Agnostics Don't Exist

If the distance to God could be measured in units of belief, the atheist would be at the far extreme of the spectrum. After all—when it comes to matters of the soul—what could be worse than an atheist?

It would not suit any theist to sneer at the darker end of belief. If an atheist is incorrect in his conclusions, he will ultimately lose everything. No true Christian would wish such a tragedy on even the most vicious skeptic.

But let’s move to another point on the spectrum. Most people would consider this spot the midpoint. He’s called the “agnostic.”

He is the one who doesn’t fully believe in God, but he also doesn’t fully disbelieve in God. He’s not one way or the other. In fact, he most likely would argue that it is impossible for anyone to be fully confident about the issue.

There are three very important things to know about the word “agnostic.”

1) It isn’t in the Bible.

2) It was invented by man

3) It was invented relatively recently.

The word “agnostic” was invented by Aldous Huxley in 1869. If you had gone up to someone in 1868 and said you were an agnostic, they would have had no idea what you were talking about.

However, today it is an extremely popular term. Many people use it to distinguish themselves from atheists. Some agnostics derive peace of mind from their stance, thinking they have settled into a neutral zone that will allow them to stand before God someday (if He exists) and say, “Well, at least I wasn’t an atheist.” The position allows the person to be perpetually in the process of reaching a conclusion. They can pretty much live their lives the way they want without any interference from a potential Creator.

We need to confront a hard truth. The Bible allows no room for the agnostic. As far as Scripture indicates, the nature of belief is simpler than we want it to be. You either believe in God or you don’t. Claiming agnosticism is no less dangerous than being a staunch atheist. Just because we invented a word and mapped out a hypothetical zone of belief doesn’t mean it has any bearing on reality.

We have even tampered with the term “belief” itself. If someone moves past the midpoint of agnosticism and openly states they believe in God, that’s a great start, but by itself it doesn’t carry much value. “You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder” (James 2:19). We can’t really congratulate ourselves on not being an atheist or even not being an agnostic. None of the demons are either. You believe that God exists? Congratulations—welcome to demon-level.

Just the concept of a spectrum alone is dangerous. Even if we confidently place ourselves on the shiny end of Christianity, we often mislead ourselves in thinking there are increments within this region as well.

“I believe in God, but I’m not what you’d call religious.”

“I believe in God, but I’m not a practicing Christian.”

“I believe in God, but [insert caveat here].

Any Christian is most certainly growing, but merely becoming a religious person who believes God exists doesn’t mean everything’s okay. “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter” (Matthew 7:21). This passage is not addressed to atheists or agnostics. It’s addressed to religious people. It’s a frightening realization that there are people who think they’re just fine when they are nowhere near fine. It makes you want to make sure you’re not one of them.

It would certainly be inappropriate to discount any hopeful signs of belief in someone who is genuinely searching. A basic belief is a great starting point. But we are not doing anyone any favors if we enable them to settle into the fable of agnosticism. There is no such thing. 

This is not a cruel effort to set up a velvet rope for the sake of exclusion. If there actually is a distinction of salvation established by God and souls are at stake, the only cruel agenda would be to try and blur the lines or smooth them over for the sake of avoiding conflict. 

If we are really interested in rescuing souls, we need a more accurate definition of “belief”—a definition based on God’s concept and not ours. “And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him” (Hebrews 11:6). True belief means not only believing God exists, but also that He is active in rescuing us.

True belief is also defined in reference to the people who escaped Egypt and then died in the wilderness. “And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who were disobedient? So we see that they were not able to enter because of unbelief” (Hebrews 4:18-19). According to this passage, they failed to reach the Promised Land because of their unbelief. It also says they failed to reach the Promised Land because of their disobedience. This is no contradiction. It simply means that unbelief is directly connected to disobedience. If you really believe there is a God, then you’re going to obey Him. If you don’t obey Him, then you don’t believe in God. At least not the One described in the Bible.

If someone claims to believe in God and yet continues to ignore His Word and indulge their own desires, practicing sin regardless of any Scriptures that might oppose them—this person by definition is an atheist.

It’s very possible and even likely we can end up fashioning our own personal god. This personal god has some of the qualities of the Creator as described in Scripture. It has certain characteristics that might be loosely based on the Bible, but ultimately its purpose is to make you feel better about your choices.

We have to face terms as set by God. Anything less doesn’t make you an agnostic or a lesser “believer.” It makes you an atheist.

All of this leads to a disturbing possibility. There actually is something worse than being an atheist. Not knowing you’re one.

It’s easy for any religious person to settle into smug arrogance, tossing jibes at those who blatantly deny that God exists. But it would be wise for all of us to make sure our faith is real—to make sure we truly believe.