way that there is no land which does not enjoy the benefit of its light, and there is no one who can complain about being without its beneficial influence.  In fact, investing the whole universe, the sun takes it as though in hand to be able to give light to all.  Only one who, escaping from its hand, goes to hide in dark places can complain of not enjoying its light; and yet, continuing its charitable office, the sun does not cease to send him a few glimmers of light through its fingers.  So is my Grace, an image of the sun, which inundates the people everywhere:  poor and rich, ignorant and learned, Christians and unbelievers - no one, no one can say he is without it, because the light of truth and the influence of my Grace fill the earth, more than the sun in its full midday.

           But what pain is mine in seeing people who, passing through this light with their eyes closed and confronting my Grace with the pestilent torrent of their iniquities, deviate from this light and live voluntarily in dark places, in the midst of cruel enemies?  They are exposed to a thousand dangers, because, not having light, they cannot know clearly whether they are in the midst of friends or enemies, and therefore shun the dangers that surround them.

           Ah, if the sun had reason and men were able to give this affront to its light, and some of them, to irritate its light and not to see it, reached such ingratitude as to pluck their eyes out so as to be more sure of living in darkness – ah!, instead of sending light, the sun would send laments and cries of sorrow, such as to turn all nature upside down!  Yet, that which one would have horror in doing to natural light, men reach such excess as to do to my Grace, treating it in this way.  But my Grace, always benign with them, in the midst of darkness itself and of the madness of their blindness, always sends glimmers of light, because my Grace never leaves anyone.  It is man who voluntarily goes out of it, and Grace, not having him within itself, tries to follow him with glimmers of its light.”

Vol. 3, March 9, 1900

Jesus calls those that chose blindness over his light and grace to be poor, unhappy, blind, deaf and mute cretins who live off the excrement of creation.

One who possesses my Divine Will has the eyesight to be able to recognize what belongs to my Will Itself. Man alone did not recognize Me, because he did not possess the eyesight and the fine sense of smell of my Will. I had to tell him in order to make Myself recognized; but with all my telling, many did not even believe Me, because one who does not possess my Divine Will is blind and deaf and without the sense of smell to be able to recognize what belongs to It. Not to possess It is the greatest unhappiness of the creature; he is the poor cretin, blind, deaf and mute, who, not possessing the light of my Divine Fiat, uses the very created things by taking the excrements which they release, while leaving inside of them the true good which they contain. What sorrow, to see creatures without the nobility of the life of my Divine Will.

Vol. 23, Oct. 6, 1927



Only to one who believes can see clearly.  We must chose to believe, chose to hope, and chose to love.

See, the Gospel is known to all, but who comprehends the meaning of my words, and the truths contained in It?  Who keeps them in his heart and makes of them a treasure with which to purchase the eternal kingdom?  One who believes.  As for all others, not only do they not understand a thing, but they use my words to mock them and to make fun of the holiest things.  So, it can be said that everything is written in the hearts of those who believe, hope and love, while nothing is written for everyone else.  The same with you:  one who has a little bit of belief sees things with clarity and finds the truth; one who does not, sees things as all confused.

Vol. 4, Jan. 9, 1903

If, on the other hand, they do not believe, it is even worse, because they are so blind as to not have the eyes to see the Sun of my word; and incredulity leads to obstinacy and to hardness of heart, while belief softens the heart and disposes it to let itself be subdued by grace, and to receive the sight in order to comprehend my truths.

Vol. 20, Feb. 9, 1927

This disbelief in a God who loves them is the first step toward sin which separates us from God.  By their logic, if God truly loved me than why is my life such a mess?  Why all this suffering and the suffering of innocents?  Why am I so sad and have to struggle all the time?  Love, in their minds, wouldn't allow for someone who loved them, who had omnipotent power, to permit them to suffer and struggle.  So in the end it is easier to say there is no God than to think, by their own logic, that there is a God but he obviously doesn't love me because my life is such a mess.  And Jesus told Luisa that this doubting of love of God for us is also exactly what led Adam and Eve into sin.  So all sin originates from this fear or doubt of the love of God for us and our lack of love for God.

In fact, do you want to know why Adam sinned? Because he forgot that I loved him, and he forgot to love Me. This was the first seed of his fall. Had he thought that I loved him very much and that he was obliged to love Me, he would never have decided to disobey Me. So, love ceased first, and then sin began; and as he ceased to love his God, true love toward himself also ceased. His members and powers rebelled against him; he lost dominion, order, and became fearful. Not only this, but true love toward other creatures ceased, while I had created him with the same love which reigned among the Divine Persons, by which one was to be the image of the other, the happiness, the joy and life of the other. This is why, in coming upon earth, the thing on which I placed greatest importance was that they love one another as they were loved by Me, in order to give them my first love, to let the love of the Most Holy Trinity hover over the earth. Therefore, in all your pains and privations, never forget that I love you very much, so as to never forget to love Me; and as daughter of Our Will, you have the task to love Me for all. In this way, you will remain in the order, and will fear nothing.”

Vol. 16, Sept. 6, 1923

“My daughter, my first Passion was of love, because the first step with which man, in sinning, gives himself to evil is the lack of love; so, since love is missing, he falls into sin.  In order to be repaid through Me for the lack of love of the creatures, love made Me suffer more than anyone; It almost crushed Me, more than if I were under a press.  It gave Me as many deaths for as many creatures receiving life. 

Vol. 11, Jan. 22, 1913



Jesus will have his victory where there will be no more doubt in believing in God.  When his kingdom is upon the earth no one be able to deny the existence of their Creator.

“My daughter, when my Will has Its Kingdom upon earth and souls live in It, Faith will have no more shadows, no more enigmas, but everything will be clarity and certainty. The light of my Will will bring in the very created things the clear vision of their Creator; creatures will touch Him with their own hands in everything He has done for love of them. The human will is now a shadow to Faith; passions are clouds that obscure the clear light of It, and it happens as to the Sun, when thick clouds form in the lower air: even though the Sun is there, the clouds advance against the light, and it seems it is dark as if it were nighttime; and if one had never seen the Sun, he would find it hard to believe that the Sun is there. But if an impetuous wind dispelled the clouds, who would dare to say that the Sun does not exist, as they would touch Its radiant light with their own hands? Such is the condition in which Faith finds Itself because my Will does not reign. They are almost like blind people that must rely on others to believe that a God exists. But when my Divine Fiat reigns, Its light will make them touch the existence of their Creator with their own hands; therefore, it will no longer be necessary for others to say it – the shadows and the clouds will exist no more.”
Vol. 24, June 29, 1928

 

I find it interesting that in the messages of our Lady of Medjugorje, which have been going on since 1981, there are monthly messages dedicated to calling non-believers back.  Those which Mirjana receive on the second of each month and the prayers said are specifically for non-believers.  It seems that there is a huge push on our Lady's part and therefore God's part too to reach all people.  And even our Lady refers to the fact that these people have not yet felt God's love for them.

 

"Our Lady defined a non-believer as someone who has yet to know or experience the love of God."

http://www.medjugorje.com/medjugorje/medjugorje-visionaries/583-mirjana.html