The Folly of Atheism

 

From the Pastor:

 

Psalm 14:1

The fool has said in his heart,

“There is no God.”

They are corrupt,

They have done abominable works,

There is none who does good.

 

Last week I spent a good portion of my time considering the Truth of God’s Word. Bro. Joseph asked me to lead the Wednesday night Student and Parent Bible Study and my topic for that evening was “the Belt of Truth.” That’s what prompted my study, and that topic has been on my mind since. Then, we had Sean Pasley come this past Sunday and share with the church his intentions to go to France to serve as a missionary of the BMAA in that country. Once again, the issue of objective truth and the truth of God’s Word was at the forefront of my mind, because France is a country that almost entirely has moved away from any standard of truth in the pursuit of secularism. These points even came up during a recent conversation I had with a friend about an apologetics video he had seen where the Christian kept pointing out to the non-believers that he was speaking with about their inability to rightly understand truth without a Christian worldview. I mention all of this because when I came across this Psalm in our daily bible reading plan last week, I knew that I wanted to highlight its significance for us this week so that we as a church would better understand why we need the objective truth of God’s Word, and even more importantly, God himself to be the standard of truth in our lives.

This Psalm, which Paul later quotes in Romans 3 to prove the universality of the fallen human condition, begins by highlighting the main problem the “fool” suffers from. Now, understand that the term “fool” in the bible is not used to denote a lack of intelligence, but rather a term used to point to someone who does not possess the ability to make moral choices. He or she may have all the worldly intelligence one can possess, but in their folly they do not see the immorality that they are living in. That is why David says that for all practical reason the fool has denied, rejected, and abandoned the concept of a living God. This is what the fool has done whether intentionally or not. They have rejected God as the Creator, Lord, and Judge of their life and have become a god unto themselves.

This should not be a surprise to any of us, because in stark terms this was the first sin of humanity in the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve rejected the standard and truth of God in hopes of becoming gods themselves. They wanted to throw off the shackles of being the Creature and somehow become their own masters. For any human being this is an impossible task whether or not they have heard the Gospel, understand monotheism, or have ever heard of the Bible. It is only a fool who would claim that there is no God and that they themselves and the arbiter of right and wrong, good and bad, or truth and falsity. The fallen human condition makes this impossible for any man or woman, boy or girl.

This is why we need the revealed Word of God contained in the Holy Scriptures to teach us about who God is and what He requires of man. This is why we need God’s law to teach us His standard of morality. This is why we need God’s Gospel to teach us how we can be saved from the punishment brought about by our sin. This is why we need God’s wisdom to tell us how we can then live as His children in a fallen world. Human beings by nature are prone to seek out “many schemes,’” as Solomon tells us in Ecclesiastes (8:29). We would rather create our own gods, make up our own morality, or simply become a god unto ourselves. But in the end, all of this is folly and will only lead to destruction. There is one hope and one source of truth and that is the Holy Triune God of the universe. His standard, his Word is true and that truth, like Him, will never change.