Eternity Daily Bible Study - No. 502 Series: Romans 1-8 "A Righteousness That Is By Faith" Verses: Romans 1:18-21 Topic: Without Excuse Date: 19th August 2005 Romans 1:18-21 For God's wrath is revealed from heaven against all godlessness and unrighteousness of people who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth, (19) since what can be known about God is evident among them, because God has shown it to them. (20) From the creation of the world His invisible attributes, that is, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what He has made. As a result, people are without excuse. (21) For though they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God or show gratitude. Instead, their thinking became nonsense, and their senseless minds were darkened. Paul says that every human being has a clear witness to God in the form of Creation so that people are "without excuse" in rejecting God. The world around us is obviously: a) Vast b) Intricate c) Self-sustaining d) Intelligent e) Well-designed f) Functional g) Beautiful h) Harmonious i) Not able to design or create itself (we don't find lions inventing giraffes) j) Reliable - in that the laws of nature do not vary from week to week! Given that it is highly improbable that such beautiful design "just happened". Random assembly (e.g. throwing junk together at a junkyard) tends to produce ugly things with far more useless features than useful features. However Creation is beautiful, functional, interdependent, elegant and self-sustaining, which all points away from randomness and toward intelligent and purposeful design! Given the high probability of intelligent design, we then must ask logically "Who could design something as vast as this Universe?" Such a being must be: a) Very powerful b) Very wise c) Very ancient d) Able to exist for long periods of time Therefore the Creator must be an extremely wise and powerful eternal being. This being has authority over all He has made and thus is the true ruler of the Universe and the one to whom all human authority must rightfully defer. Further examination of the way the Universe is made with high regard for beauty, symmetry, order and community would lead one to believe that we are dealing with a very good and benevolent being. This is a Ruler who deserves our full trust and adoration. All this can be deuced from a deep consideration of the natural world and its order and its beauty. Even without a Bible or a preacher mankind can come to the understanding of a good and wise and trustworthy Creator. It is possible to know God simply through Creation, though it is exceedingly rare, Abraham was without Bible, or church, or priest yet had a living faith in Almighty God. Abraham walked in deep friendship and relationship with God though his formal theology was a fraction of what we have in textbooks today. Enough is revealed to make every person stop in wonder and awe and ask the question "who made all of this?". I used to take young people on camping trips in outback Australia and when they stopped at night and looked at the stars around the campfire, - it was then the spiritual questions came easily. But humanity has pushed the evidence for god aside. Why? Because it limits our "freedom" to do what we like, when we like to His Creation. Sin is addictive and truth is inconvenient - so it is suppressed: "who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth", however no one can reject the truth and still remain wise (no matter how intelligent they are). "Instead, their thinking became nonsense, and their senseless minds were darkened." Once you reject the idea of God you are left with a huge intellectual vacuum. Since this vacuum wants to be filled, and it cannot be filled with the truth, since that has been rejected out of hand, then it can only be filled with nonsense. And that is precisely what happens. There is a subtle way to reject God - and that is nominal religion. "For though they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God or show gratitude." Nominal religion is having God without glory or gratitude. It is God-idea with no personal impact, no hallelujahs, and no behavioral change. It is the cold dead academic God of the philosophers, studied but never adored. Giving glory to God means seeing Him as more important than ourselves. Which is just seeing Him rightly. It is not about us, it is all about Him. And logically once we realize that life is all about God, then our games and ambitions seem small. If we glorify God, really glorify Him and see Him as of ultimate importance, then we have to change. Since most people don't want change, they suppress the knowledge of God. The other dangerous thing is gratitude. You see gratitude is life-changing. Once we start being grateful to God for our life, then everything changes, His power is released and we begin to pray, and to learn, and to grow. We need to step back and behold the stars and the penguins and to start feeling awe and wonder and beauty and grace. Once we let that take hold of us we will feel small, and God will seem big, and we will praise and glorify and thank our amazing Creator God. Blessings In Christ, John Edmiston (johned@aibi.ph) __________________________________________________________________ REFER OTHERS: If this devotional is a blessing to you, maybe you have a friend or family member that would like to start receiving this daily bible study. You can forward this to them, and they can use the following link to subscribe. http://www.aibi.ph/eternity/ or they can just send a blank email to: eternity-dbs-subscribe@strategicnetwork.org BLOG: If you missed a day or would like to read the bible studies online you can catch up using the new Eternity Daily Bible Study Blog at: http://aibi.gospelcom.net/eternity/wordpress/ EBOOKS & ARCHIVES : http://www.aibi.ph/eternity/ - includes free ebooks containing each series of Eternity-DBS bible studies. SUPPORT: Eternity-DBS is part of a faith ministry (the Asian Internet Bible Institute) that is supported by your donations - to donate go to: http://www.aibi.ph/articles/donate.htm ____________________________________________________________________ You are receiving this email because you either subscribed on the website, or sent an email to the subscribe address. We do not subscribe people without their consent. To subscribe - send a blank email to: eternity-dbs-subscribe@strategicnetwork.org To unsubscribe - send a blank email to: eternity-dbs-unsubscribe@strategicnetwork.org