THE DEATH OF GOD

PSALM 53

The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, and their ways are vile; there is no one who does good

(Psalm 53:1).

The deists had a nice, neat “God” who was no threat but who did guarantee an orderly, reasonable natural realm and thereby provided a standard of ethical absolutes. Modern man has done away with God altogether. The Bible says that modern man is a fool, and is corrupt, vile, and devoid of goodness.

Christians sometimes use the word “humanism” to describe the modern worldview, but this is not the best term to use. Modern man has lost any idea of what it means to be human. Human beings are just an aspect of nature; in fact, radical environmentalists (as opposed to conservationists) usually regard human beings as lower than animals. They want to save whales while murdering human infants in the womb. Only Christians are true humanists.

A better term to describe modern thought is secularism. The word secular comes from the Latin saeculum which means “this time.” It is a perfectly good word. Christians live in time while also fixing their eyes on eternity. Secularism, however, says this time and world are all there is. And even if there is a God, nothing whatsoever can be known about Him, and thus He is irrelevant.

The secularist sees clearly through the sham of deism. If there is no God who is actively present with His world, then nothing matters. We cannot trust natural law, because the universe may well be chaotic. For the secularist, there is no law, only opinion. There are no longer any inalienable rights since law is now decided by political expediency. The guide for living in the world is a crass pragmatism: “Whatever works for you.”

For the Christian, it is the church that brings men face to face with the fear and presence of God, and thus the church is the point at which society is transformed. For the Enlightenment deist, it is the university that teaches men reason, and thus the university is the point at which society is transformed. With the rise of secularism, the university has been superseded by the state, for all that matters is power and manipulation. Men look to the state for guidance and salvation, for the state promises to make things work for them. The good life will come when the state, through taxation, forces some people to work for others.

CORAM DEO

Job 26–30

WEEKEND

Job 31–37

The war today involves the church (spiritual freedom), the university (academic freedom), and the state (bondage taxation, which forces some to work for others). In 1984, George Orwell said the state would teach people that “slavery is freedom.” Saturate your mind in God’s Word and free it from the shackles of false thinking.

For further study: Psalm 10 • Eccl. 7:23–29 • Jer. 9:23–26

WEEKEND