Reasoning From A False Premise

false premiseTo not believe in the God of the Holy Bible means you must reject a vast amount of obvious evidence. When you know the truth and still reject it, you must live in a make-believe world. To not believe in God, you eventually get to the point that you do not glorify Him, and you descend into the realm of foolishness:

    “because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened.” (Romans 1:21)

Once you descend into the realm of foolishness, you are now living in spiritual darkness. Becoming a Christian, that is believing in the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation, means you leave the realm of foolishness and put off spiritual darkness.

    “The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Therefore let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light.” (Romans 13:12)

Now you could share this with an atheist and he or she would not understand your point and most likely would scoff you for it. That is because they are living in spiritual darkness:

    “They do not know, nor do they understand; they walk about in darkness; all the foundations of the earth are unstable.” (Psalm 82:5)

A nation that rejects God should only expect calamity and chaos amongst its society. Today we see many believers and unbelievers seeking the truth and not finding it. There is a good reason for that.

    “Therefore justice is far from us, nor does righteousness overtake us; we look for light, but there is darkness! For brightness, but we walk in blackness!” (Isaiah 59:9)

While atheists walk in spiritual blindness because they do not believe in God, some believe in a god of their own imagination. A person who has unbiblical beliefs is either a Christian barely on spiritual milk, or more likely is not actually saved. Imagine someone walking around on a bright sunny day with a flashlight claiming it to be too dark to see. That would seem foolish. So it is with someone who claims to know God but walks in spiritual darkness:

    “This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.” (1 John 1:5-6)

How is it possible that someone could become so confused about God? Commenting on Romans 1:21, John Phillips writes:

    “God emphatically declares that such a man’s heart is darkened. All his claims to wisdom notwithstanding, the man who has dethroned God from his intellect becomes conceited and stupid or unintelligent (i.e., foolish). Obviously the man who reasons from the false premise that there is no God or that God is irrelevant will arrive at a false conclusion no matter how logical the intervening steps may be.”

So there you have it. If you start off on the wrong foot, you’ll be out of step from the beginning. Any soldier knows that. But if you place your faith in the Living God of the Bible and His Son Jesus Christ, your foundation is firm and sure. You are living in the realm of wisdom and walking in the light.

“But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.” (1 John 1:7)

So dear reader, are you walking in the light of Jesus Christ, or are you living in the realm of foolishness with a heart spiritually darkened because you have arrived at a false conclusion?

Darkness is the absence of light.

Do you need the Light that is Jesus Christ?

In Christ
Dave
Ps. 37:4

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    Copyright © 2013 David Jeffers

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