Originally from here.

THIS IS REALLY GOOD!
–J.B.–

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He who walks in his uprightness fears the Lord,
But he who is perverse in his ways despises Him.
—Proverbs 14:2—

This powerful proverb reveals a universal truth: those who live in righteousness honor and fear the Lord, while those who are perverts despise Him. Atheists, of course, deny that they despise God, and yet they have a string of contemptuous names for Him, such as “Invisible sky daddy,” “Flying spaghetti monster,” “Imaginary friend,” and “Magic man in the sky.” This proverb also explains why criminals hate the police. Both cases reveal a deep-seated resistance to authority and accountability.

The Nature of Rebellion

At the core of rebellion is the desire to live without consequences. Just as a criminal despises the police because they represent justice and the enforcement of the law, atheists despise God because He represents ultimate justice and the enforcement of His perfect moral standard.

Just as a criminal despises the police because they represent justice and the enforcement of the law, atheists despise God because He represents ultimate justice and the enforcement of His perfect moral standard.

Romans 13:3-4 draws a parallel between earthly authority and God’s authority:

For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil. Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise from the same. For he is God’s minister to you for good. But if you do evil, be afraid; for he does not bear the sword in vain; for he is God’s minister, an avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil.

A criminal’s hatred for the police isn’t because the police are inherently bad but because their presence convicts the criminal of their crimes. In the same way, an atheist’s despising of God isn’t due to a lack of evidence for His existence but because His holiness shines a spotlight on their sin—particularly their perverse sexual sin. And those who are given to the perversion of pornography will suppress the truth because they don’t want to face it.

Romans 1:18 says:

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness.

Lust, pornography, fornication, and other forms of immorality aren’t just fleeting acts—they shape the heart and twist the conscience. Jesus said:

For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed (John 3:20).

Those who are steeped in sexual sin avoid God for the same reason criminals avoid the police: they don’t want their deeds exposed. Pleasurable though it may be for a season, it is particularly destructive because it enslaves both body and soul. Paul warns in 1 Corinthians 6:18:

Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body.

Our culture glorifies and normalizes the perversions of pornography and promiscuity, but God’s standard is written in stone on a mountain and amplified by Jesus:

You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart (Matthew 5:27-28).

Tragically, most atheists see God not as a loving Father but as a tyrant who wants to take away their so-called freedom. Jesus addressed this misconception in John 8:34-36:

Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin. And a slave does not abide in the house forever, but a son abides forever. Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.

Proverbs 14:2 reminds us that the fear of the Lord leads to uprightness. But this fear isn’t terror—it’s a reverence born of understanding His holiness and mercy. It’s recognizing that God doesn’t want to punish but wants to save. Ezekiel 33:11 reveals God’s heart:

Say to them: ‘As I live,’ says the Lord God, ‘I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live.’

May God give us wisdom as we engage a generation blinded by sin. And may His love be evident—as it was to those of us whom He saved from death, by His amazing grace.