The cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur. –Revelation 21:8 (NIV)
You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons too. –1 Corinthians 10:21 (NIV)
Abstain from all appearance of evil. –1 Thessalonians 5:22 (KJV)
Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye. –Matthew 7:3-5 (NIV)
Break down their altars, smash their sacred stones and burn their Asherah poles in the fire; cut down the idols of their gods and wipe out their names from those places. –Deuteronomy 12:3 (NIV)
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. –Psalm 14:1 (KJV)
Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart:who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness. –Ephesians 4:18-19 (KJV)
18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;19 Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them.20 For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:21 Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.22 Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,23 And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things. –Romans 1:18-23 (KJV)
The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. –1 Corinthians 2:14 (KJV)
To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts. –Hebrews 3:15 (KJV)
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Such a life is that of the Atheist, the man “without God in the world.” What a thick veil is between him and the invisible world, which, with regard to him, is as though it had no being! He has not the least perception of it; not the most distant idea. He has not the least sight of God, the intellectual Sun; nor any the least attraction toward him, or desire to have any knowledge of his ways…He tastes nothing of the goodness of God or the powers of the world to come. He does not feel (as our Church speaks) the working of the Holy Spirit in his heart. –John Wesley, “On Living Without God,” 1.8
—. “The Argument from Religious Experience.” From what I know, the Bible only advances two arguments for the existence of God: 1. The Teleological Argument (Romans 1:19-20). 2. The Religious Experience Argument (implied by every encounter with God, prophetic dream, or vision of God in Scripture, and also implied in 1 Corinthians 2:14, where it says that a “natural man,” or an atheist, is a person who knowingly and willingly “receiveth not” the gifts, and experiences, and feelings of the Spirit of God. Its not that all atheists are people who have never had any spiritual experiences, its more an issue of them resisting them (Acts 7:51), and explaining them away as hallucinations, that seems to be the problem in this case. And since this is often the case with cessationists, I have to think that such people are close to a kind of Christian atheism.)
Ron Rhodes, Answering the Objections of Atheists, Agnostics, and Skeptics (Harvest House, 2006). I like how Rhodes refers to atheistic views as “objections” to Christianity. Unlike McDowell and Geisler, Rhodes’ book title seems to imply that such perspectives are deliberate, on purpose suppressions of Biblical truth, motivated by unrighteousness and selfishness, as Paul says in Romans 1:18. Whereas the other titles seem to imply that atheists are just intellectually honest skeptics who have innocent questions about Christianity that have been left unanswered. And that if their questions would just simply be answered, then they would become Christians immediately. I think about atheism the same as the apostle Paul and John Wesley did: that atheism is primarily a motivational problem, and secondly an intellectual one. The so-called endless “questions” that atheists raise against Christianity and the Bible are not innocent; or based in some type of information gap. Their “questions” are more like an intellectual smokescreen for their personal rebellion against God. The atheist smokescreen gives off the appearance that they have plenty of legitimate reasons to question the truthfulness of Christianity. But because of the morals and self-denial required by the Christian life, the state of unbelief that atheists willingly put themselves into, is mainly created by an impenitent heart that wants to run its own life, and set its own standards. It has nothing to do with faith seeking understanding; or true spiritual curiosity seeking to know if there is such a thing as genuine Christian faith validated by the supernatural. Piles of apologetics books and videos by people like Rhodes, McDowell, and Geisler could be dropped on their desks, and most of the time the atheist will probably just throw it all away in the trashcan; and come up with some reason not to spend his time on any of it, preferring his old habits of watching porn, Fox News, ESPN, and Nat Geo. Most atheists are probably atheists by choice, because they are living in rebellion against God, and atheism has become their favorite idol to justify their rebellion: especially since they can appeal to “science” as support for their rebellion. 1 Timothy 6:20-21: “Keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so called: which some professing have erred concerning the faith.”
—. The 10 Things You Should Know About the Creation vs. Evolution Debate (Harvest House Publishers, 2004).
Josh McDowell and Don Stewart, Answers to Tough Questions Skeptics Ask (Living Books, 1986).
Norman Geisler and Ron Brooks, When Skeptics Ask (Baker Books, 1990).
Thus saith the Lord; Behold, I will raise up against Babylon, and against them that dwell in the midst of them that rise up against me, a destroying wind. –Jeremiah 51:1 (KJV)
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