Romans 1 gives us a sobering insight into the worldview of unbelievers. Verse 20 says, “For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse.” The Bible clearly says that the existence of God is seen in His creation and people who claim to not believe really have no excuse for their unbelief.
The passage goes on to say, “Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things” (Romans 1:21-23)
There’s an old saying that a person who doesn’t believe in something will fall for anything. What I see in unbelievers now is exactly what is being described by Paul in Romans. People who consider themselves to be skeptics, critical thinks, or enlightened, tend to believe in the craziest things! Professing themselves to be wise, they become fools!
I’m reminded of the passage from Jeremiah 2:26-28:
As the thief is ashamed when he is found, so is the house of Israel ashamed; they, their kings, their princes, and their priests, and their prophets. Saying to a stock, Thou art my father; and to a stone, Thou hast brought me forth: for they have turned their back unto me, and not their face: but in the time of their trouble they will say, Arise, and save us. But where are thy gods that thou hast made thee? let them arise, if they can save thee in the time of thy trouble: for according to the number of thy cities are thy gods, O Judah.
Now, in the context of the passage, these verses are specifically dealing with Israel’s sin of idolatry. The people worshipped idols of stone and wood as though these were their gods. They rejected the Creator God and replaced Him with gods of their own choosing and God is chiding their foolishness for believing a tree or a rock created them.
Now, I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking, “Bentley, surely you’re not saying atheists today believe they were made by a rock!” Yes!! That’s exactly what I’m saying! Even today, atheists believe there was once an event dubbed, abiogenesis. It’s the belief that non-living chemicals somehow arranged themselves to become the first living life form – the supposed common ancestor of all living things.
From a Universe Today article on Abiogenesis, we read the following:
Intensive study of the Earth's rocks has turned up lots and lots of evidence that some kinds of prokaryotes lived happily on Earth about 3.5 billion years ago…. So, if life arose on Earth, it did so from the chemicals in the water, air, and rocks of the early Earth … and in no more than a few hundred million years.
There are many different theories as to how such a thing could happen but it’s important to note that abiogenesis has never been duplicated or observed. Not one time. Ever!! So even though there is no scientific evidence that such a thing is possible, or even a plausible explanation of how it might occur, they still believe it happened because … well … here we are!
So tell me, what exactly is the qualitative difference between believing we came from a rock and believing we came from a fortunate arrangement of chemicals? Read the above quote again. It’s saying life arose from chemicals found in the water, air, and the rocks of the early earth. I’m not putting words into the mouths of evolutionists or atheists; they say it themselves and they seem very confident about it.
Some people ridicule me for believing in creation. I think it’s far more incredible to believe life just happened by itself. There are people who think it’s somehow more enlightened, open-minded, and scientific to think life came from rocks than it is to think God created life. Professing themselves to be wise, they become fools. They are no different than the rebellious nation of Judah, who bowed down before idols made of wood and stone.
I’m careful when I use the word literally. Some people say literally to describe things that aren’t literal but in this case, though, I’m being deliberate. Evolutionists literally say about rocks, “You have brought us forth!”
