“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: 2. Nor doth the idolatry and multiplicity of gods in the world weaken, but confirm this universal consent. Whatsoever unworthy conceits men have had of God in all nations, or whatsoever degrading representations they have made of him, yet they all concur in this, that there is a Supreme Power to be adored. Though one people worshipped the sun, others the fire--and the Egyptians, gods out of their rivers, gardens, and fields; yet the notion of a Deity existent, who created and governed the world, and conferred daily benefits upon them, was maintained by all, though applied to the stars, and in part to those sordid creatures. All the Dagons of the world establish this truth, and fall down before it. Had not the nations owned the being of a God, they had never offered incense to an idol: had there not been a deep impression of the existence of a Deity, they had never exalted creatures below themselves to the honor of altars: men could not so easily have been deceived by forged deities, if they had not had a notion of a real one. Their fondness to set up others in the place of God, evidenced a natural knowledge that there was One who had a right to be worshipped. If there were not this sentiment of a Deity, no man would ever have made an image of a piece of wood, worshipped it, prayed to it, and said, “Deliver me, for thou art my God…”Clay Miller: This cuts off from the books paragraph. I will finish it in coming days, Lord willing.
Isaiah 44:17
And the rest of it he makes into a god, His carved image. He falls down before it and worships it, Prays to it and says, "Deliver me, for you are my god!"
I mentioned before how I came across an atheists website and one of his big hang-ups was the fact that there are different gods worshipped everywhere so how could there really be a God at all. That simplifies his argument, I know, but that is his argument in a nutshell. But, as Charnock points out above, this is not proof of no God, but on the contrary, it is the expected consequence of a fallen world that has God written on their hearts. Another thing this atheist thought was some evidence against God, related to this, was that everyone thinks they are right about their god. He calls us delusional because in a world where there are countless gods we have the audacity to think ours is the right one. But two things cross my mind at his argument. One, he tries to pretend his view is not part of the many views of God. His view worships the idea of no God. So in effect it is just another belief against all the others. And he has the audacity to think he is right? Two, this assumes, falsely, that if there is a God, then all people must agree on who this God is. Or, to put it another way, this assumes that there cannot actually be one religion out there who is right, simply because other competing ideas exist. That is foolishness. More Later…
