If God is as benevolent and merciful as believers say won't he forgive atheists for doubting HIS/HER existence?

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Atheism poses a serious quandary for believers in Christian theology.

What a lot of people don’t realize is just how deeply embedded theology is in the lives of ‘true’ believers. They think really deeply and seriously about how to apply Christian moral truths to their lives. To them, the idea that Jesus can take away sin just by asking for forgiveness is utterly and absolutely real. As in, it’s something they do all the freaking time. They do it, they see others do it, they watch the psychological effects.

You can argue over whether there’s such an entity as Jesus, but the notion of surrendering your life to God is absolutely real, even if the only measurable, scientific effects are psychological.

And the idea of Heaven isn’t just something that is “out there,” something that you can only really see when you die. It’s something you can create in your life right now, using the exact same process of surrender that you do to obtain absolution.

What a Christian wants to see is you living your life in peace and harmony with God. It’s a really, really hard thing to do, even for Christians but Christians see it as very much worth the rewards, not just in the world to come, but also right now. They really believe that Jesus can heal all that ails you, and deliver you into the Kingdom of God, just by believing and following him. They believe it because they live it.

I believe it too. I experience the exact sort of lifestyle and carry the same bearing as a true believer in Christ. I have a weird history. I believe in reason and in mysticism, I don’t believe that one precludes the other. What I have noticed though, is that it takes a massive amount of time to reconcile the two frames.

What I’ve noticed regarding atheists is that they don’t fit the typical profile of the apostate. They’re not seeking to replace Jesus with some weird idolatrous devil-in-disguise. Rather, the atheist is a result of the utter and mind-boggling success of Christianity. Belief is expensive, but morals are cheap, and atheists choose to buy the morals and leave belief on the shelf.

But belief is the very innovation that allowed Christianity to overtake the West. The idea that faith, not works or morals, is what gets you into Heaven, both here on Earth and in the world to come, is totally foundational to its success on the world stage.

But atheists aren’t biting. And as such, they’re not contributing directly to the kingdom of Heaven. And they’re going counter to one of the most deeply-held attitudes that made Christianity great, that you have to go to God, you have to find Jesus. God does not come to you.

The demand for proof and the refusal to see mysticism as conducive of that proof makes them look like souls that will never be able to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven, neither now nor after death. And so it makes Christians sad and angry.

But this is something Christians will have to come to terms with. Personally, my answer to this is that atheists won’t necessarily be lost, they will one day make it into Heaven.

The answer to the question here, will God forgive atheists, is obviously and unarguably yes, but in order for God to forgive somebody, they have to ask for it. Obtaining God’s forgiveness changes you, and God’s not going to change you without your permission. If you fall so far away from God that you’ll never seek out salvation, then you’ll be what they call lost. Adrift, unmoored. Better to go to Hell than to be lost. Because even in Hell you will be reminded that God’s salvation is there, waiting for you to accept it. Lost, you can find yourself so far away from God that you’ll never think to ask.

If you want to go to Heaven after you die, you have to want to be there. Living in the Earthly Kingdom of Heaven is excellent practice for living there after you die.