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. -Psalm 14:1
The Bible leaves no doubt about what constitutes the ultimate foolishness of mankind. It is man’s denial of the existence of God. Many members of the intelligentsia have ascribed to atheism or agnosticism. They, though mentally gifted, have preferred to remain fools. Carl Sagan was such a man. As talented as he was when it came to abstract thought, he practiced the ways of a fool. He professed himself to be wise when he wasn’t, for he changed the glory of the incorruptible God into a strange explosion at the beginning of time. So far as it can be known, Carl Sagan passed from this life into the hands of a justly wrathful God.
It may be that when we consider this ultimate foolishness, we think it to be silly, or stupid, or mindless or imprudent. We may fail to see that this sort of behavior has an ethical bent. Perhaps, to us, it is just thoughtless for one to observe the vast design of the world that we live in and come away thinking that there is no powerful, majestic and all-wise maker behind it. To be sure, it is thoughtless and idiotic to deny what is obvious, but it is much more than that. It is sinister. It is wicked!
In Psalm 14 there is a moral description that follows the proclamation of the fool. This moral description is true of all who claim that “There is no God.” They all are corrupt. The works that they do are abominable, every one of them. No God denier does a single bit of good. As the people of God, we need to understand this. Atheism is not an innocent practice. It is rooted in devilish philosophy which gives rise to devilish behavior.
The Bible gives us some insight into how those who now deny the existence of God became so. We read in Romans 1:28, “And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting.” There were consequences for mankind when mankind chose not to retain God in their knowledge. God gave them over to a reprobate mind, separated from reason, and so debauched that it was no longer capable of uncorrupted thought. From this flowed all kinds of rebellious activity, activity that was designed to deface and to destroy the image of God in man. These were abominable works, immoral works, unnatural works. Thus, we find mankind in such a state of perversion that only a supernatural work of a God who is rich in mercy could at all save the creature who was once the crown of God’s creation.
It is not in innocence that foolish men deny the existence of God. They are not merely unlearned. “The heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament shows His handiwork,” Psalm 19:1. Therefore man is left without excuse for his supposed ignorance and held altogether responsible for this gross neglect of the truth. His ignorance is self-imposed by a character that is altogether reprobate, having fallen from grace in the Garden. In these days of the Pandemic that threatens to kill a mere .057 of 1 percent of the citizens of the United States, there is a far greater pandemic that threatens to consign over 300 million of the souls in this country to eternal hell.
For those who reject the God of the Bible, or who deny that He even exists, consider these words carefully. The riches of God’s goodness, forbearance and longsuffering are on display in this gospel age. It is meant to lead you to repentance. Don’t let it be said of you, “but according with your hardness and your impenitent heart you have treasured up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgement of God” (Romans 2:5). The fool, the wicked fool, has said in his heart there is no God. Don’t let that be a description of you!
Dennis Gettman