"The Athiest and the Urchin"

Recently I heard the following poem...

“There is no God,” the speaker cried, “Don’t let your thoughts be chained.”

        “This universe evolved itself the world is self contained.”

Just then an urchin in the crowd a skillful pebble throws,

        Which accurately lands upon his atheistic nose.

“Who threw that stone?” the speaker roars.

At which the cockney elf intuitively keen retorts,

“No one it threw itself.”

So a pathetic casualty, discomforted and worse

Goes home to meditate upon this causeless universe.--unknown

 (poem available at http://davidpawson.org/resources/)

So if you are like the speaker then how do you view the world around you?  Are you...

An Animist – Believing that the world is governed by spirits inhabiting inanimate objects?

An Agnostic – Doubting that one can know if there is a God but not really caring?

An Atheist – Believing that there is any God at all?

A Deist – Thinking that there is one God who created the world but is not in control?

A Dualism – Believing that there are two gods one good and one bad?

An Existentialist – Believing that God is only available by one’s religious experience?

A Humanist – Assuming that man is in control and the master of his fate, thus he is god?

A Materialist – Believing that only matter is real and spirit does not exist?

A Mystic – Believing that only spirit is real and that matter does not exist?

A Pantheist – Thinking that everything contains or is god?

A Polytheist – Believing that there are many gods?

A Rationalist – Believing that the only reality comes of that which one can reason?

~or~

Do you believe in God who may at times be beyond understanding but still in all is involved in the lives of those who belong to Him?

"When Deception Becomes Reality"

Deception is Birthed

 

There is no more serious matter than when deception becomes so ingrained in one’s thinking that it assumes the posture and place of genuine reality.  This is the outcome when one relies so totally upon his or her own mental content and process that there is little room for outside interference and thus intervention. 

Most certainly mental-intellectual function is comprised of at least two separate but related elements.  First there is the content—those things one learns and/or experiences.  Such is than gathered into a set or sets of data or facts.  Second, there is the process or how one acts upon the content.

A breakdown in either area, if left unchecked will result in the most dire of outcomes.  Pushed out to its eventual ends, that breakdown will result in one who is so deceived that the “false” has become the “genuine” and the "genuine" then becomes the "false."

Falsehood Leads Away From the Genuine

Said another way, this is the condition of the person who has come to believe a “falsehood” so thoroughly and deeply that it has gained a measure of control over that person’s life.  Thus there is no volitional capability to question the content or processes of that belief.  Such belief then assumes the great power of reality.  Now to be sure it may not be genuine reality but it assumes the posture of the genuine and the power thereof. 

What is the outcome?  Right and correct belief has the power to lead to greater and deeper insights into reality.  Wrong and incorrect belief has the power to lead into greater and deeper deception and in doing so leads one away from genuine truth.

Exclusive Truth

However, at this point an interesting dynamic begins to unfold.  It is that of superior exclusive truth.  That is to say the one caught in this trap begins to make exclusive truth claims to the point that such a person may even claim superior understanding(s) that are not available to others.   

Illogical Logic Then Isolates

As the process continues to deepen, such an one begins to invest much in such “false” reality that it becomes logical.  Now it may not be logical to others but it is to that person.  The outcome is that person becomes isolated in their illogical notions.  However, once again the process does not end there but continues on.

That “truth,” as false as it is has becomes so real that it now is the paradigm, through which life is viewed.  An attendant outcome is that the one who holds such “false” reality can no longer see nor embrace genuine truth.  Thus there is no challenge and therefore nothing to hold at bay, the ever deepening decent into deception. 

A Sobering Warning to All

While this is not the sum of all the Apostle Paul had to say on the matter in Romans 1, it certainly is a part of that of which he wrote as directed by the Spirit of the Lord.  Such a warning is not limited to those who reject the notion of God but to all who deal in that which is not genuine.  Thus it should be a sobering warning to all.