Matthew 13.1–9, 18–23

You’ve probably had this experience yourself. You buy a packet of grass seed to put on your lawn but you’re worried that the seeds might get eaten before they get a chance to sprout. The packet says on it something like, bird resistant or deters birds. Well, that’s reassuring you think to yourself. But perhaps the pigeons can’t read, because they just go right ahead and eat the seed anyway. To be frank I think if the pigeons could read what it says on the packet they would just laugh. Clearly this is not a new problem. As Jesus says:

‘Listen! A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seeds fell on the path, and the birds came and ate them up … When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what is sown in the heart; this is what was sown on the path.

In the parable, the seeds represent teaching about the Kingdom of God, and the birds represent the things that immediately come and take the seeds away before they have the chance to grow.

In Matthew’s version of this parable this is to do with understanding – the seeds sown in the heart are snatched away because the hearers do not understand, so perhaps part of the answer is better understanding. What are these pigeons that take away the word of the kingdom – they don’t have to be pigeons you can substitute in a bird of your own choice – but what are they and how can we make hearers of the word more bird resistant.

One species of this type of bird is the silly but firmly entrenched atheist belief. Now don’t get me wrong. I don’t think atheists are silly, or immoral or dishonest or lazy or shallow. Clearly some atheists are all of these things but we shouldn’t judge atheism or atheists in general by their standards. Every point of view should be judged by its strongest case, and we should always assume in any conversation about the faith that our interlocutor is acting in good faith and is worth listening to with an open mind. Nevertheless, some common atheist ideas in popular culture are silly and should be exposed as such – but always remembering of course Peter’s advice: ‘Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect.’

You may have come across this one – the ‘just one more god’ argument. It goes like this.

“Everyone is an atheist about most of the gods that humanity has ever believed in. I just go one god further — and we’re getting closer to the real number all the time.” (Christopher Hitchens, God is not great)

“Next time someone tells me they believe in God, I'll say ‘Oh which one? Zeus? Hades? Jupiter? Mars? Odin? Thor? Krishna? Vishnu? Ra?...’ If they say ‘Just God,’ I’ll point out they are nearly as atheistic as me.” (Ricky Gervais, Wall Street Journal)

“We are all atheists about most of the gods humanity has ever believed in.” (Richard Dawkins, God Delusion)

This argument originated as far we know with Stephen F. Roberts in the 1990s.

“I contend that we are both atheists. I just believe in one fewer god than you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours.”

I find this rather amusing. They are saying that atheism is the same as monotheism but with one less god. This is like saying that being single is the same as monogamy but with one less wife. I don’t think it is!

Monotheists do not dismiss belief in thousands of gods individually one at a time, they dismiss the idea of polytheism. If fact they dismissed this idea more than a thousand years ago. Polytheism is an idea long dead and buried, so quite why these prominent atheists got out their spades to dig it up again, who knows.

In the first verse of the Bible says: In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. So God, the monotheistic God - God with a capital G - is by definition the one who there at the beginning. So, monotheism is the belief that at the beginning there is consciousness, mind, purpose, reason in short God. Monotheism consequently is the belief that the universe, the elements, the stars, the sun the earth, life on earth have a purpose there is a design behind them. To deny monotheism is to deny this. This is to say that universe, the elements, the stars, the sun the earth life on earth were made by a mechanism, a process which is mindless, purposeless, without design, and our friend Dawkins put it acts with ‘blind, pitiless indifference’. Quite what we should make of that, if that is true, is a subject for debate – but atheism is not monotheism with one less god - the two are entirely different views of life the universe and everything.

Since we are on the subject of polytheism we note is passing that polytheists do not believe in God. Polytheists believe that in the beginning there was some kind of stuff. Out of this stuff came everything, including the gods. So, in fact, the gods might be immortal, but are not eternal; those are two different things. In this respect, the idea that everything came out of some sort of stuff, atheists have more in common with polytheists that they do with Christians.

Why do we not believe in polytheistic gods: Zeus? Hades? Jupiter? Mars? Odin? Thor and so on? Because there is no reason to believe in them. Simple enough! In contrast there are excellent reasons for believing in the monotheistic God, God with a capital G.

This is Mr Stephen F Roberts case, which is a ropey as Lord Nelson’s rope factory. Monotheists dismiss all the other possible gods in short because there is no reason for believing in them. Likewise, claims Mr Roberts, I dismiss your God, the monotheistic God, God with a capital G, because there is no reason for believing in him. However, whilst it is true to say that there are no reasons for believing in polytheism, to say that there are no reasons for believing in God – God with a capital G – is flat out false.

A summary.

Christians and all monotheists do not dismiss thousands of polytheistic gods they dismiss one single idea: polytheism

In Europe we dismissed this idea a thousand years ago. Everyone’s a monotheist now.

We do not believe in polytheistic gods because there is no reason to do so. In contrast there are excellent reasons for believing in the one God, the one with the capital G.

What are those reasons? The best answer to that question is the answer Philip gave to Nathaniel in the first chapter of John’s gospel: come and see.

But there are plenty of other things to says. That’s it for now but, just like Arnie, we, the pigeons and I, will be back.

See next sermon: Reasons 3