Fools

“The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God.’” (Psalm 14:1a NIV).

The Bible does not use the term “fool” often or lightly. However it does use the term to describe those who declare “There is no God” (the dogmatic atheist) and those who live their lives as if there is no God (the practical atheist).

The Hebrew term for “fool” is rich in its imagery. This word finds its roots in a word that means “one who is powerless” and when used in the Psalms it is used to denote that idea of one who is morally deficient.

Atheism is not the child of intellectualism, it is the child of depravity. Harry Emerson Fosdick said, “Atheism is a theoretical formulation of the discouraged life.” That observation is both right and overly generous. To be sure, some turn to Atheism out of personal discouragement and hurt (such was the case of Madeline Murray O’Hare). Others, as the Psalmist imply turn to atheism out of a rebellious heart; out of a heart that is first morally corrupt and then seeks to justify its moral decadence. Atheists are not fools intellectually, they grasp the fact that in order to live a life free of moral constraints they have to construct a world without God.

The Bible describes such a person as a fool and I would add the only person they are fooling is themselves. The one who says, “There is no God,” is first an foremost a powerless creature trying to oppose the all-powerful Creator. One may believe that there is no God but all the belief in the world will not change the facts. There is a God and like it or not, every one of us will one day stand before Him and give an account of our lives–most importantly, every one of us will have to answer what we have done with His precious Son. Did we receive Him or reject Him? Those are the only two choices we have.

Not only is the one who declares “There is no God,” powerless to change the facts, but such a person far from revealing any profound truth is actually only revealing their own insecurities and declaring to all who hear their cry their own moral decay. Atheism is not the faith of the enlightened but the perversion of the deceived.