The Folly of Unbelief
IT BEGINS IN YOUR HEART
“The fool has said in his heart, ‘There is no God’” (Psalm 14:1; 53:1). This text emphasizes the importance of man’s relationship to God. Our relationship with God is all-important. We are to love God with the totality of our being (Matthew 22:37). Man’s relationship with God is the vital matter of all matters as our eternity depends upon it.
Consider the psalmist’s statement, “The fool has said in his heart, ‘There is no God’” (Psalm 14:1, emp. added). The heart refers to our inner self, our mind, our seat of responsibilities, our soul. Our life is determined and governed by our heart. “Keep your heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life” (Proverbs 4:23). The conclusion is obvious, the man who says “there is no God” does so by his own choice, his own desire, and by a misguided heart! In each man is an innate sense of God’s existence (Romans 1:22); yet, many who do not believe in God and do not want to believe in God think in their hearts they can explain God away. They cannot! Anthropology—the study of ancient civilization—has shown no past civilization existed without a sense of God. It may not be God Jehovah, but all have gods of their own making. This affirms the truth of Romans 1:18-22 of the innateness of God within each. To say, “There is no God” is to contradict man’s inner voice.
What is the fool in Psalm 14:1 governed by? There are only two ways of life—the godly and the ungodly! The godly life cannot deny God is! The ungodly life may deny God’s existence. The fool looks at the ungodly life and desires to live that kind of life. He does two things. First, he denies, against abundance evidence, that God is. Second, he violates his conscience, his inner man. The fact that all mankind has a conscience is unexplainable! Where did our conscience come from? Why is it alive? The fool rejects his own understanding. You argue that this oversimplifies the matter. Me thinks not! Consider the continuing words of the psalmist, “The LORD looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God. . . . Have all the workers of iniquity no knowledge?” (Psalm 14:2, 4, emp. added).
Modern-man turns the Scripture around. He argues that it is not the lack of understanding that produces unbelief, but rather it is because of their great understanding that they don’t believe in God (Lloyd-Jones 12). It is argued that Psalm 14 was written centuries ago, long before our present accumulation of knowledge. So? Bad argument! In the abundance of our knowledge, no knowledge exists that proves God does not exist! I feel pity, in one sense, toward those who believe that the only people who believe in God, the Bible, and Jesus Christ are primitives in their thinking and have not come to know that God does not exist! Bad reasoning! In the abundance of our knowledge, no knowledge exists proving God does not exist!
Is unbelief, atheism, agnosticism, or any other ism conferred on the learned who reject the knowledge of God’s existence? If this argument is correct, then all the ignorant of the world would believe in God’s existence; likewise, there would be no people of knowledge—scientists, philosophers—who believe in God. Neither argument is correct! There are many educated people who believe God is! It is the fool who says, “God is not.”
UNDERSTANDNG TRUTH IS IMPORTANT
“The fool has said in his heart, ‘There is no God’” (Psalm 14:1). To deny God on the basis of learning is foolish as the ignorant, unlearned say the same thing—“There is no God.” We can produce numerical evidence among the learned and the unlearned that God is; as well as those who claim God is not. Numbers prove nothing! Truth and knowledge prove God is. The fact is those who deny God’s existence are governed in life by something other than truth, knowledge, and understanding.
David’s statement, “The fool has said in his heart, ‘There is no God’” (Psalm 14:1) was written nearly 3,000 years ago. Why did David write these words? In David’s time, there were people who said God does not exist, or David would not have made the statement. It is no different from what some say today. The field of science is one area that makes the so-called factual (?) claim, “There is no God.” The question of God’s existence is not a matter of science! Science can neither prove nor disprove the existence of God. The existence of God is revelatory [general and special revelation] and philosophical, not scientific.
The psalmist continues about the fool. “They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: there is none that does good, no, not one” (Psalm 14:3; 53:3). The psalmist states that which governs the fool to say, “There is no God” is they do and believe what they want to do and believe. It is the corruption of poor understanding and knowledge.
In listening to people claim, “There is no God,” we find their understanding is flawed. They base their conclusion on faulty evidence and then jump to their conclusion. Have you listened carefully to the questions of someone attempting to defend the erroneous and faulty position that “There is no God?” They say: “If there is a God, then why do we suffer? If there is a God, then why do we have natural disasters that take a toll on life—earthquakes, draught, floods, fires, tsunamis, etc.? If there is a God, then why do we have wars? If there is a God, then why do we die?” On and on they go, They jump to conclusions, they are prejudiced, their evidence is insufficient, their thinking is corrupt, and they are governed by ‘the lust of the eyes, and the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life’ (1 John 2:16). Improper and inadequate reasoning, alone or combined, results in every conclusion mentioned above and others as well.
The above objections to the existence of God will not stand against the eternal truth of the Bible (John 8:32; 17:17; Matthew 24:35). Their conclusions are faulty. Consider their objection, and it is one of their main objections, “If there is a God, then why do we suffer?” While there are a number of answers to this question, David said, “It is good for me that I have been afflicted . . . Before I was afflicted I went astray” (Psalm 119:71, 67). Have you ever considered the implications of the truth from these verses? You say, “I don’t like to suffer. I don’t want to suffer.” Neither did David. Neither do I. Life is not made of what I like, what I do not like, and what I want! Life is real!
Do we understand Jesus? There is only one way to explain Jesus and that is God (John 3:16; Romans 5:8; 1 Timothy 2:5-6). Jesus is Savior (Matthew 1:21). No man comes to God, but by Jesus (John 14:6). One must obey Jesus to find peace (Matthew 11:28-30). He does so by faith (Hebrews 11:6), repentance (Luke 13:3), confession (Acts 8:37), baptism (Romans 6:3-4), and faithfulness (Revelation 2:10). From every aspect, it is sheer folly to say, “There is no God.” GOD IS!