The Fool Has Said In His Heart There Is No God
BY Herschel Smith
5 years, 7 months ago
This comment was made at WRSA.
Fool.
“For I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is no one like me, Declaring the end from the beginning, And from ancient times things which have not yet been done, Saying, ‘My purpose will be established, And I will accomplish all My good pleasure.’ ” (Isaiah 46:9-10)
It is God who “works all things after the counsel of His will.” (Eph 1:11)
“In Him all things hold together.” (Col 1:17)
“And He … upholds all things by the word of His power.” (Heb 1:3)
“For in Him we live and move and have our being.” (Acts 17:29)
The number of breaths this fool takes on earth has been pre-ordained from before the foundation of the world. His eternal state has been predestined. The order of the words he wrote today were ordained from before he was born. Whether he tied his right or left shoe first was determined for him by the Almighty. The seconds of sleep he got last night, the thoughts he would think, and what he would eat today, were all decided for him from ancient times. The number of hairs on his head have been pre-determined, each and every day of his existence. Without the very thoughts of God upholding his constitution every second, his very body and soul would vanish like a vapor in the wind.
However, this man does serve one useful function. He supplies the fool at which God may scoff (Ps 2:4).
On April 4, 2019 at 12:43 am, MTHead said:
Heal yourself oh doctor, Don’t die. save yourself! what do you mean you can’t? I guess something other than yourself seems to have power over you? You have no desire to die, but your going to…. vanity is so much fun to watch in action. to live one’s life so full self importance, then bang! your done, and it was all for what?
To set a bad example for the rest of us?
No son, God doesn’t “appear” to have any power over you. but something does. Go figure.
On April 4, 2019 at 6:45 am, Wirecutter said:
I wonder which one I am, the fool or the simpleton? Maybe both, huh?
I’ll wear those titles proudly before I deny God.
On April 4, 2019 at 7:55 am, Fred said:
“And he is before all things, and by him all things consist. And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence. For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell; And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven. And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight:”
By Him all things consist. Ponder that.
“As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one. For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;…”
“For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.”
“But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
While religion itself may help to make life a tolerable thing, no Church, no baptism, no amount of money, no rites or rituals, recitations, or incantations alone can bring you into the presence of the living God who is HOLY HOLY HOLY.
“He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.”
“And they came unto John, and said unto him, Rabbi, he that was with thee beyond Jordan, to whom thou barest witness, behold, the same baptizeth, and all men come to him.”
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
“But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:”
It doesn’t matter what you’ve done, how you’ve done it, or who you did it to. He can remove all guilt and set you up upon a new foundation, the Rock that is the cornerstone.
Jesus sinned not. Jesus died for you dear reader, He was buried for you, He rose from the dead, your sin crucified Christ, Jesus took your sin upon the cross and bore it as his own, He paid your sin debt, then rising from the dead and ascending to be seated in heaven at the right of the Father. And when you, dear Reader, in a spirit of contrition, accept that you are a sinner, in humility and repentance and are willing to trust Christ that He can bear your sin and trust in what He did for you on the cross, He, Christ Jesus, will save you, redeem you, and give you a new Spirit that will guide you into the light of our Holy Father, granting to you a home in heaven and eternal life forever and ever more.
“For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
This is the very best news of all of human history. Receive it well, take it to heart, and be born again. For all men are appointed once to die but what happens next is a personal matter between you and the judge, Christ Jesus, who provides forgiveness of all sin and He lives to make intercession for us thereby saving us from a wrathful God. Christ Jesus, by your faith in Him, renders the verdict NOT GUILTY, all charges dropped and the record expunged, that you might stand sinless before the loving God of the universe who seeks to make you His sons and daughters, and His joint heir in the Kingdom of God.
“Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.”
Oh, heavenly Father; that they might be made sons of God for your glory and their salvation. Turn them LORD unto you and build your army by which your holy name would go forth as our cry unto a dead, and dying world. By the blood of Christ Jesus on the cross I pray these things. Amen.
On April 4, 2019 at 8:09 am, Dov Sar said:
We have an atheist friend, and one day he asked God to speak to him by flipping open his bible and reading the verse. The verse he flipped open to was “the fool has said in his heart there is no God.” He later became a believer.
Seriously, though, what do you expect from comments on that blog? It has become a gathering place for unclean birds.
On April 4, 2019 at 8:50 am, Furminator said:
I find everything in the Bible save Christ’s words in red spiritually dead, yet I know God and over and over I have beseeched Him, being my Creator who knows me better than I know myself, to reveal it to me in a way I that I can see its truth. Nada.
Show me how a fool’s belief in anthropogenic global warming is objectively different from a Christian’s belief in his religion.
On April 4, 2019 at 9:35 am, Herschel Smith said:
@Furminator,
If what you’re asking me to do in your final sentence is convey a degree in philosophy in 30 seconds, I cannot do it.
My recommendation would be to listen to this video IN ITS ENTIRETY. It will be the best 2.5 hour investment of your life. Listen carefully to the consistency of his thought (Greg Bahnsen, that is. Gordon Stein is a fool). The questions of philosophy are deep (e.g., to what degree is your epistemology consistent with your ontology, are they at war with each other or is your system of thought consistent?, can you build a theory of ethics based on anything but Christian thought, etc., etc.).
I emphasize that this is just a starting point. People like the man quoted above haven’t the will to think deep thoughts like this. For he is a fool.
Dr. Greg Bahsen v. Dr. Gordon Stein, “Does God Exist?” U. of Ca. Irvine.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anGAazNCfdY
On April 4, 2019 at 9:35 am, Frank Clarke said:
The New Testament as it appears today did not exist before 325AD when the Council of Nicea pored through all the extant “biblical” texts and decided “this one’s in; that one’s out”. Christianity was effectively defined then by agreement among several hundred men who all had agendas — human agendas — that we hope were heaven-focused but which reality urges us to admit might have been other-focused.
Herewith endeth your daily grain of salt.
On April 4, 2019 at 9:39 am, Herschel Smith said:
@Frank,
The NT existed as soon as Paul, Luke, James and John, and the writer of Hebrews wrote the words. QED.
On April 4, 2019 at 10:23 am, MTHead said:
Its not a religion, its a relationship. go read Job. and the first thing we need to remember is that god doesn’t answer TO us. Although I’ve found the spirit to be most accommodating in that manner. God askes the question: If I’m your father, where’s my love? But If I’m your master, where’s my fear?
If god would have left Job with all his troubles. Would it have changed the relationship God and Job had? Not at all. In the famous words of Charles Barkley: “sometimes you just got to take the beat down.” Welcome to the world. Will you get back up and move forward with faith?
Now, you asked a serious question. how’s my faith and a global warming fool’s any different? and sense you asked a question, you have to answer one first. So, what if there isn’t? how does that change the relationship? People think so much of themselves, they forget that their end is already preordained. that’s the relationship your in. and God don’t answer to you. whatever you think/ feel about it has ZERO to do with it.
Christians have been taken for fools since Christ allowed himself to be murdered. Go figure.
On April 4, 2019 at 11:28 am, Furminator said:
The Bible contains a collection of stories about the pluses and minuses of living a life according to Judeo-Christian values, which I do and try to do when I don’t. Not because the Bible tells me to, because it’s The Right Thing To Do. And I know our Creator exists and have seen His hand many times in my life. Yet I find it completely unreasonable to take it on faith that Jesus is His only begotten Son, that He died for my sins or your sins (He certainly died for being a political PITA), or that I must accept Him as my Savior so I can be saved. I have a relationship with God. I fear Him and work harder than many true Christians to live a Christ-like life. Yet cannot claim to be a Christian and am eternally damned because I fail to believe in a story. Hmm.
P.S. I will watch the video.
On April 4, 2019 at 1:02 pm, Herschel Smith said:
Luke 15:11-32
The basic hermeneutical rule of parables is that they communicate one, and only one, basic theological point.
So is this a story about not sleeping around with whores, throwing away your father’s hard earned inheritance, and ignoring his counsel? Or is it a story about a jealous brother?
Or maybe … is it a story about the Father?
Ignorant teachers will mislead you and tell you that the Bible is only a collection of do-gooder rules.
On April 4, 2019 at 2:57 pm, Fred said:
@Furminator,
You reminded me of a time early on where I had serious doubts about my belief. I would read a passage or hear some preaching and find no application or even a contrary understanding causing much concern and disbelief in me.
But, something was happening to me. I was changing. I had been angry, vindictive, and hurtful. I would look at a man and consider the ways in which I could disabuse him of his property or his wife. I was hateful, a thief, a liar, and always had a new scheme. I should have been in jail and how I avoided it is purely a testament to Father God.
There is no formula, there are no check boxes and I had serious doubts about being a Christian. I even had doubts about a single moment or event of my believing. Then, one day, I simply considered the man I had been and the man I was becoming. I’ll tell you that sympathy was a startling new feeling to me and when empathy came upon me I was rather blown away. I began to look a man think about how I could help him, did he need to hear about God, or a little gas money. Strange and very foreign thoughts of kindness and patience and wanting to give instead of take.
That day or shortly after, I don’t rightly remember, I said a prayer, not exactly theologically sound but quite literally; You know what God, screw it, OBVIOUSLY I’m a different person than I was. Something IS happening to me. I’m in, what do I have to do?
A power alien to my own desires was taking me over. I’ve been working for Him ever since. The stories are fantastic but we don’t have time here. Suffice it to say; it’s all real, all of it, every last promise.
Unbelievers don’t question their faith, Furminator. They don’t give a rip. Unbelievers don’t search the scriptures wanting and looking to believe unless they be called.
Looking back I now know the prior point of my conversation but It took a further leap of faith, by the evidence at hand, that the Spirit of God was pulling me, slowly drawing me, “converting” me, “renewing my mind”, that I was becoming a “new creature” being “born again”.
From that point I stopped believing men and what they told me. Full Stop. I read the King James Holy Bible from Matthew through to the end of Revelation and then started back at Genesis. I’ve been reading it cover to cover for years now, plus bible studies and Sunday classes and you know what? Sections of the bible may still fall flat on my ears but it’s OK, that section isn’t for me right now and I move on. But by His grace and through diligence and prayer the Holy Spirit began to illuminate the scriptures for me and by His hand I can now rightly (mostly, smile, YMMV) divide the Word of God.
It ain’t a pretty prayer but: God, screw it, I’m in. What do I have to do?
On April 4, 2019 at 3:20 pm, Hoss Green said:
@ Furminator, Jesus said “I am the truth, and the life, no man comes to the father except through me.”
If indeed you do not believe this why would you believe any part of the scripture? You can not believe what you want to believe, and just scrap everything else. Christ is accepted as the whole, and not the part. Father, son, and holy ghost, the holy trinity.
On April 4, 2019 at 3:22 pm, Hoss Green said:
“I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. My mistake in my post.
On April 4, 2019 at 6:24 pm, Fred said:
And so, a very excellent prayer might be: Holy Righteous Father I believe you, help me with my unbelief. Show me your Son.
On April 4, 2019 at 6:56 pm, Ned2 said:
Titty-Fat is an instigator and troll on WRSA. He has been amusing on occasion, but is best left ignored.
We live in a (still) free country, so we shouldn’t be so thin skinned when a moron rants. It’s got the right to pontificate and be silly.
On April 5, 2019 at 4:56 pm, Gryphon said:
I’ve read that blog for a while, I pay no attention to that Obvious Troll is Obvious
because it is all too Easy to ‘Trigger’ a Religious Believer. Ignore stuff like this, Your Life will be better for it, whatever Religion you believe in.
On April 8, 2019 at 6:12 am, Michael said:
Furminator, if you will accept a suggestion…stick with the gospels-Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Read Luke first, it is easiest on the brain. Before you read preface your effort with something like “If you really exist, then God direct my attention to what you would have me to change”. Read a short passage, a paragraph or two or three, slowly. Ask again for guidance. Read the passage again. Reflect on the word or words or phrase that “sticks out”. Read the passage again, out loud.
Listen with your heart. Reflect. Give thanks if you feel it warranted. Little steps. Lather, rinse and repeat. Many of us are praying for you.