What was that you said...in your heart....with your actions?

I always find it interesting when I hear statistics about the religiosity or theistic belief of the people of the U.S. It's always something like, "95% of Americans believe in God, so stop trying to take 'in God we trust' off of our national monuments" or something to that effect.

Here's an example from an article written in June 2008:

(it was the first link to pop up to a google search "what percentage of Americans believe in God"):

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2008/06/23/ST2008062300818.html

In case you didn't take the time to click and spend the two minutes required to read that article (and I don't blame you, but if you have the time I encourage you to read it because it's interesting), it basically says that 92% of Americans believe in some sort of "higher power", even 20% of atheists claim to believe in some sort of (personal or impersonal) supernatural entity. Incredible... - and often this type of information is cited as some sort of good news in a political context. Yet, the belief noted is a completely worthless form of belief. It is far from faith and in fact is even less than the acknowledgement given God by the demons (James 2:19 "You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe - and tremble!") Because at least the demons acknowledge that there is only One and that He is a personal God.

What initially got me thinking on this was passing through Psalm 14 on my evening reading. The first part of the first verse is often quoted, many times in jest, and I think I probably saw it 5 times last year in email forwards saying we should give atheists the holiday 4/1 to celebrate. "The fool has said in his heart, 'There is no God'". And something struck me when I read it this time. The psalmist (David) isn't talking about those who say with their lips or their mind, "there is no God." Rather those who say it in their heart. I wonder how many people of that day would have said such a thing with their lips. I think everyone in the Israeli community at the time was a theist, and all the surrounding peoples were most likely poly-theistic pagans. Who would be saying "There is no God" as the "intellectual atheist" does today? I think no one. Consider the rest of the verse:

v.1

The fool has said in his heart,

'There is no God.'

They are corrupt,

They have done abominable works,

There is none who does good.

v.3

They have all turned aside,

They have together become corrupt;

There is none who does good,

No, not one.

v.4

Have all the workers of iniquity no knowledge...

And do not call on the Lord?.....

So of course, this is a great passage to address what the Bible says about the atheist. Look around, see the creation. Look inward, observe the moral compass. OF COURSE THERE'S a GOD!

But even more than that - this is talking about those who live like there is no God. It's about those who say it with their heart, with their actions. Those who have "become corrupt" and "done abominable works". And verse 2 gives a perspective on how and why this seems so foolish:

v. 2

The LORD looks down from heaven upon the children of men,

To see if there are any who understand, who seek God.

It's so absurd to imagine a creation denying the existence of it's creator. It's like a child telling his/her mother, "you're not my mother". And mom is thinking, "uh...I was there when, after nine miserable months of carrying you around in my belly, I very laboriously pushed you out." It's the kind of statement to which one almost wants to add the tag ["you idiot"] (i'm not trying to be rude here, I'm just saying - I think a mom would know.... of course hopefully one would never call their child an idiot, and I'm definitely not recommending it. Especially since in this illustration one most likely envisions a very young child. It's just that, being told by your own offspring that you aren't their parent, or for God to be told by His own creation that he doesn't exist - such a statement leaves one incredulous).....but getting back on point - for a person to claim that there is no God is like that situation, to the power of 10 to the power of 100 to the power of 1000.

So verse 2 says that God is looking down upon us, His creation, to see if anyone will seek Him. And I even sometimes think, when studying apologetics or watching a debate between a Christian and an atheist, how funny it must be from God's perspective that people are spending time debating about His existence. Of course I love apologetics and support a full defense of the theism and the Christian faith, but it's just a funny thought when considered from His perspective. He is in heaven, watching, waiting.... "Will you stop debating, and just acknowledge, turn toward, worship, and seek me?"

The sad thing to consider is this: how many of those 92% of Americans that say with their mouth when polled that they believe in God, are saying in their heart that "there is no God"? And how many Christians are living verse 1 "corrupt, they have done abominable works..." and thereby saying with their heart that there is no God.

It's convicting - when God "looks down from heaven upon" me, I want Him to see that I "understand" and "seek God."

GOD, as the One who deserves and demands our attention, love, adoration, respect, fear, and WORSHIP, does not need to justify His existence to us. He doesn't need to explain why he should be our priority. As GOD, He is entitled. He depends upon nothing, we depend upon Him.

I'll end with a quote from Dr. William Lane Craig in his Defenders series of podcasts. I think this is well put, true, and convicting of the heart:

God ought to be our ultimate concern...and since God is the ultimate being, He ought to be our proper ultimate concern; to substitute anything else in God's place is therefore, literally, idolatry. And it's interesting that many of the passages in the scriptures on the notion of God as self existent come in the context of a condemnation of idolatry...because to put anything in God's place as one's ultimate concern is idol worship. Now if I were to ask "how many idolaters are here in the class this morning?" we probably wouldn't see too many hands raised. But suppose I were to ask you "What is your ultimate concern in life?" What would you have said? If it's anything other than knowing and serving God, I think you're worshiping a lesser God. You're putting something in the rightful place of God, the self existent one, our ultimate concern....

In the most absolute sense, He is Lord. Everything else depends upon Him, He depends upon nothing. He is Lord. And therefore in our lives, we need to depend upon the One who depends upon no one.