Articles
The Inevitability of Faith
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God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator. (Rom. 1:24-25)
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To a Jewish audience, Paul's description of the decadence of the pagans made perfect sense. Their rejection of the true God had set them on a path toward moral and spiritual depravity. The lesson was obvious: Abandon God, and moral collapse is sure to follow.
That is true, but there is a deeper message underlying Paul's language here. That deeper message addresses a truth that is every bit as relevant today as it was then: People have to believe in something bigger than themselves.
We can’t help it. We have been designed to see ourselves as a small piece of a much larger canvas. Unlike the lower animals, our higher intellect compels us to look at the universe around us and ask, "Why?" and "How?" There is so much in this creation that we cannot possibly explain, much less control. Those questions compel us to fill in the blanks with . . . something.
Historically, that something has been a god or gods. In the Judeo-Christian worldview, there is one true God who has revealed Himself through a special people--one Person in particular. The Bible claims to be the story of that revelation.
But what if people refuse to believe in that God and His story? Then they will replace Him with something else. In ancient times the substitute was some aspect of nature: the sun, moon, stars, trees, mountains, etc. Over time societies began to envision divine personalities behind the forces of nature: Zeus, Thor, Artemis, and so on. But these gods were little more than human tyrants writ large--fickle, selfish, and undependable. Today, our gods are more sophisticated, even scientific. But they are just as weak as the old idols. People still worship and serve the creature rather than the Creator. They are worshiping something. Their faith is inevitable.
In the end, the god substitutes are always destructive. Like the ancient pagans, people will cling to their gods despite their inefficacy, desperate for some justification for their existence.
If you choose to reject faith in an unseen God, you have the right to do so. But please admit that in doing so you are still trusting some other unseen--and far more implausible--explanation for this universe and everything in it.
You are betting your whole life on it. Can your faith bear that burden?
--David
