The fool has said in
his heart,
“There is no God.”
They are corrupt,
they have done
Abominable works,
there is none
Who do good.
The LORD looks down
from heaven
Upon the children of
men, to see
If there are any who
understand,
Who seek God. They
have all turned
Aside, they have
together become corrupt;
There is none who
does good,
No, not one.
Psalm 14:1–3 (cf.
Romans 3:12)
This study
on the historical aspects that have contributed philosophies that have impacted
the world and are impacting this present age and is to be swimming in deep
water. Therefore, I have taken more time to study and to do research as this
subject has great meaning for us as it has impacted men and women for
centuries. The opening Scripture is a foundational truth: Men are not good, they
may, as many have done and are doing, seeking God, but their understanding is
corrupt. This fact so clearly revealed in Scripture speaks against those who
hold to a theology that man can save himself from their sin and folly that is
abhorrent to God. They can’t not, for they are corrupt by their fallen nature
derived in them by the sin of Adam. If this was not true and man could, by his
own will, find God then the meaning of the cross is insufficient. How, you may
ask! They should see God in nature, in the things created, and His attributes;
they don’t, they cannot, but they try, they form philosophies, theologies from
their ideologies and presuppositions, but their hearts are not attuned to what
they see, and they are not led to God. The apostle Paul makes this fact
Scriptually clear: “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all
ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in
unrighteousness, because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God
has shown it to them” (Romans 1:17–19). Man is without excuse! Man has
attempted in may ways to find God, and have developed theologies that are
polytheistic, or anthropomorphizing God, as have the Mormons, or as the Jehovah
Witnesses have done in as much as they have made the Son of God to be nothing
more than a created being, and giving to Him the status of “a god.” So, why
have they not found the True God? Paul continues: “For since the creation of
the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things
that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without
excuse, because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor
were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts
were darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools….”(Romans 1:20–22).
There is
that which can be called “Practical Atheism.” This form of Atheism is natural
to man due to his being in a depraved state that which emanates from his total
fallen nature. Notice that the opening Scripture does not say that an Atheistic
person speaks that there is no God, nor does this Atheism arise from his
thinking, rather it is within his heart. Yes, there are those who will say,
“there is no God,” but to do so is to object to the possibility that there
could be a God; otherwise why say anything? The Practical Atheist will not
openly assert to the fact that there is a God for fear of being put to shame.
Worse, not to say so is a moral issue, for they do not want a God for then they
must adhere or be condemned due to a moral issue. More often they just wish
that there were not a God, even has hoped that there were no God. But, in his
heart, he has not the ability to destroy the notion that there could be a God.
This man, the Practical Atheist, has done all that he could to blot out from
his heart the God who created him, who made him a soul, and are left to the
ruin that comes from him being a corrupted person. Their hearts may become
then, Atheistic, even while admitting that there is a God in their thinking.
They defend, at times, the notion of a Deity, yet their hearts are far from
affirming a Deity, or have devised a system of a supreme God, and a system
whereby there are many gods. Such as we see in the philosophy of Plato and
other philosophers. Is it possible for men to say good things of God yet have
cursed Him in their hearts? Yes! Job would pray for his children for they may
have cursed God in their hearts: “…For Job said, ‘It may be that my sons
have sinned and cursed God in their hearts.’ Thus Job did regularly (offer
burnt offerings for them; 5a)” (Job 1:5b).
Man seeks
God yet does not find the True God. Men devises gods of all sorts, and makes
cause for festivals, and sacrifices, and ways of living and worshipping God,
but are not able to come to the knowledge of the True God. In his search, which
is or is not a truthful search, and due
to his own presuppositions, or suppositions, deny the essential attributes of
God, and give exercise in this world those religious rites that are not
commanded by God. The Practical Atheist does not want God to have authority in
this world, and this they do by either denying the existence of God, or by
denying His essential attributes, which is a denial of God. Man has a will, he
has reason, this is essential of man is to be man and not some robot. He can
choose but he does not choose God, or devises a religion or religious ideas
that are contradictory to the True God. Understanding and will are essential to
man and man cannot subsist without them, nor can they conceive of God without
them. All men are in some respect Atheist, that is they cannot know God, and
they will reject God, or develop a system of belief that is accepted by them as
to a god they wish Him to be. The fall of man in the Garden of Eden brought to
all men a sense of a deity, and a
desire to demolish this sense of a deity, even while admitting with their mouth
that there is a deity, they do not have in their hearts a belief that there is
a God. This is the core of unbelief; man is corrupted and without God. There
then, is a need for God to right this problem, but many men do not want the God
of the Scriptures, they do not want a God who demands reverence, the worship
that is due Him. The problem is deep, as deep as the deepest ocean, for those
men who deny God, even though they may worship in some sense that there is One
God, often, for others, find belief, in the worship of many gods. There has
been for many years a move of ecumenism or a belief that God can be found in
any and all religions, therefore they should not object to any religion, they
are unconcerned that God may not agree with their religiosity. These are those
who will often admit to a God or a system of gods, and allow themselves to be
under the power of such admittance. They devise a god that meets their notion
of what God should be, or to devise such religions as to have the outward
appearance of being in a right relationship with God. They have framed what God
should be by their own corrupted hearts, their thinking that resides far from
the truth. This is Practical Atheism. And as we consider those men who have
influenced the world and have devised a philosophy that has influenced many
religions, we must keep the foundational problem in the forefront: Men are corrupted and without God, their hearts
condemn them due to their thinking and by the theologies that are contradictory
to God. God is misrepresented. Yet, we are influenced by these men, through
their schools, their teachings, and by those men who have expanded these false
influential philosophies and taught them to their pupils. It is a drip of
water, becoming a trickle of water from other drops of water joining each drop,
then becoming a stream by the joining of other trickles of water, and then to
becoming a river by the joining of other streams and then becoming an ocean.
The reverse is not true. For man not to be influenced by such downward trend of
thinking that is contradictory to God, we must not drink from such water. We
must drink from the living water: “Jesus answered here and said to her, ‘If
you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘give Me a drink,’ you
would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.’….. “Jesus
answered and said to her, ‘Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but
whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the
water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up
into everlasting life” (John 4:10, 13–14).
Do you want
the “living water” that Jesus Christ gives unto everlasting life? Or, do you
want the water of this world that will only lead you to be thirsty again?
Practical Atheism is cured by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit given to a man
by the grace of God. You cannot earn it in any way, by good sounding
philosophies, theologies that tickle the ears. No! It is a gift of God: For
by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is
the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast” (Ephesians 2:8–9). Next
we will look at other philosophers and their philosophies and how the world,
and the Church has been influenced.
Let the sea roar, and all its fullness,
The world
and those who dwell in it;
Let the rivers clap their hands; let the hills
Be joyful together
before the LOR,
For He is coming to judge the earth.
With righteousness
He shall
Judge the world, and the peoples with equity.
Psalm 98: 7–9
Praise God for His Mercy
Richard L. Crumb
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