"They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of their ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart."
Ephesians 4:18
In my reading of the book, As It Was In The Days of Noah, I came across this exposition of the first chapter of Romans. The author, (Jeff Kinley) presented it like a prosecutor presents evidence against someone in court, who has been charged with a crime. I began to see that "mankind" has been charged in the court of Heaven with a horrendous crime that has affected not only all life on this earth but eternity to come. Mr. Kinley, does such a great job of portraying Paul, the Prosecutor, that I just had to share it. I will be condensing it here and I hope to do it justice, but I encourage you to get the book and read it for yourself. The Apostle Paul said in Romans 1:14, "I have a great sense of obligation to people in both the civilized world and the rest of the world, to the educated and the uneducated alike." I quote this because that same "sense of obligation" grips me.
Kinley starts out by saying, "Few of life's mysteries are more puzzling than the sticky tension between God's sovereignty and mankind's ability to choose." And he ends this introduction by declaring that, "One day this mystery will be made clear." And before you think, Oh this is just a Biblical argument that denominations get into! You need to realize that the argument also seeps into the very secular world of Psychology. Two camps exist there and have since it's beginning. One "expert" argues that man's thinking and behavior is "determined" by his DNA, another argues that it is guided by his "environment". It's the "nature vs. nurture" discussion and it's a conundrum... "one that stretches the mind" says Jeff Kinley. But ultimately these experts are asking, "Does man have a choice in his behavior and path of life, or is it "determined" by his DNA or the way he was brought up?"
The bible says we do have a choice and thus lays the responsibility squarely at the feet of mankind. One man summarized it this way. He said, "Insanity is just various grades of irresponsibility."
So with that in mind, let's look at Romans 1 and what Mr. Kinley had to say about it. He started by saying, "... possessing this gift of choice, those in Noah's world and our world make very similar decisions. Noah's generation was essentially devoid of God. He wasn't even there. They had unanimously voted God off the island, eliminating Him completely from earth's equation." Sound familiar? Although we haven't reached the place where "Humanity hangs by the thread of a thin godly line," (Kinley) we are headed in that direction. Just like in the days of Noah we are witnessing the return in our country of a God hating breed, where Heaven's message and messengers are largely ignored or mocked, (see Bill Mahar's latest statement) where people for the most part carry on "eating, drinking, and pursuing relationships, without even the slightest acknowledgement of their Creator or reflection of their responsibility to Him." They have erased Him from their collective conscience and are working on doing this also from the culture. But what do they actually know about God? How can they be blamed?
That's where the "Prosecutor" goes to work. He says in spite of the fact that there is so much ignorance of God, He has not left mankind in the dark; instead, He has generously revealed knowledge about Himself to everyone. Paul said, "That which is known about God is evident within them." So what evidence do we have?
The first witness God gave to mankind is creation itself. (Rom.1:20) Our modern science and education system has been trying for years to stamp this out with the teaching of evolution and the mocking of anyone who dares to believe anything else. But even though they may be convinced that the origin of the earth came through a "big bang" that just happened to happen, Paul, in Romans, says that God's "invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature" are clearly seen and understood through what has been made. Even the godless are awed by nature. Ted and I took a trip on a train that traveled into Northern Canada. It was early fall and the forest was ablaze with color. At one point in the trip, the train rounded a mountain and the view in front of us was so glorious, so beautiful, the colors so astonishing, that the whole car we were in, gave out an audible gasp! In that instance, every person in that car was filled with wonder at the creation and grasped something about the Creator. Added to the beauty of nature there's the grandeur of the skies and space beyond, and the animal kingdom and sea world, the wonders around us that are endless. As it says in the Psalms, "The heavens tell of God's glory, and the skies proclaim the works of His hands." Kinley says, "...disregard for their Creator-God explains the moral corruptness found in Noah's day." Are we headed in that direction? Romans 1 says that because of the evidence for His existence, in a way His creation can comprehend, they are "without excuse".
But if that's not enough, God has written the knowledge of "right and wrong" in our hearts. Everyone knows and acknowledges that lying, stealing, and murder are wrong. As a matter of fact the atheist, agnostic, and humanist brag about how they can be a "decent" person with out God, because they know the difference between right and wrong! Kinley says that this comes to us standard, "like a computer's basic operating system, pre-programed within us." This elementary knowledge of God is called General Revelation. Knowing this, why do people deny the reality of God? Paul says they "suppress the truth in unrighteousness". In other words they choose to ignore it. The knowledge of God is like light. Light in darkness shows things the way they really are and makes us accountable for the way we walk through a "lighted world". If God exists, a whole lot of issues arise that we have to make decisions about, sin, death, eternity, morality, lifestyle, love, etc... decisions we don't want to confront, and the cry of sinful man is, "Don't confuse me with the facts! I like living in the dark!" The Bible says, "They love darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil." John 3:19
And in the end it is all foolishness because suppressed truth is like a beach ball that a person pushes down under the water. It is hidden for a moment but eventually will explode to the surface for all to see. That's what will happen in a person's life who tries to "hide" what he knows is true and live according to himself rather than God. Truth will suddenly explode in his face and all the world will see it.
This is the results of the "freedom to choose" that we spoke of earlier. Kinley says that wrong choices are "Perfectly legal, perfectly allowable, and perfectly foolish!" and so many in our country, our culture, our world, are headed in that direction.
Paul goes on to describe people who choose a path without God. In their state of denial, they assert that there are no moral absolutes. They embrace that contradiction while defending their lives, their ways of life,and their stuff. The beach ball always explodes in their face when they become the victim of someone else's libertarian philosophy. Or some may opt for an upgrade in their life philosophy by transitioning to a more friendly, less demanding religion, inventing their own god. (Rom. 1:23) They pay homage to Nature itself, Mother Earth, crystals, energy or the "divine consciousness" of mankind. Kinley says, "Instead of worshipping the eternal God, they choose something with an expiration date." After all, we have to serve something. That's part of our computer programed DNA. "We are hardwired to worship. We cannot not worship, no matter how hard we try. We can't help ourselves." says Kinley.
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| Jabba the Hutt from Star Wars |
Kinley ends this section by saying, "Beliefs about life, relationships, and passions are now totally absorbed into the black hole of a heart eaten up with sin cancer. Their passions rule their reason, their lives are now "filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful." and, "they enthusiastically cheer on those who practice these sins."
What really scares me about this description is that I see it happening in our world. America is being set up to believe the deluding influence of the Antichrist. Part of the penalty for repeatedly rejecting God is that the mind becomes numb to truth and the heart calloused to God's love found in the gospel. Another example of this was Pharaoh in the Old Testament, just before God's judgment came.
I didn't see the movie Noah, but from what I understand from people who did see it, the movie did one thing right. It clearly portrayed the people who drowned in the flood. I don't know about you, but I don't want to live in that neighborhood. "Even so, come Lord Jesus!" Rev 22:20.
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