"Then Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus and said, “Men of Athens, I perceive that in all things you are very religious; for as I was passing through and considering the objects of your worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Therefore, the One whom you worship without knowing, Him I proclaim to you: God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands. Nor is He worshiped with men’s hands, as though He needed anything, since He gives to all life, breath, and all things. And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings, so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; for in Him we live and move and have our being, as also some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also His offspring.’ Therefore, since we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, something shaped by art and man’s devising. Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent, because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead.”" - Acts 17:22-31
Large portions of atheistic apologetics depends entirely on the assumption that passages, such as the above, do not exist. In these 9 short verses, Paul explains the relationship between God and humanity. We see here that God keeps His distance, but also that this distance can be traversed - and even has been. We see hints at the difference between "general revelation" (God's indirect revelation to man through nature) and "special revelation" (God's direct, personal revelation through direct communication). We even see how God works in general, not only creating the entire universe, but even providing the circumstances for the creation of nations.
In spite of this, atheists often claim that the Bible is very much centred around one tiny region of the world, and that the world didn't know Yahweh, nor does Yahweh seem to know much about the rest of the world.
An example of this can be seen in the header image, in which an atheistic meme asserts "EVERY SINGLE ACTION OF GOD IN THE OLD TESTAMENT OF THE BIBLE TOOK PLACE INSIDE THAT LITTLE CIRCLE". The most obvious flaw in this claim is that the Old Testament literally opens with "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth." (Genesis 1:1). In the meme, the circle mainly encompasses Egypt, Israel, and various other regions of the Middle East. But the whole map is the Earth. So, did every single action of God in the Old Testament really take place in that little circle? Of course not. The whole of Genesis' first chapter talks about the creation of the entire universe.
Genesis 2 zooms in on a location called Eden, giving details about a few rivers that flowed through it. We may never know where Eden actually is. It might be in that circle, it might not. It is, however, a relatively small location. It wasn't a whole continent. It wasn't a whole country, or a whole state. It probably wasn't even as large as a whole city. Ultimately, at this point in history, there were only two human beings in the world, Adam and Eve. So, naturally, God didn't need to explain to us what was going on across the rest of the world. We only needed to know about these two people, what they did, and why it directly affects us.
A few chapters later, we read that the descendants of Adam and Eve had gotten so repulsive, God decided to eliminate them all. To do this, He sent a global flood. Yet, He chose a righteous man, Noah, and his family to stay alive, and to save all land dwelling life from extinction. Again, this affected far more than just the one circle, but the Bible specifically focused on Noah and his family. Once they landed on dry ground again, Scripture focuses on that region. We don't need to know what was going on elsewhere.
Following the flood, God commanded humanity to fill the Earth, but they conspired to instead build a city, with a giant tower as its focal point. This is when God confused the languages of the inhabitants, scaring them across the globe. With Acts 17 as our guide, we know God didn't stop there. "...He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings, so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; for in Him we live and move and have our being...".
And what a success this was! This whole conversation was sparked by Paul studying the religious objects in Athens, and they had erected an altar to who? "To the unknown God". They were, as Paul had said, "groping for Him". And they didn't stop at just erecting an altar to this unknown God. "...some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also His offspring.’"
These pagans have always known God, to some degree. In fact, it is a global phenomenon. Atheism is a relatively new concept. Not only has the whole human race been historically Theistic, but has had some very specific beliefs about God. Most notably, pagan religions tend to have their own origins stories, which bear striking similarities to Genesis. All across the globe, on every continent, ancient religions have creation accounts which include similar accounts to the flood, and the Tower of Babel.
But just like the other accounts, God speaks generally about most of the world, but more specifically about one region following the Babel dispersion. It isn't terribly hard to see why. See, all of Scripture - both Old and New Testaments - revolve around one specific man: Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
As descendants of Adam, we all have two things in common. We sin, and as a result, we die (Romans 5:12). But Jesus is called the last Adam (1 Corinthians 15:45), because He is able to undo this curse. To do this, He had to be like us in every way (Hebrews 2:17), including sharing ancestry with Adam.
But who was Jesus born to? It wasn't to the Brits. It wasn't to the Japs. It wasn't to the Swiss, the Russians, the Native Americans, the Indians, it wasn't to any of them. Jesus' family tree shoots up from Adam and branches out to Mary, a young Hebrew.
Now, here is Scripture's testimony of itself: "But you must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them, and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work." (2 Timothy 3:14-17).
With a few exceptions, as discussed above, none of these things require us to know what God did in various other regions of the world. That isn't where Jesus was born. That isn't where Jesus lived. That isn't where Jesus died. That isn't where Jesus was raised to life again. So why would God add extra details to a book that is apparently already too big for atheists to read?
Perhaps the greatest irony here is that when they use logic like this, atheists are admitting their own folly. See, even a local truth is universal in a sense. Every single Bible Brain article ever written, with no exceptions, has been written in a smaller circle than would even be visible on that map. I've only been outside of the UK once in my life, not even for a full week. Yet, while I exist locally, the fact of my existence is universal. It's not like you can sit in Australia and think "every action of Brian on Bible Brain took place in that one little circle", and conclude therefore I don't exist.
So why would God be any different? If Jesus never even left Bethlehem, the fullness of Godhead would still dwell bodily in Him. And it does. See, God's actions are not merely contained within His book. Rather, His book records actual history. And it's not even the only source! We've already glanced at the simple fact nations around the world remember Genesis in their own religious traditions, but it goes deeper than that. The Bible is an archaeological cheat sheet! As noted by Nelson Glueck, an archaeologist himself, "...it may be clearly stated categorically that no archeological discovery has ever controverted a single biblical reference. Scores of archeological findings have been made which confirm in clear outline or exact detail historical statements in the Bible. And, by the same token, proper evaluation of Biblical description has often led to amazing discoveries." (1).
Dr. Glueck is but one of many experts who will express similar sentiments, and it holds true to this day. One can scarcely imagine any other book being so highly praised on a scholarly level. Consider the Book of Mormon. Joseph Smith actually lived in America, where the events within the Book of Mormon supposedly took place. Yet, not one archaeological find confirms it. Similarly, the Qur'an is horrendous when it comes to historical accuracy. It even contains historical anachronisms, such as in Surah 20:35-95, wherein a Samaritan leads the Israelites to create the Golden Calf during the Exodus. The problem? Samaritans did not come into existence until the Northern Kingdom was invaded by Assyria, centuries after the Exodus.
This makes the Bible quite unique. It would be foolish, never mind ambitious, to expect to be able to verify everything within it. Nevertheless, it has been studied diligently for centuries, even in more recent times by its fiercest of opponents. Nothing stands against it. Everything either conforms to it, or outright confirms it. The Bible is consistently and reliably proven true. So what if most of that evidence is in that little circle? Is it rational to dismiss evidence purely on the basis of the geological region in which it was discovered? Are we seriously encouraged to base our worldviews on what shapes we can draw on a map? Should any kind of doubt spring from pins on an atlas? My friends, Jesus rose in Israel, but Jesus rose in Israel.
And He did it for you. Because whatever circle you happen to inhabit, you have rebelled against God in many different ways. It's called "sin", and it expands far beyond just denying God's existence. Covetousness, lust, hatred, these are just a few "base level" sins we all commit on a regular basis. For this, the word of God says we deserve death. Not merely the death of our physical bodies, but also what Scripture calls the "second death" - eternity separated from God, suffering the due punishment for our works.
But Scripture also says Jesus became sin that we might become the righteousness of God in Him (2 Corinthians 5:21). I like to say this means we "swap verdicts" with Jesus. He, being innocent, was found guilty. We, being guilty, are innocent in the eyes of God. If we trust in Him. To me, this seems like an easy choice. But you are free to decide whether to follow the evidence, or become an atheist.
References
1. Glueck, Nelson - Rivers in the Desert, (New York: Farrar, Strous and Cudahy, 1959), 136.
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