3-14-16<\/p>\n
The fool says in his heart, \u201cThere is no God.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n This was written by David, the \u201csweet singer of Israel,\u201d who, given his lifelong relationship with the Almighty and his activities as Psalmist, warrior, and king, could be considered prejudiced on the matter. He was described in I Samuel as \u201ca man after God\u2019s own heart.\u201d He was a blood ancestor of Jesus. He is even revered as a prophet by Islam.<\/p>\n So this citation from Psalm 14:1 is not a fortune-cookie slogan. David knew whereof he spake, if I may. And I invite us to meditate on the fact that the statement says as much about fools as it does about God.<\/p>\n It is the natural inclination of human beings to say \u201cthere is no God.\u201d Sometimes, deep in our dark hearts, we wish it to be so. I think that many sociologists and anthropologists \u2013 even atheists among them \u2013 recognize that everyone is, nonetheless, born with innate desires to worship\u2026 to sense that there is something \u201cgreater\u201d than ourselves\u2026 that we are coded with something commonly called a conscience.<\/p>\n Believers in the God of the Bible \u2013 \u201cPeople of the Book\u201d as our archaeogenetic spiritual ancestors are called \u2013 acknowledge One God. The Father Almighty, maker of heaven and of earth. We believe by faith, and reassure ourselves, and sometimes instruct people, or debate with others, on various bases of logic, history, revelation, the mathematical probability of prophecies and fulfillments, archaeological records, and so forth. We can cite miracle \u2013 miracles written about, and miracles we have experienced or witnessed.<\/p>\n But mostly, and ultimately, we rely on faith. The testimony of inner conviction is stronger than any rational formula or reasoned assurance. Truth is not subject to qualification or modification, except ratifications like \u201cAbsolute Truth.\u201d What\u2019s true is true. It invites, but cannot be reworked, adjusted, or amended, by arguments or theories; even those of science. Truth is truth. Otherwise, it is like being \u201csort of pregnant\u201d or \u201crelatively dead.\u201d<\/p>\n The question comes when one asks, \u201cWhat is Truth?\u201d Ah. That<\/em> question is also part of the human race\u2019s DNA, so to speak. At some point, at some time, we all ask it. The most famous positing was by Pontius Pilate. I have never been sure whether he asked in genuine humility, or mocking. In any event, Jesus answered, \u201cI am the Truth,\u201d and that wasn\u2019t enough for Pilate nor the rabid Jews whose rebellion he feared.<\/p>\n We will not wander into high weeds or deep swamps here. Accepting the existence of God, or denying Absolute Truth, are both matters of faith to every person. <\/p>\n What does interest me, and should concern us all no matter what our views on these elemental topics, is how quickly and substantially our culture has changed its views on these matters. We cannot see the forest for the trees that are right in our faces, but in the broad sweep of history, the reversal of attitudes about the existence of God and the reality of Absolute Truth is tantamount to intellectual whiplash.<\/p>\n It was my perception, when I was a young student, that all of society (European Christendom as well as the American culture) assumed the existence of God, the immutable nature of His laws, and the biblical foundation of customs and laws. Non-believers, in our democracies, were tolerated, even cordially so, and largely unmolested. Today \u2013 in one long generation or two, that\u2019s all \u2013 those attitudes have been reversed.<\/p>\n And almost savagely so, with hostility toward Christians replacing cordial tolerance of secularists.<\/p>\n This is the real crisis of our age. It is not a question of being \u201cwelcoming\u201d to those with different views; it is more: an entire people denying their intellectual birthrights, surrendering their spiritual inheritance. It is not a matter of favoring \u201cpluralism,\u201d because that dubious term has never meant abandoning one\u2019s own heritage. <\/p>\n We have become a soulless society. Polls say that citizens feel adrift\u2026 but average Americans have loosed their anchor-chains, torn up their navigation charts, and long ago set sail away from Home Ports. Well-meaning Christians who have invited this cultural drift (to continue the nautical analogy) then wonder why they have spiritual sea-sickness.<\/p>\n Everyone in this rotting old boat known as America, be they Christians or the new pilots, secularists, can argue, or not, about \u201cvalues.\u201d In the current political campaign, Christians have been co-opted by spokesmen who \u201cguarantee that in department stores you will be able to put up Merry Christmas signs\u201d (Mr Trump) and have been pigeon-holed as \u201cevangelical\u201d voting blocs, to be delivered to the loudest panderers. This is why Jesus came to earth?<\/p>\n However. Take heart. Take heart for your soul, and the kingdom of God; even if we lose heart over our nation\u2019s well-being and our culture\u2019s future. The waters that roil have been calmed by a Savior before. Above those storm clouds is a heaven, and lodestars by which to navigate. Past the darkest storm clouds is God\u2019s bright sunshine. <\/p>\n The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom<\/em> (Psalm 111:10).<\/p>\n Let us remember that the God of mercy is still a God of justice. Many will call it vengeance when God\u2019s justice comes. No matter: God\u2019s will is going to prevail, and His Word will be manifest.<\/p>\n \u201cThrough everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities\u2014his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God. How can anyone continue in unbelief, rebellion, and hostility to His Truth? They would be fools. But their actions \u2013 or inactions \u2013 are worse, more dangerous, than foolishness.<\/p>\n + + +<\/p>\n \u201cThe Silver Swan\u201d was published in composer Orlando Gibbons’s \u201cFirst Set of Madrigals and Motets of Five Parts,\u201d 1612. A beautiful and challenging poem built on the legend that geese might honk all their lives, but swans let out one note just before death: \u201cMore Geese than Swans now live, more Fools than Wise.\u201d<\/p>\n \nThe silver swan, who, living, had no Note,
\nYes, they knew God, but they wouldn\u2019t worship him as God, or even give him thanks. And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like. As a result, their minds became dark and confused. Claiming to be wise, they instead became utter fools\u2026. They traded the truth about God for a lie. So they worshiped and served the things God created instead of the Creator himself, who is worthy of eternal praise! Amen.\u201d<\/span> (Romans 1: 20b-22, 25) <\/p>\n
\nwhen Death approached, unlocked her silent throat.
\nLeaning her breast upon the reedy shore,
\nthus sang her first and last, and sang no more:
\n\u201cFarewell, all joys! O Death, come close mine eyes!
\nMore Geese than Swans now live, more Fools than Wise.\u201d\n<\/p>\n