Nobody is Gone

Have you seen or heard about the billboards showing up on Metroplex highways with the message, “Don’t believe in God? You are not alone.” They were sponsored and funded by a group called Metroplex Atheists with the stated intent to help show Christians that atheists “don’t have horns and a tail.” Holly Yan, staff writer for The Dallas Morning News, wrote in an an article published on April 4 about the group's attempts to quell the stigma attached to atheists. I found the article interesting and helpful as we Christians empathically seek to share our faith with people who claim there is no God.

First, I found it interesting that there is a Baptist church in Grand Prairie, Summit Baptist Church, which was founded two years ago with part of its vision being it would “be open enough to listen to differing beliefs.” Yes, I did say it is a “Baptist” church. Not what you usually think of when you reflect on Baptist evangelistic fervor, but, following its vision, its co-founding pastor, Derward Richardson, invited Terry McDonald, the chairman of the Metroplex Atheists, to speak at his church. Again, yes, I said, “Baptist” church. About 75 people turned out for the Saturday night discussion and I am sure they are all the better for their participation.

As the great preacher, Harry Emerson Fosdick once said to a man who told him he didn’t believe in God, “Tell me about the God you don’t believe in, because I probably don’t believe in that god either.” The faithful, open, heart-felt discussions we have about the God/gods we do and don’t believe in only strengthen our faith. The article quoted an atheist who encouraged his Christian daughter, “always question everything.” I could not agree more. As I like to say, we should never be required to check our brains at the door of the church and, if you are ever asked to do so, run.

Secondly, I was interested to read the statement made at the meeting by Terry McDonald, who was a devout Catholic, going to Catholic schools and being on his parish council, yet rejected his faith in his thirties “when”, as he said, “I looked for God, he wasn’t there.” That is why open discussion and the ability to see the humanity in someone who thinks differently than we do is so important. We can hear in their voice the same cry we have uttered, “O God, where are you?” (If you have forgotten, read Psalm 13.) To see ourselves in the face of someone we might once have thought of as our enemy, is our first step in loving them as Christ commanded. It is a wonderful opportunity to share with them the God we have found. I am reminded of Shel Silverstein’s poem entitled, "Nobody”:

Nobody loves me,
Nobody cares.
Nobody picks me peaches and pears.
Nobody offers me candy and Cokes,
Nobody listens and laughs at my jokes.
Nobody helps when I get in a fight.
Nobody does all my homework at night.
Nobody misses me,
Nobody cries,
Nobody thinks I’m a wonderful guy.
So if you ask me who’s my best friend, in a whiz,
I’ll stand up and tell you that Nobody is.
But yesterday night I got quite a scare,
I woke and Nobody just wasn’t there.
I called out and reached out for Nobody’s hand,
In the darkness where Nobody usually stands.
Then I poked through the house, in each cranny and nook,
But I found somebody each place that I looked.
I searched till I’m tired, and now with the dawn,
There’s no doubt about it –
Nobody’s gone.

My prayer is that Mr. McDonald will one day discover that Nobody is gone. And he will find again somebody wherever he looks – maybe even God in your face or in mine. Remember, Jesus said in his Sermon on the Mount, “…if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same?” (Matthew 5:46-47). As the old song says, “They will know we are Christians by our love.”