Only fools say in their hearts, “There is no God.” (Psalm 53:1)
Read: Isaiah 3:1-5:30, 2 Corinthians 11:1-15, Psalm 53:1-6, Proverbs 22:28-29
Relate: “Oh, I believe that there is something out there we could label God, but it is incredibly arrogant of us to presume that we could know anything about him.” This is an approximate quote from a conversation I had not too long ago with someone who is not Christian but was raised in a Christian culture. I heard another one just a couple days before from someone from a Muslim context who admitted to being not Muslim only when I promised not to tell anyone else she wasn’t: “I do believe that God exists, but I don’t think the Quran can tell us what God is like.”
Both of these individuals are part of a common group as old as time that I would call practical atheists. They hold on to some modicum of cultural religion and they believe at some level that there is a God, but it is not important enough to them for it to impact their lives. In our ever shrinking world where there is an ever increasing fusion of east and west, there is a growing opposite trend of those who would call themselves “spiritual but not religious”. They pick and chose whatever parts of various religions that “sound nice” to them but they commit a form of intellectual terrorism by taking pot shots of all the various religion’s truth claims while refusing to stand on any solid truth of their own. Even so, these “spiritual but not religious” phonies still acknowledge that there is something out there. It takes a special kind of stupid for someone to try and convince themselves that there is no God at all.
React: In our world today most people have replaced God by putting themselves at the center of their world. I think the trend for this goes back to when Descartes based the foundation of knowledge on his now incredibly famous but rarely truly understood statement, “Cogito, ergo sum.” (I think, therefore I am.) However, even He openly acknowledged that the only reason we can know anything beyond this is because we have a trustworthy God who created a consistent and reliable universe. If there is no God, there can be no knowledge. It takes a special kind of stupid to try to deny the very existence of God.
Yet how often do I, how often do we, go about our daily lives living as though there were no God. We might acknowledge in our heads His existence, but in our hearts, in the core of our being, we deny Him. How often do I make decisions in which He is not even a factor? How many times in my conversations, my work, my schedule, my budget, my very life am I living as a practical atheist? I might give the occasional intellectual nod in His direction, but am I a fool who is saying in my heart and with my actions, “There is no God”?
Respond:
Dear God,
THE RIVER WALK 
IMO and personal experience, I want and need God in all times. yes without his influence on mankind there wouldnt be anything at all. i percieved and coming to real conclusion that, the tree of knowledge was only to test man and woman’s abilities of reason and logic.
Very thought provoking Beejai !! All I can say is that when I am walking in the Spirit (Gal 5:16), I typically don’t have problems caused by Satan’s temptations and my own flesh… Do I still sin ?? Absolutely…but …1 John 1:9… I confess my sins right away, and am again filled with the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 5:18-20)
I spent 7+ years not living for Christ…so I know how easy it is to get off track with the Lord…
I would urge any reader of UR blog to read “Forgotten God” by Francis Chan… I have bought over 50 so far and handed them out on my quest to…”Book it Forward”
Blessings in Christ, bruce
https://www.christianbook.com/forgotten-god/francis-chan/9781434767950/pd/767950?event=ESRCG
I love Francis Chan.
Was it not Peter who denied Jesus? God for gave him. So too must I ask for forgiveness and pursue God. We are human living in a demonic world. Demons who are charged to blind us from seeing God. Seek God. With all that you are. You will continually find Him.
First let me say I enjoyed your post for two reasons: The truth it states so firmly and second because when you used the statement, “It takes some kind of stupid…” I had to laugh. That is a statement my oldest son uses often in discussions such as these. Ours is to keep speaking the truth. The Holy Spirit will do the rest.
It is lovely to see other believers reading through the same one year bible plan 😬.
God bless
Amen. Lord Jesus, please put foolishness far from my heart and life.
Great post, Beejai! Says a great deal about how most of us fool ourselves. Because only fools believe they are not sinners. No psychiatrist can ever give us what we need most: Forgiveness.
-Alan
Interesting post. I’m a practical atheist. I believe in something bigger than us but I don’t accept the words of a Bible written by man claiming to hear the words of God. I find man too manipulative and greedy to correctly interpret the words of God.
Thank you for commenting. Do you reject the entire Bible carte blanche or are there some parts like Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, the 10 Commandments, or Paul’s live chapter that you might acknowledge as divine or, at least, the close to the best humanity has to offer.
I look at the Bible as a history book where the truth is not necessarily in the written words but hidden between the lines. I grew up Catholic so the Bible is part of me despite my conscious views.
I guess I missed something. I didn’t enjoy this post as well as the other people commenting. I usually enjoy your posts, but not this one.
That’s OK. Not every post is for every person the same way. There are times when I finish and I am not content with the final product yet other people love it. There’s other times I feel like I knocked it out of the park and it gets almost no response. Only God knows what each person needs each day.
So good. We must continually examine ourselves to be sure that we are still in the faith. Or in some cases, in the faith at all. Thank you.