DOES THE BIBLE REALLY STATE THAT ATHEISTS ARE FOOLS BECAUSE THEY REJECT THE EXISTENCE OF GOD? Fools Are Often Believed To Be Simple People And Not Clowns Who Think Regurgitating Other People’s Philosophies Is Evidence Of Intelligence. Would a wise man really take a thousand words to state what can be said in ten words?

Why does the Bible call people who say there is no God, fools, and does this include atheists, or are fools those who seek God out?

Happy Riches, answers question by Anonymous

Why does the Bible call people who say there is no God, fools, and does this include atheists, or are fools those who seek God out? 

Some claim that the Bible does not refer to atheists; therefore, when the Bible refers to fools this does not include atheists as being fools.

So what is an atheist? Is an atheist a fool?

My understanding is an atheist is someone who does not believe that God exists. Atheists say that there is no God because they prefer to think that there is no God.

Does the modern-day idea of an atheist concur with the biblical concept of a fool?

Here are three definitions:

Atheism:

“Disbelief in or denial of the existence of God or gods.”

(American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2011)

Atheist:

“A person who denies or disbelieves the existence of a supreme being.”

(Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010)

“A person who does not believe in God or gods.”

(Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014)

Clearly, the current definition concurs with my understanding of an atheist: someone who does not accept that the Almighty Creator God, the Supreme Being exists.

The Bible states:

The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds, there is none that does good. The Lord looks down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there are any that act wisely, that seek after God. (Psalm 14:1-2) 

In the pride of his countenance the wicked does not seek him; all his thoughts are, “There is no God.” (Psalm 10:4)

To suggest that the above verses do not describe modern-day atheists; we could say is a specious attempt by a clown trying to hoodwink the gullible.

An atheist could either be very immoral and possess no principles at all or be immoral as far as God is concerned because he or she is full of pride, has his or her own standards, and thinks to ignore the Omniscient One (by outrunning death at the final bell?).

Atheists are people whom the Bible calls, “Fools.” Some people are so precious they are offended by that. Bear in mind, offense is always taken and never given. (Since the Bible gives no person permission to take offense at what is written therein, if you do take offence, could this mean that you are stealing, if stealing means taking something without permission.)

The Bible records Jesus as saying that those who take no offense are blessed.

When I was a fool, I used to take offense. Now I know a fool ceases to be one when he or she becomes wise. A wise person would seek to find the reason why one is here on this Earth merely to be born, experience suffering in its various forms, then die, and yet be capable of mental torment by formulating the concept of eternity.

Atheists do not believe that God exists. Therefore, they believe they are not accountable for their actions to any Judge once they die. This is why the Bible views people as fools when they say that there is no God; especially, when they believe they will not have to give an account of their actions to a Superior Being—such as a Supreme Being with an Omniscient Mind who judges with righteousness and not with partiality as the corrupt in this world do.

If you show an atheist a video of a woman in the process of being healed from lip cancer, caught on film in real time, because of a divine pronouncement by a man, the atheist would not believe what he saw.

If you showed an atheist a fragment of bone and said that this came from a giant creature that weighed 40 ton and lived 40 million years ago, as long as you said that this creature’s existence occurred by an evolutionary process that relies upon chance, the atheist would believe you.

If you took three balls and told an atheist you are going do five things with them; he or she would at least listen to see what kind of juggling trick you proposed (James Randy would, anyway). You could tell the atheist what you are going to do along the following lines:

1. You are going to throw one ball into the air and it is going to remain stationary.

2. You are going to then get a ball and cause it to spin on your finger.

3. Then you are going to take a third ball and cause it to circle the one on your finger.

4. Having done that, you are going to take the ball circling the spinning ball that is on your finger and toss them into the air so that together they will circle the stationary ball.

5. Then this is going to continue for ten minutes without any strings attached.

The atheist would say that is impossible. If that were to happen that would be a miracle.

Yet the Creator of the Universe has the a moon circling the planet Earth that spins on its axis and together they travel at nearly 70, 000 miles around the Sun every 365.4 days and, evidently, these objects have been doing so for much longer than a mere ten minutes. However, the atheist says that this incredible marvel is merely a result of chance.

Show an inquisitive person a trick and he will seek to find out how it is designed. However, if you were to show a fool a marvel, the fool would not believe it was designed but had to happen by chance. Yet it would have to be a miracle that by chance the Earth spins on its axis and the moon circles the Earth. This is why the Bible calls people, fools, who say that there is no Creator God. Clearly an Intelligent Designer caused both the spinning Earth and its revolving moon to orbit the Sun together at close to 70,000 mph (and we have not begun to speak of the amazing reliability and uniformity of the seemingly unfathomable complexities contained within the otherwise hostile Universe in which we live).

Whichever way you look at the atheists’ dilemma, the Bible has them pegged as fools. They are either fools because they do not believe and acknowledge the Lord God Creator of Heaven and Earth (i.e. the Universe), or they are fools because they believe in the impossible: the principles of life and order in the Universe occur by chance through a series of accidental and unpredictable events.

Yet the Bible says that only a fool is wise in his own eyes. Atheists think that they are wiser than the Creator God. Instead of being full of pride, if they were humble, they would act wisely and seek after God. They would do their utmost to call God into account and find out their reason for existence; only atheists see this as the providence of fools, whereas the Bible says that is the what the wise would do. However, atheists prefer to scoff at those who testify that God lives and then warn them that He is going to judge those who refuse to reason with Him about their futile lives; but by seeking out God and securing their own assurance of eternal life while they have the opportunity, they would avoid an unfavorable eternal judgment.

Yet if an atheist went on a plane trip across the Pacific from, say, Chile to China, and if he or she were not warned that there would be insufficient fuel to fly across the ocean if the plane encounters head winds, and it does, and the plane mysteriously disappears somewhere in the ocean, there would be uproar. The families of the deceased passengers would want justice. Therefore, the Bible warns all atheists that after death comes judgment.

The Ten Commandments were given 3500 years ago. God Himself wrote them. In fact, the only words ever attested to have been written by God’s own finger. If we do not live up to them, and these are the standard to what we are going to be held account, we would expect a wise person would get to know what he or she is up against before death. And if one could not meet the requirements, at least, one could seek to discover an alternative option before time is up.

One option is you could seek Jesus Christ out, before you die. I did. I now have the personal assurance that Jesus rose from the dead, and I did not get that assurance reading the Bible. I obtained this assurance from seeking the resurrected Lord of Life who paid the price to redeem us from the futility of being born to suffer and then die, even though we have the capacity to conceptualize the possibility of eternal life. My inability to meet the required standard that would make me eligible for eternal life is no longer an issue for me and I have a personal guarantee in the form of an abiding assurance that this is so. It just so happens, the Bible instructs us to obtain this abiding assurance before we die and not to rely upon doctrines or philosophies of men, which equates to church dogma that masquerades as truth.

Hence, the Bible contrasts a fool with a wise person. A fool is someone who thinks there is no God or says that God does not exist—as an atheist thinks and says—but a wise person seeks the Creator God out. Nothing appears to have changed in this respect since the Psalms were written, except in the New Testament we learn that a fool is someone like me who has sought Lord Jesus Christ and found Him. The New Testament states that I am a fool for Christ’s sake. And all the atheists agree!!

The Road To Reality Is By Making The Correct Observations And Engaging Life

WOMAN WANTS TO KNOW WHETHER GOD IS MALE AND JESUS IS STILL HUMAN EVEN THOUGH HE EXISTS IN RESURRECTED FORM. The Mystery Of God Becoming Man, When Taking On Human Form, Boggles The Mind. And Unenlightened Individuals Have Difficulty Grasping Not Only This, But Also The Fact That He Did Not Come As A Woman. The idea that God Himself would become a human being and be fully human and fully man seems far-fetched for many people who, on the other hand, have no difficulty in believing in aliens from outer space.

Is God male? Was Jesus’ humanity divine, or was his divinity separate from his humanity? Is Jesus in heaven as a human?

Happy Riches answers request by Diane Shatto

There are three questions that need to be answered here, not just one.

Is God male? Actually, the easiest way to answer this question is to accept what we find in the book of Genesis:

• Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.” So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. (Genesis 1:26-27)

The text quite clearly states that man is made in the image of God, after their likeness, in their image. So in the image of God the man was created male and female.

Actually, the gender element is merely a physical distinction relegated to man, for the true image of God is Oneness; for God is One.

• Jesus answered, “The first is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one; (Mark 12:29)

The Apostle Paul wrote that the gospel was a mystery, but he had been given the revelation, (Ephesians 3:3-9) and it concerned how two became one:

• For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” This mystery is a profound one, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church; however, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.(Ephesians 5:31-33)

The Godhead is One, even though there are more than One, but they are One. As Jesus said, “I and the Father are one” (John 10:30).

Was Jesus’ humanity divine, or was his divinity separate from his humanity?

Jesus was God in human form.

• In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God; all things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made (John 1-3 )
• No man hath seen God at any time, the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him. (John 1:18)
• [The Word of God, The Son of God], though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant,[a] being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross.(Philippians 2:6-8)
• For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.(Colossians 2:9)
• Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said, “Sacrifices and offerings thou hast not desired, but a body hast thou prepared for me. (Hebrews 10:5)

Many people have difficulty understanding what the Bible actually states, so they develop theology that is not biblical, but extra-biblical—that is, dogmatic theology.

Biblical theology is what is stated in the Bible. Jesus was God and He came down and took on the soul of a man. In fact, many people hate the idea that the Bible states Jesus is the begotten Son, and the fact that He is called the beginning of God’s Creation (Revelation 3:14 ); the image of the invisible God (Colossians 1:15)—even the first born of the dead (Revelation 1:5). But this is what the Bible states. Lord Jesus Christ is God in human form and He and the Father are One.

Is Jesus in heaven as a human?

One of the greatest difficulties many people have is that they do not realize that being a human is not someone who is utterly wicked and depraved so that no good thing can be found in any human. Those who believe that all human beings have deceitful hearts have much difficulty in accepting what the Bible actually says. They have doctrines of men, otherwise known as dogma. But if they read the Bible, they would learn that humans are gods, not irrational creatures of instinct that do have the capacity to reason with the Lord God, in whose image humans have been created.

• I say, “You are gods, sons of the Most High, all of you (Psalm 82:6)
• Jesus answered them, “Is it not written in your law, ‘I said, you are gods’? (John 10:34)

Therefore, even though Jesus now possesses human form, He is still be God.

The difference between Jesus, who possesses the fullness of the Godhead, and ourselves is we have descended from created beings, and receive our created spirits from God Himself, when we are physically born, whereas Lord Jesus Christ was never created. Jesus was always the firstborn of Creation, then of a virgin, and finally from the dead. He now sits on the right hand of the invisible God on the Father’s throne.

Since the pre-existent Son of God took on human form as a man, not a woman, and since the Father and the Son are One, we can understand why the Bible teaches that God is to be referred to in the male form.

Expressed a little differently: the Divine Son of God inhabited the biological body of a human being as a male and took on a human soul, wherein He did not sin once—which means that sin is not a matter of being born human, but personally violating the faith our parents place in us to honor them; or the faith God places in us to honor Him; or the faith people place if us to honor them as we would expect them to honor us. When respect or honor is violated, so is faith.

Many Are The Questions Answered In The Only Words Written By God

LISTENING TO OUR CONSCIENCE MIGHT SEEM RATHER ODD, BECAUSE IT SUGGESTS THAT IT SPEAKS TO YOU, YET THIS IS THE EXPRESSION USED FOR OBEYING OUR INTERNAL THOUGHTS. Internalized Thinking Is Something We Do, But Do We Really Listen To Our Thoughts Or Do You See Our Thoughts? For many when it comes to right and wrong, listening and seeing their thoughts is not what happens, there is just a sensation of guilt or fear or condemnation that comes over them after they have done what they otherwise would not have done to themselves.

Should I listen to my conscience?

Happy Riches answers request by  anonymous

When people speak of having a conscience, one thing that is evident, depending upon the culture in which a person is raised, different consciences can be formed. Observation of people from various cultures informs us that those foreign to our own culture are not accepting of certain behavior—for instance:  beekeepers consider nudity absolutely immoral.

We can compare the development of a conscience to language. People in Japan do not speak Chinese—even if the two languages sound the same when a native English speaker encounters speakers of those two languages for the first time.

As happens with a language, a conscience can develop differently because of culture. For different cultures have taboos that are not prohibited in other cultures. In Africa, South America, Papua New Guinea, Australia and the Pacific Islands, for native women to run around topless is deemed acceptable. In other parts of the world, China, Japan, Europe, India and the Middle East, such behavior was unbecoming, and a topless woman in public was considered taboo at one time—in many of the countries within those regions the same taboo exists today.

If your conscience says that it right to run around with no clothes, what do you think? I will run around with no clothes because this is a nudist camp and everybody is doing it. I am too ashamed to take my clothes off and show my nakedness in public. Some say that a conscience would convict the person of social impropriety when running around showing off their nakedness. Others say that this is superfluous and has nothing to do with a conscience, because a conscience is about doing unto others what you would like them to do to you.

Our conscience informs us what is right and what is wrong. A seared conscience has no sensitivity. Sociopaths and psychopaths have seared consciences or poorly developed ones.

In the book of Revelation, Lord Jesus Christ, the first born of God’s Creation (Revelation 3:14) is talking to what many believe is the church of this present age, where people seem to think that they are rich and can do whatever they like without recourse to conscience. What is interesting is people are told to buy clothes to cover the shame of their nakedness.

• I advise you to buy from Me gold refined by fire so that you may become rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself, and that the shame of your nakedness will not be revealed; and eye salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see. (Revelation 3:18)

Now it may seem rather odd that back in the first century AD, people understood how to use salve (ointment) to make blind people see. (If that were the case, humans have really gotten dumber over the centuries, which explains why IQs are no longer over 1000, but tend to be under 200 these days.—The Ignorance Quotient tells us a lot, when we think about it.)

Apparently, when we sear our conscience, we do not understand that we need salve to anoint our eyes that we may see, also.

• The eye is the lamp of your body; when your eye is clear, your whole body also is full of light; but when it is bad, your body also is full of darkness. (Luke 11:34)

In all probability, when speaking to the Laodicean Church, the salve to heal the eyes, could have been a reference to the need to have one’s conscience healed from being scarred and deadened to what is proper conduct among human beings. Therefore, if your conscience is telling you to do what is right in respect to proper conduct, why go against it and attempt to do what is unnatural. It is like a desert dweller at the oasis asking, Do I use the right hand or the left hand?

When it comes to behavior: we ought to know what is natural conforms with nature and what is unnatural is contrary to nature.

Is it not better to do what is right?

Why go against the natural order? As any surfer knows, it is easier to ride out with the rip than struggle against the waves.

The Ten Commandments Were Designed For You To Enjoy And Possess Life

LOVE IS A FOUR LETTER WORD BUT WHAT IS REAL LOVE? Often Christian Love Is Said To Be Real Love, Although People Are Confused When They Observe The Behavior Of Those Who Claim To Be Followers Of Christ. Indeed many are the words that people use but actually demonstrating what love depicts appears to be another matter.

What is real Christian love and how do you live it out in day to day encounters with people who only treat you with politeness?

Happy Riches answers request by Diane Shatto

Love is one of those four letter words that people frequently use. People often like to claim (in their ignorance) that the four letter English word “love” is deficient—but only to those who do not possess it. Other languages putatively possess more ways to express love than what is possible using English. Greek has six different words according to one source, while ignoring Storge (love of family).

The New Testament has only three words that are used to convey the idea of love: agape, philo, storge. Surprisingly, even though conjugal relations between men and woman are mentioned, eros (sexual love) is not used to describe any aspect of love within the New Testament. This alone is suggestive of the fact that love is something that transcends the act of copulation—or any four letter word used that distorts the generic purity of what are sublime expressions of intimacy during human intercourse. Hence, we learn of the love of God (agape), the love of humans (philo) and the affectionate love of family (storge—φιλόστοργοι—Romans 12:10).

Love, therefore, from a biblical perspective appears to an element of being that focuses on non-physical relationships between people. If we understand that the Bible teaches God is love (1 John 4:8) and God is spirit (John 4:24), we are able to grasp that true love is intangible yet perceptible; even if not something that is known by our physical senses.

Instead of using the term for brotherly love, the Apostle Paul informs us that we need to use godly love, if we are to fulfill the law and love our neighbors as ourselves.

• Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law. (Romans 13:8)

Real Christian love has to be godly love, not brotherly affection, not the natural love for one’s family, nor having anything to do with cupid, or even erotica. Godly love is the desire for all men to respect each other and appreciate one another. Such respect cannot happen unless every person enters into eternal life and comes to a knowledge of the truth.

• First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all men, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life, godly and respectful in every way. This is good, and it is acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, the testimony to which was borne at the proper time. (1 Timothy 2:1-6)

Since God’s desire is for ALL (everybody—not just some) to come to salvation, even if there are those who choose to reject their salvation, Christian love comes with the same desire.

However, instead of attempting to force people within close proximity to accept our point of view by berating them with Scripture, we, as Christians, ought to provide those within our propinquity the opportunity to observe our attitude to life—our perpetual optimism—when the chips are down. Those who are not able to observe our attitudinal behavior, our emotional disposition under stress, and our character traits (faithfulness, meekness and self-restraint), we may attempt to provoke intellectually to consider the futility of existence, having been born only to die; not to mention the injustice of having to be born only to experience suffering in this world.

On a day to day basis, we need to learn to allow the Spirit of God to show us how to take the speck out of other people’s eyes. This is not something that we do by constantly throwing verbal messages sheathed with scriptural texts, although salting our speech with words of wisdom may appear similar, but is vastly different. The fruit of righteousness (Proverbs 11:30) is sown by those who make peace, rather than create war in the workplace.

• And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace. (James 3:18)

Admittedly, people, who have ungodly intentions, will hit on you in one way or another, but the art of the deal is something that we learn by allowing the Holy Spirit to guide and lead us, as we relate to those with whom we come in contact. Those with whom we have frequent contact, our personal witness ought to be that of the Holy Spirit beaming as we take up our cross (1 John 2:6).

Authenticity is the key. If people are polite, be polite. If people are rude, be polite. If people are hostile, learn how to be polite in such situations while dissipating their hostility. This might sound pollyannish, but the Apostle did not think so (Philippians 4:4-11). If a stuff-up occurs, acknowledge it, be down-to-earth and genuine, while holding fast to the rope of eternal hope. Who is the greater, those who would attempt to rattle our mettle or the One Whom loves us the most.

Knowing What To Do Is A Little Different To Knowing How It’s Done

THE IMPORTANCE OF MORALITY OVER SHORT-TERM BENEFITS TO SATISFY IDEOLOGY BECOMES EVIDENT WHEN 12 YEAR OLD REJECTS GENDER TRANSITION. Those Who Reject Truth Like To Control Other People's Lives And Dictate What Gender A Girl Should Be When He Is Really A Boy. This is also occurs when justifying lesbianism and homosexuality as natural, even though children are not the natural outcome of their relationships.

Which is more important, morals or benefits?

Happy Riches answers request by anonymous.

The benefits of true morality exceed anything else that exists as far as human beings are concerned in this present epoch, since the purpose of God has been made known.

• For truly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the law until all is accomplished. Whoever then relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but he who does them and teaches them shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. “You have heard that it was said to the men of old, ‘You shall not kill; and whoever kills shall be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you that every one who is angry with his brother shall be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother shall be liable to the council, and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ shall be liable to the hell of fire. (Matthew 5:18-22)

True morality is absolute morality. Those who think that the benefits are insufficient reward in this life will sell their souls and extol the short-sighted virtues of situational ethics or relative morality. Relative morality is dependent upon the situation, in as much as situational ethics are relative to morals that change, depending upon what the egocentric person feels (or thinks) will advance the greater personal benefit in the moment, irrespective of further consequences.

However, sometimes, reality hits home. This is especially illustrated by one 12-year-old boy who transitioned to female but changed his mind 2 years later. This boy, when changing his gender, like many, was indoctrinated into believing something that could not have happened 100 years ago. The lesson about morality that resides in the moral of the young boy’s story is our DNA ought to be loved not despised or corrupted.

Corruption is often associated with politicians or people in power, who are renown for putting benefits over morality, or selling their souls, rather than doing what is right and honoring the promises that they made to their voters.

• They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption; for whatever overcomes a man, to that he is enslaved. (2 Peter 2:19)

In the book of Proverbs, we learn that when circumstances provide an exception, in the end, the consequences are worse.

• Do not men despise a thief if he steals to satisfy his appetite when he is hungry? And if he is caught, he will pay sevenfold; he will give all the goods of his house. (Proverbs 6:30-31)

Examples can be provided that justify the hungry who steal food, because they were not only stealing for themselves but also for their children, or to feed the infirm. However, stealing is taking things without permission, and asking requires us to be honest about our circumstances, humble ourselves and admit we need help, and someone to help us. Those who steal, do so because they really have a covetous heart, and shy away from the truth.

The book of Proverbs compares adultery with walking on stones of fire, but fire-walkers may scoff at this.

• Or can one walk upon hot coals and his feet not be scorched? So is he who goes in to his neighbor’s wife; none who touches her will go unpunished. (Proverbs 6:28-29)

While people are able to walk on hot coals under controlled conditions, not getting feet scorched takes some practice; the person cannot afford to stay on the hot coals too long, otherwise, there will be scorched soles, indeed…. unless (?).

• Thou wilt not abandon my soul to Hades, nor let thy Holy One see corruption. (Acts 2:27)

When it comes to a person committing adultery with his neighbor’s wife, today, this is quite common. The woman next door is even found to be advertising on twitter, on Facebook, on Google, in the local newspaper and the odd one has even been known to go door-knocking. Therefore, the proverb is considered antiquated and belongs to an obsolete form of morality.

• For he who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption; but he who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. (Galatians 6:8)
• His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to[a] his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, that through these you may escape from the corruption that is in the world because of passion, and become partakers of the divine nature. (2 Peter 1:3-4)

Short-lived pleasures are often excused as uncontrollable urges of the moment so, why not bring it on? Those who justify situational ethics or consequential morality have no qualms about violations of faith. The Ten Commandments are irrelevant—so what if a woman is raped to benefit the rapists. Unfortunately, only when people hate evil, do they begin to think about changing their own ways. Because bad behavior ruins good morals; whereas true morality brings much benefit.

The Ten Commandments Define What Destroys Society When Violated