“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” (Psalm 14:1).
Stephen Charnock: “Reason I. Tis a folly to deny or doubt of that which hath been the acknowledged sentiment of all nations in all places and ages. There is no nation but hath consented in the notion of a Supreme Creature and Governor.
1. This has been universal. 2. It hath been constant and uninterrupted. 3. Natural and innate.
First, it hath been universally assented to by the judgment and practices of all nations in the world.
1. No nation hath been exempted from it. All histories of former and latter ages have not produced any one nation but fell under the force of this truth. Though they have differed in their religions, they have agreed in this truth; here both heathen, Turk, Jew, and Christian, center without any contention. No quarrel was ever commenced upon this score; though about other opinions wars have been sharp, and enmities irreconcilable. The notion of the existence of a Deity was the same in all, Indians as well as Britons, Americans as well as Jews. It hath not been an opinion peculiar to this or that people, to this or that sect of philosophers; but hath been as universal as the reason whereby men are differenced from other creatures, so that some have rather defined man by animal religiosum, than animal rationale. ‘Tis so twisted with reason that a man cannot be accounted rational unless he own an object of religion; therefore he that understands not this, renounceth his humanity when he renounceth a Divinity…”
Clay Miller: I cut it off there because it is a long paragraph and I will try to break it into parts over the next week.
The other day I was browsing an atheists BLOG and he was very zealous about the fact that the existence of ‘thousands’ of religions was absolute proof that God was not real. I want to put about 150 question marks on that statement. I will not attack the blogger here…I will only point out that he is a self-proclaimed know-it-all. Yet, he reasons from the universal acknowledgment of God in all cultures and nations of all times to the conclusion that this is “proof” there is no real God. To play Richard Dawkins game on its head, well then, maybe there is a tooth fairy! Since it is not universally acknowledged this must lend some credence to the existence of a tooth fairy! On top of that, where the tooth fairy is believed in, it is pretty much the same tooth fairy preached! Leave a tooth under your pillow and the tooth fairy will leave money for the tooth!
It seems the guys argument is that if there were a real God, then it would not be a universal idea. If there were a real God, then everyone would without a doubt believe exactly right about Him. There would be no way that one person would have one idea about Him and another his own idea. And it seems the argument would presuppose man is in the perfect position to judge what God should and should not be so that there is never any discrepancy in one another’s understanding and belief. Then that would prove there is a God! What utter nonsense.
Charnock makes the point that the belief in God is universal. That is not to say there are not those who deny His existence, it is to say that even those who deny His existence have themselves detected the idea of there being a deity, a higher being, a creator. From there, they may set out to oppose the idea but it was there nonetheless. The contention between nations was never over the existence of a higher being, but sometimes over who or what that being is.
Of course a self-proclaimed atheist would disagree with the last statement above by Charnock: “Tis so twisted with reason that a man cannot be accounted rational unless he own an object of religion; therefore he that understands not this, renounceth his humanity when he renounceth a Divinity…” Today “twisted” is the new rationale it seems. Absurdity is now deemed “profound”. But nonetheless, objectively, the twisting cannot change what is true and clear and it would do an atheist well to be honest about his twisted thinking. More later.
