[536 words]
This past week, I heard someone on TV make this statement: “There is no God. What happens to us, just happens to us.” These are probably among the saddest words I have ever heard come out of someone’s mouth. It’s so pitiful to think that anyone could ever believe such a thing, much less to broadcast the fact of their pitiful condition. Because, you see, it is pitiful to think that someone could feel that way and deny God’s existence and any hope of eternal salvation they may have had.
By saying “what happens to us, just happens to us” leads me to believe this man thinks the world just came to exist from nothing, all on its own. Recently, I had written an article on the creation so I won’t revisit that today. It just seems to me that anyone with any common sense of being just can’t possibly believe that the heavens, this beautiful earth and all that dwell therein just came out of nowhere. To me, that is a preposterous concept.
If one believes that life “just happens to us,” that person is in a sad condition, not only in this present world but in the one to come after the judgment. I wonder whether that person believes that you can stand on a railroad track with a train bearing down on you and you can’t do anything about it. If you just stand there, you are going to die. Somehow, I can’t imagine that scenario as I believe that person will do his best to remove himself from harm’s way if he has any mind about him. But, just so, if you don’t do something about your spiritual soul, you are going to die an eternal death.
We read in Mark 3:29, “He that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost has no forgiveness but is in danger of eternal damnation.” To blaspheme is to speak evil of God and to deny His existence is the worst kind of blasphemy. To put one’s whole heart and being into what one can get out of this earthly life is limiting the power of God Who made us!
Of course, God’s word reveals to us the fact that there have always been skeptics about His power and creation. I’m reminded of the story of John 1:45ff when Nathanael asked Philip “Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?” He was speaking about Jesus and he certainly had his mind changed as he became a believer and follower of the One he didn’t intend to believe in.
Skeptics have included “despisers of those who are good…lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God…those having a form of godliness but denying the power of God…ever learning and never able to come to a knowledge of the truth…corrupt concerning the faith” (2 Timothy 3:3ff). Some of these folks are very well-educated and know and understand about a lot of things but won’t admit the real truth of the knowledge of God and His Son. These same folks who deny God will face the judgment. Unbelievers will hear the saddest words ever to be spoken: “Depart from Me” (Matt. 25:41).
Royce Pendergrass (Adapted)
Central Avenue Church of Christ
Batesville, AR