[Biblemat] A> The Emergence Of The Fool

[Steven C. Harper]

From: TRUTH & REASON, a bulletin of the Glendale church of Christ, Glendale, AZ. 
Editor: Steven Harper 
July 8, 2007

The Emergence Of The Fool

 

        I do not use that word haphazardly, so please understand I make the above statement based on what God's word says, not my own opinion. The passage to which I refer is Psalm 14:1, which says, "The fool says in his heart, 'There is no God.'" [This is repeated in Psalm 53:1.] With this in mind, one man, Christopher Hitchens, recently took a lead from this and has written and had published a book entitled God Is Not Great. But Hitchens is not alone in his arrogant self-superiority. No; we also have the famous Richard Dawkins whose most recent publication is The God Delusion. [Does 2 Thess. 2:11 come to mind when you read his title?] Right up there with these titles of unsurpassed arrogance must be Sam Harris' The End Of Faith. If I am to believe any or all of these assertions put forth by these men, who now feel bold enough to write these blasphemous books, it's as if we are just too dumb to figure out what these obviously intelligent men have now discovered: There is no God!

        [See Psalm 14:1 again, please.]

        Unfortunately, our society has become so timid with the subject of religion, faith, or spirituality, that these men now feel no compunction whatsoever about writing such blasphemous arguments and offering up such weak premises as they are now doing, and without much opposition. Oh, they appear on some television interviews and they get the gratuitous feature story in the newspapers, monthly news magazines and online news pages, but make no mistake: they are not being seriously - much less intellectually - challenged by anyone. I'm afraid it is because no one knows how!

        In my humble opinion, the religious world does not challenge these ludicrous and fallacious arguments because the human-based theories now taught in seminaries and religious schools, and even the doctrines taught within churches nowadays, are so watered down that not even the leaders could give a logical, sound reason for their faith, much less answer these men's assertions. Many religious institutions now deny the virgin birth of Christ, assert that miracles were not really miracles at all, and that much of what is attributed to Jesus was "created" in the minds of the writers and is nothing more than myth. Is it any wonder that those who believe and teach such doctrines would not dare try to challenge the assertions of these atheistic men? At least some of these men are consistent in their arguments [consistently wrong, but consistent]; many religious doctrines now being taught are inherently faulty or contradictory and would be picked apart in a debate or intellectual discussion - and it doesn't take a rocket scientist to see it, either! It would take all of about one minute to show the fallacious arguments of Calvinism and many other religious doctrines attributed to God, and the credibility of the disputant would be likewise destroyed.

        But, friends and brethren, we have no need to fear challenging these atheistic humanists any more than we should fear challenging the religious errorists in the denominations. When you have truth, you have no reason to fear any challenge; when your faith rests on human creeds, then you have reason to fear challenges! And especially when we deal with those who argue from purely human reasoning and the tired old weak philosophical arguments that have been answered time and time again, truth has no fear. So what is holding us back from standing up and refuting these men?

        We Don't Have A Thorough Knowledge of God or His Word. This problem is one with many consequences! As an example, remember that it was a lack of knowledge that led God's own people to destruction (Hos. 4:6). Consider also that it was a lack of knowledge that caused the Israelites to go into idolatry (Jdgs. 2:10-13) - and it was because the ones who should have been most familiar with the Lord did not know Him (Jer. 2:8). When we consider these examples, we should understand that it wasn't a case of not knowing God existed, but a case of not knowing God and His word. Many in the religious world cannot refute the words of these atheists because they do not know God's word thoroughly and, if they did, they would realize their own beliefs and practices would not match up with God's will, either. So, they choose to remain in their ignorance of it lest they come to the point they must deny their own system of faith they have clung to for years. Sadly, many have no interest in knowing God or His will more thoroughly because it would mean they must admit they are not following Him at all, but the creeds of men!

        Friends and brethren, if we truly seek to please God (Heb. 11:6), we must have a thorough knowledge of God and His word! There is simply no other way to obtain faith (Rom. 10:17) or to make our faith stronger (Acts 20:32) than by God's word. We cannot rely on others to feed us God's word and we cannot trust that others will be giving us all that we need; we must take the initiative and diligently seek it ourselves, study it, and know it thoroughly that we might be pleasing to God and that we might know how to answer those who ask us a reason for our faith (1 Pet. 3:15).

        We Aren't Living What God's Word Teaches. Another reason why so many are not standing up to these challengers of God is that we aren't really living what we teach. Sadly, even these atheistic men know that God's word teaches we are to love one another (cf. John 13:34, 35) and that this means we should be taking care of one another. When they see professing believers refuse to help others, when they see prejudice, when they see bitterness and outright hatred of others who don't seem to fit their preconceived idea about who is 'worthy' of our help, and when they see this all done so that we can selfishly enjoy our material possessions, they are rightly repulsed by our subsequent claim to be followers of God. I believe it is this fact that is behind the professed disbelief by these and other men, not a lack of scientific evidence for a Creator.

        You see, the world is watching closely and when they hear us say that we are followers of God, they want to see for themselves what that means. Many have enough knowledge of God's word to know that following God means we cannot at the same time be materialistic (cf. Matt. 6:24), we cannot claim to love God more than anything and then deny Him by our works (Titus 1:16), and we cannot say we are living for the next life when it is obvious by the way we live our lives that we are living for the 'here and now' (Col. 3:1, 2). If we are to ever convince the unbeliever that they must change and give up the worldly life, we must first ensure we have done the same.

        Hypocrisy does more damage to our influence than any other thing we may do. The willing unbelievers such as Dawkins, Hitchens, and Harris observe those in the religious world and find multiple reasons why they should not believe. All of these men have stated that they have gone into churches to observe what is going on within the assemblies and that they leave with all the evidence they need to not believe. Granted, one who does not want to believe will never be convinced, but we should pay attention to what they are saying!

     Yes, the one who denies God is a fool, but so is the one who refuses knowledge (Prov. 1:7), the one who is complacent (1:32), and the one who is self-righteous (12:15). When we look around at the emergence of those who are emboldened to speak against God, let's take a good, long look in the mirror to make sure we are not just as foolish as they are, but for a different reason. A fool is a fool.            -- Steven Harper
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