When a professing Christian becomes a functional atheist …

One of the reasons for the weakness of the Christian church in the West is an onslaught of professing Christians who have become what’s referred to as “functional atheists.”

Such a person may profess to be Christian and reject any idea of being an atheist, but the fruit of their lives is about the same of what you would expect from an atheist. These professing Christians may believe something intellectually, but fail to live out what they claim to believe. In that case, “functionally” they’re the same as an atheist. Christian writer, John Ferguson, explains further:

“The functional atheist says with his mind ‘there is a God’ while the intellectual atheist says with his mind ‘there is no God.’ However, both agree with their hearts that the God of the Bible does not exist. Experientially, both create a god with their mind, theoretically each god exists infinitely, but practically neither god actually exists.”

The Apostle Paul described similar professing people when writing to Titus:

“Everything is pure to those whose hearts are pure. But nothing is pure to those who are corrupt and unbelieving, because their minds and consciences are corrupted. Such people claim they know God, but they deny him by the way they live. They are detestable and disobedient, worthless for doing anything good,” Titus 1:15-16.

It makes a difference in what you earnestly believe, because from that you can expect corresponding behavior. That’s important! Christian apologist, Ravi Zacharias, illustrated such significance by telling a story about a debate between social critic, Dennis Prager, and Oxford atheistic professor, Jonathan Glover. Prager asked:

“If you, Professor Glover, were stranded at the midnight hour in a desolate Los Angeles street and if, as you stepped out of your car with fear and trembling, you were suddenly to hear the weight of pounding footsteps behind you, and you saw ten burly men who had just stepped out of a dwelling coming toward you, would it or would it not make a difference to you to know that they were coming from a Bible study?”

Zacharias concluded his observation with this:

“While atheists are loath to admit that the world needs what Christianity has to offer, they’d most assuredly prefer to be discovered in the wrong place, at the wrong time, by the ‘pounding footsteps’ of young men who are followers of Christ. Knowing Christ makes a difference — to everyone!”

One problem is, for many people today who claim to know Christ, that claim isn’t producing a difference in their lives. Church planter Ryan Huguley writes, “Many Christians today have an ever present, faith-threatening blind spot. They say they believe in God but then live as though He doesn’t exist. It may sound harsh, but the truth is: they are functional atheists.”

Huguley teaches there are three signs that indicate you’re a functional atheist:

1. You live as if there is no God. “What we believe is revealed by how we behave. If we live in a godlessness manner rather than increasing in holiness, our practice is in contradiction with our profession,” claims Huguley.

2. You pervert grace to promote licentious living. Using grace in an effort to justify sin is to miss the very essence of grace! “Grace frees us FROM sin and TO obedience,” says Huguley.

3. You refuse to let Christ rule in your lives. We like the idea of having a Savior who delivers us from sin and death, but we’re not so fond of yielding to the lordship of Christ. Treating Jesus like a “genie in a bottle” by tossing some prayers His way for the things we want, but otherwise forgetting about Him, is a functional means of making us “lord” of our own lives in spite of what we profess.

Simply put, our profession of faith is authenticated by how we live, the “fruit” from our lives. Are you functionally living out a genuine faith in Jesus Christ, or have you slid into living as a functional atheist?

Scotty