Reading: Psalm 14
For the director of music. Of David.
The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.”
They are corrupt, their deeds are vile;
there is no one who does good.
The LORD looks down from heaven on all mankind
to see if there are any who understand, any who seek God.
All have turned away, all have become corrupt;
there is no one who does good, not even one.
Do all these evildoers know nothing?
They devour my people as though eating bread;
they never call on the LORD.
But there they are, overwhelmed with dread,
for God is present in the company of the righteous.
You evildoers frustrate the plans of the poor,
but the LORD is their refuge.
Oh, that salvation for Israel would come out of Zion!
When the LORD restores his people,
let Jacob rejoice and Israel be glad! (NIV)*
Backyard garden glory — photo by David Kitz
Reflection
Apparently, atheism is not a modern phenomenon. Three thousand years ago in David’s time, there were people who said in their heart, “There is no God.” Atheism has a long and ignoble pedigree. I say ignoble because as David observes, it is the fool who says, “There is no God.”
There is a footnote in my Bible indicating that the word translated in this psalm as fool denotes someone who is morally deficient. David goes on to describe this moral deficiency. He uses the words corrupt and vile. In fact there is a complete absence of anything good. But this isn’t just David’s indictment against a few errant atheists; this is the LORD’s view of all mankind. All have turned away, all have become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one. In the New Testament, Paul the Apostle quotes from this psalm in his epistle to the Romans as he outlines the depravity of humanity.
Is there a link between unbelief and the sinful state of the human soul? Does sin breed unbelief? There is ample biblical and anecdotal evidence that it does. When Adam and Eve sinned, in an instant, they turned from God seekers to God avoiders. Add a little more sin, and it’s only a short step for a God avoider to become a God denier.
We deny the existence of God to avoid accountability for our sin. We foolishly assume that since we can’t see God, He can’t see us and our misdeeds. Better yet, why not pretend that God doesn’t exist? Then we are at liberty to sin as much as we please without fear of God’s judgment. That sounds like morally deficient reasoning to me. The fool fools only himself.
Response: Father, I want to seek you always, especially when I sin. That’s when I need you most. You have the remedy for my sin—the blood of Jesus. You forgive me and clean me up. Amen.
Your Turn: Does sinful conduct affect or infect your belief system? How does sin cloud our reasoning?
![BGBG_v4.3_150[1818]](https://davidkitz.blog/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/bgbg_v4.3_1501818.jpg?w=529)
I love the Psalms 
9 And He said, “Go, and tell this people:
‘Keep on hearing, but do not understand;
Keep on seeing, but do not perceive.’ – Isaiah 6:9 is the result of not believing what the Holy Scriptures say, thus death in its many forms runs rampant in our world today.
the problem is that Christians themselves can’t agree on what the “holy scriptures” say and which parts of them to obey.
You are right. Christian unity is a problem, but it should drive us to search the Scriptures for ourselves to discover the truth.
And when one searches the scriptures and finds that they are contradictory nonsense? You see, David, each Christian claims that they and they alone have truly “searched” the scriptures. You all claim to each be the TrueChristians(tm) and none of you can show this to be true.
Every year, christianity fractures again and again.
I disagree. The Scriptures aren’t contradictory nonsense. But none are so blind as those who will not see.
Unfortunately, David, your claims that the gospels aren’t contradictory fail by just reading them.
Christians love that little verse, and they generally use it on each other since even they cannot agree on what the bible means and what this god wants.
I encourage you to read the Gospels. I have read them many times and somehow have missed these alleged contradictions. (Yes, they don’t match perfectly, but eye-witness accounts always contain some variations due to each authors varied perspective.)
When I engage with atheists they always want the final word, so I’ll grant you that should you decide to reply to this comment. In reality, God will have the final word with both of us. May your eyes be opened by the undeserved love of God.
David, I’ve read the bible in its entirety. Nothing magical happens when one does that.
You have simply ignored the contradictions. Nothing new there at all. You find you need to deny them since yuo need to pretend your bible is somehow divinely influenced by something “perfect”. Christians all do this, and an entire industry of apologetics has risen up to try to excuse the bible’s failure. These apologists can’t even create excuses that they all accept.
Now, I would suggest you do read your bible, including the gospels. Do explain the nature of Jesus per what supposedly happened in the baptism with John. Which version is the right one?
you might be interested in a series of articles on a fellow named John Beversluis, who as a philosopher and former christian, does quite a good job at showing the failures of the bible. You can see these articles here: https://www.debunking-christianity.com/search?q=beversluis
And you try the oft used theist excuse that eyewitness testimony isn’t always perfect. That might work if Christians didn’t claim the bible to be perfect and that there is nothing to support any of the versions. You are left with more baseless claims and your stories dont’ even support each other.
Your sadistic fantasies about your god “getting” me aren’t reality and they will never come true. Impotent threats aren’t impressive.
well, since Christians are atheists too, yep, atheism has been around for at least as long as them, and well, as long as one human didn’t believe in a god that wasn’t his.
Considering how Christians can’t agree on what morals their god wants, do tell how you can tell who and who isn’t “morally deficient”. And since not one christian can do what the authors of the bible have promised any baptized believer in christ to be able to do, there isn’t much reason to think any of you are what you claim. You seem to be frauds bent on forcing your nonsense on others.
Those who genuinely seek God with pure intention will find Him.
and that is simply a false claim with little more than a “no true scotsman” fallacy in it.
When I was a Christian, I prayed not to lose my faith. Funny how this god was never to be found. You will, of course, claim I didn’t look in the “right” way, which is nothing more than blaming the victim.
I am sorry to hear that God did not reveal Himself to you. There’s nothing quite like that experience.