God, Man, Wisdom, & Foolishness

Text: Psalm 14:1 The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God.” (NASB)

Introduction: * idea from Reading the book, The “Is God Dead?” Controversy, by John Warwick Montgomery

* Nietzsche v. God

Thesis: The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God.”

Transition: We’ve all heard this verse many times, but what exactly does it mean? Let’s unpack the significance of it and consider some implications.

I. It means that some people deny the existence of God.

A. Confessing atheists

1. Joke—obsessive compulsive, insomniac, dyslexic atheist

2. Illustration: Joe—“I’m too smart to believe in God.”

3. We can’t prove God’s existence; it must be taken on faith; but the same is true of atheism

4. Illustration—faulty logic: A college student was in a philosophy class which had a discussion about God's existence. The professor presented the following logic:

"Has anyone in this class heard God?" Nobody spoke.

"Has anyone in this class touched God?" Again, nobody spoke.

"Has anyone in this class seen God?"

When nobody spoke for the third time, he simply stated, "Then there is no God."

One student thought for a second, and then asked for permission to reply. Curious to hear this bold student's response, the professor granted it, and the student stood up and asked the following questions of his classmates:

"Has anyone in this class heard our professor's brain?" Silence.

"Has anyone in this class touched our professor's brain?" Absolute silence.

"Has anyone in this class seen our professor's brain?"

When nobody in the class dared to speak, the student concluded, "Then, according to our professor's logic, it must be true that our professor has no brain!"

The student received an "A" in the class!

5. Ravi Zacharias, definition of atheism—“Atheism is the active denial of the existence of God. The definition hints at the religious nature of atheism. Atheism is a denial of God. It is the denial of the Absolute. In making the statement “There is no God,” however, you’ve just spoken an absolute claim of there being no God. In essence, the contention of the atheist becomes his or her God. The active denial of God’s existence is the operating principle of that person’s life. Their absolute affirmation of “No God” is the faith system upon which they make their choices. You could argue that atheism is a religion without a god. It is based on an absolute claim that there is “no God” and that contention brings its own life philosophy to the atheist.

6. Atheism is a religion built on faith in the non-existence of God.

à Atheist’s hymn—“My faith is built on nothing”

7. Zacharias on the logical fallacy of atheism—“If you assert that there is no God, you are saying “I conclude that there is no infinite God and I’ve arrived at this conclusion out of my infinite knowledge.” You may say, “Wait, humans don’t have infinite knowledge!” True, but to actively deny the existence of an infinite God implies that you have infinite knowledge. How else could you know? Surely a finite creature, limited in its knowledge wouldn’t claim there’s no infinite God. But that’s exactly what happens. Human beings with limited knowledge of the universe make the claim that there’s no God. You cannot logically make that claim unless you have all knowledge. The contention of the atheist is self-defeating, in and of itself.”

8. The Bible on atheism—Romans 1:25—“For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie.” (read vv. 21-25). The atheist worships his own ability to determine that there is no God, or “science” or “reason” or “logic”

B. Practicing atheists

1. Some people claim they don’t believe in God, but that’s not really it.

a. Some people know that they would have to live differently if they acknowledged belief in God, and they are not willing to do that.

b. The Bible suggests that all know the existence of God, but some suppress that truth (Rom. 1:18-21)

2. Many people claim to believe in God but live as if they didn’t. Their lives deny belief in Him.

a. Very common in America

b. If one believes in God, it should make some sort of difference in one’s life, from being followers of Jesus, to trying to earn God’s favor, to declaring open rebellion against Him. If it doesn’t make the least bit of difference, one has to question one really believes in the existence of God. At least, they are denying His power, His relevance, His ability to affect the world.

c. Therefore, they believe in a god of their own creation, or they don’t really believe in God, after all. (“A loving god wouldn’t ….” How do they know? And if it contradicts what God says about Himself in His Word, on what evidence are they basing their claim to know more about God than He Himself does?)

d. Billy Graham—fools say “There is no God for me.” Everyone has the knowledge of the Creator; do they suppress it? Example—our society disregards absolute truths.

e. Ps. 14:1b-3 speaks to practicing atheists

II. It means that the Bible declares such people fools.

A. Fools

1. Word is “nabal,” means “empty person.”

2. “It is utter foolishness for a finite creature to claim infinite knowledge about lack of existence of an infinite God. What’s even more foolish is trying to live out atheism.” (Joel Smith, “Christ and the Contention of the Atheist”)

3. Denying God’s existence—either in belief or in living—produces emptiness

B. God says that’s what they are

1. I Corinthians 1:18-20

2. Jesus’ parable illustrating the foolishness of denying God’s place in one’s life (Luke 12:16-21)

III. It implies that there are consequences for denying God’s existence.

A. The emptiness of the fool

1. Empty of the presence of God

2. Empty of forgiveness

3. Empty of the Holy Spirit’s power to live a righteous life

4. Empty of salvation

a. “Salvation belongs to the Lord,” Ps. 3:8

b. “And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven given among men, by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12)

B. No basis for morality—society falls apart

1. In Charles Swindoll’s book, The Quest for Character (Multnomah), “sociologist and historian Carle Zimmerman, in his 1947 book Family and Civilization, recorded his keen observations as he compared the disintegration of various cultures with the parallel decline of family life in those cultures. Eight specific patterns of domestic behavior typified the downward spiral of each culture Zimmerman studied: Marriage loses its sacredness...is frequently broken by divorce; traditional meaning of the marriage ceremony is lost; feminist movements abound; there is increased public disrespect for parents and authority in general; an acceleration of juvenile delinquency, promiscuity and rebellion occurs; there is refusal of people with traditional marriages to accept family responsibilities; a growing desire for, and acceptance of, adultery is evident; there is increasing interest in, and spread of, sexual perversions and sex-related crimes.”

2. Edward Gibbon, author of The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, has attributed the fall of the Empire to:1. The rapid increase of divorce; the undermining of the dignity and sanctity of the home, which is the basis of human society. 2. Higher and higher taxes and the spending of public monies for free bread and circuses for the populace. 3. The mad craze for pleasure; sports becoming every year more exciting and more brutal. 4. The building of gigantic armaments when the real enemy was within, the decadence of the people. 5. The decay of religion—faith fading into mere form, losing touch with life and becoming impotent to warn and guide the people.

3. “The declaration “no God” promises freedom from God’s standards. In the end it leads to injustice, cruelty and greater bondage. Several nations tried the contention of the atheist. When the idea of “no God” took root in their political systems the results were Stalin, Mussolini, Hitler and Mao. Democracy has preserved us to some extent, but we’re on the same path as those nations. The practical atheism of [today] is producing Hitler’s dream. At the Auschwitz death camp there is a plaque on the containing these words from the Fuhrer himself: “I freed Germany from the stupid and degrading fallacies of conscience and morality. …We will train young people before whom the world will tremble. I want young people capable of violence – imperious, relentless and cruel.” (Adolph Hitler posted at Auschwitz quoted in Can Man Live Without God by Ravi Zacharias, p. 23). Joel Smith

C. No reason for existence (nihilism)

1. If there is no God and the evolutionists are right, you and I are the products of blind chance. We are cosmic flukes of the Big Bang. We are no more than the complex evolution of those single-celled organisms that emerged out of the primordial soup billions and billions of years ago. Our existence has no significance at all. Our accomplishments will be food for worms one day just like us. Even if some trace of our life does survive it’ll be burned up when our sun expand into a super nova. If humanity is lucky enough to escape this solar system the whole universe will eventually collapse in on itself into a space the size of a period on a page. So what’s the point? (Joel Smith)

2. We’d do just as well to concur with the pessimistic author of Ecclesiastes who moaned: “Everything is meaningless,” says the Teacher, “utterly meaningless!” …Generations come and go, but nothing really changes. History merely repeats itself. It has all been done before. Nothing under the sun is truly new. We don’t remember what happened in those former times. And in future generations, no one will remember what we are doing now. Ecclesiastes 1:2, 4, 9, 11 (NLT)

D. Eternally separated from God

1. Loses present benefits of salvation

2. Loses out on heaven

Conclusion: If we are to be wise, we would acknowledge God’s existence (including the way in which we live out our lives) I Cor. 3:18-20; 1:21-25

References

Gibbon, Edward. The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, as quoted in Smith, Joel. “Christ and the Contention of the Atheist.”

Graham, Billy. “Six Kinds of Fools.” From http://www.graham-assn.org/ourMinistries/decisionMagazine/article.asp?i=296 .

Montgomery, John Warwick. The ‘Is God Dead ?’ Controversy: A Philosophical-theological Critique of the Death of God Movement. Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1966.

Smith, Joel. “Christ and the Contention of the Atheist.” Sermon; from http://www.sermoncentral.com/contributor_sermon.asp?SermonID=44842&ContributorID=2857 .

Swindoll, Charles. The Quest for Character, as quoted in Smith, Joel. “Christ and the Contention of the Atheist.”

Zacharias, Ravi. Can Man Live Without God? as quoted in Smith, Joel. “Christ and the Contention of the Atheist.”

© 2003 by Jeffrey Westbrook

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