The Folly of Atheism
Psalm 14:1-7
1
The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are
corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.
2 The LORD looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there
were any that did understand, and seek God. 3 They are all gone aside,
they are all together become filthy: there is none that doeth
good, no, not one.
4 Have all the workers of iniquity no
knowledge? who eat up my people as they eat bread, and call not upon the
LORD. 5 There were they in great fear: for God is in the generation of
the righteous. 6 Ye have shamed the
counsel of the poor, because the LORD is his refuge. 7 Oh that the
salvation of Israel were come out of Zion! when the LORD bringeth back
the captivity of his people, Jacob shall rejoice, and Israel shall be
glad. [1]
Psalm
10:1-18
1
Why, O Lord, do You stand aloof,
heedless in times of trouble?
2 The wicked in his arrogance hounds
the lowly—
may they be caught in the schemes
they devise!
3 The wicked crows about his
unbridled lusts;
the grasping man reviles and scorns
the Lord.
4 The wicked, arrogant as he is,
in all his scheming [thinks],
“He does not call to account;
God does not care.”
5 His ways prosper at all times;
Your judgments are far beyond him;
he snorts at all his foes.
6 He thinks, “I shall not be shaken,
through all time never be in
trouble.”
7 His mouth is full of oaths, deceit,
and fraud;
mischief and evil are under his
tongue.
8 He lurks in outlying places;
from a covert he slays the innocent;
his eyes spy out the hapless.
9 He waits in a covert like a lion in
his lair;
waits to seize the lowly;
he seizes the lowly as he pulls his
net shut;
10 he stoops, he crouches,
and the hapless fall prey to his
might.
11 He thinks, “God is not mindful,
He hides His face, He never looks.”
12 Rise, O Lord!
Strike at him, O God!
Do not forget the lowly.
13 Why should the wicked man scorn
God,
thinking You do not call to account?
14 You do look!
You take note of mischief and
vexation!
To requite is in Your power.
To You the hapless can entrust
himself;
You have ever been the orphan’s help.
15 O break the power of the wicked
and evil man,
so that when You look for his
wickedness
You will find it no more.
16 The Lord is king for ever and ever;
the nations will perish from His
land.
17 You will listen to the entreaty of
the lowly, O Lord,
You will make their hearts firm;
You will incline Your ear
18 to champion the orphan and the
downtrodden,
that men who are of the earth
tyrannize no more. [2]
Romans
1:16-32
16 For
I am not ashamed of the gospel; it is the power of God for salvation to
everyone who has faith, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 17 For
in it the righteousness of God is revealed through faith for faith; as it is
written, “The one who is righteous will live by faith.”
18 For
the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and wickedness
of those who by their wickedness suppress the truth.19 For what can be
known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 20 Ever
since the creation of the world his eternal power and divine nature, invisible
though they are, have been understood and seen through the things he has made.
So they are without excuse; 21 for though they knew God, they did not
honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their
thinking, and their senseless minds were darkened. 22 Claiming to be
wise, they became fools; 23 and they exchanged the glory of the immortal
God for images resembling a mortal human being or birds or four-footed animals
or reptiles.
24 Therefore God gave them up in the
lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the degrading of their bodies among
themselves, 25 because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and
worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed
forever! Amen.
26 For this reason God gave them up
to degrading passions. Their women exchanged natural intercourse for unnatural,
27 and in the same way also the men, giving up natural intercourse with women,
were consumed with passion for one another. Men committed shameless acts with
men and received in their own persons the due penalty for their error.
28 And since they did not see fit to
acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind and to things that should
not be done. 29 They were filled with every kind of wickedness, evil,
covetousness, malice. Full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, craftiness, they
are gossips, 30 slanderers, God-haters, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors
of evil, rebellious toward parents, 31 foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless.
32 They know God’s decree, that those who practice such things deserve to
die—yet they not only do them but even applaud others who practice them. [3]