Rom. 1: 16-26 “16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ,[a] for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “The just shall live by faith.”[b]    18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, 19 because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. 20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes 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, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Professing to be wise, they became fools, 23 and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man—and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things. 24 Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, 25 who exchanged the truth of God for the 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 vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature.

A New and Acceptable God?

The atheism exposed in Ravi Zacharias’s able offensive The Real Face of Atheism amazingly parallels the popular and nice god of The Shack so popular with many church people today! In The Shack, the new god is popular, down to earth, personable, nonjudgmental, and psychologically acceptable, made to man’s size and man’s order!

The God opposed by the atheists is One they declare profoundly and personally unacceptable, don’t like, is beyond their manipulation and they irrationally reject as nonexistent, though He is the innately known Explanation for the wonders of the Universe and man!

Like the Texas anti-creation crowd^{AP 3/26/09} that seeks to legislate that text books teach only evolution, they arrogantly and dishonestly seek to censor or dismiss the Truth, reality and Person of the One beyond their liking for unbelievable random chance and circumstance!

In The Shack, we find anti-god religion set forth by Mack’s claimed journey as he rails against God for not speaking, being mean, unjust, unreasonable and unacceptable. Thus, Mack discovers/invents his new god with a journey that leaves multitudes of readers pleased, thrilled and wondrously moved!

Now, surely, one of these two approaches of intellectual or psychological rants effectively dismisses the God of the Bible! Just ignore Him! Deny Him as Creator, Sustainer, the Truth, the One Who mercifully sought Adam in his rebellion and sin! Or, remake a god into our own image and liking and simply present him as a substitute, the nice god who accepts everyone without judgment.

Neither washes! We innately know and see better and the Word of God stands fixed forever with God’s gracious and merciful offer of redemption, peace and grace only in-Christ.

Another way of looking at it is: in light of God’s Word, either the pagan philosophers are lying or God has lied. Both cannot be true. Has man somehow evolved from nothing and now approaches intellectual and moral perfection with no need of God or the Bible? Or, is The Bible God’s merciful and gracious supernatural light, Truth and meaning informing us of the six days of Creation, the Fall, the Promise of a Redeemer, the Flood, the choosing of Abram, the continued Revelation via the Jews and promises of our caring God and the Coming of Christ born of a virgin as faithfully foretold, Christ’s death, burial and resurrection and His coming again and each man’s need of Him are revealed truths? This includes His mercy, grace, redemption and forgiveness with cleansing of sins, rebirth and discipleship.

Recall the Russian Cosmonaut that declared from space that he didn’t see God there. I heard that brash announcement in 1961 and remembered immediately Psalm 19. There we have God’s eternal rebuke and rebuttal: “The heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament shows His handiwork” ^Psa.19:1  So, let’s look closely at Romans 1: 16-26 and soberly consider the detailed light our God has given except we be deceived by the wicked and prove ourselves also faithless, liars and haters of God, suppressing Truth, disobedient, given over by God for our insolence, arrogance, intellectual dishonesty, thanklessness and a vast and growing multitude of sins … with all the stinking baggage, godless fruits and God’s holy judgment.  

Carefulness in thinking, attention to doctrine, holy living and being born again are urgent priorities! We must ever remember, Adam distrusted God and bought the lie of Satan that he would be like God and he would be the judge of truth and right and wrong, not God!  (Note: This is attempting to set aside the Word of God!) But, Adam did not become like God. He suffered the death-judgment God had warned him against! It is noteworthy that the infamous and otherwise brilliant but dishonest proponent of atheism and accuser of God, Nietzsche, spent his last eleven years in ‘insanity’. The world says he was insane but the Bible reveals he was ‘given up by God’. Indeed, though he was a son of a Lutheran minister, he was never born again!

In conclusion, the many continuing claims that Darwin’s rant against Creation and claim of Evolution, Marx’s atheistic and thieving Socialism, Nietzsche’s ‘God is Dead’ and other philosopher’s rants do attack but do not destroy the alive church anymore than deceivers and heretics like Rick Warren, et al are destroying the church today. But they are leading many astray! Many think and feel that they have become Christian because they have joined a church, said a prayer or even are active in a church work. Paul, like others, warned us that such deceivers would rise from within the fellowship. Beware! Many Church leaders then were as spiritually dead as such are today and in Jesus’ day! Search the Scriptures and prove yourself. ^{Read Romans 12: 1-21, then John 4}

A careful and sober study of the 4^th chapter of John will not only demonstrate the gross and glaring errors of The Shack and its man-made, soul-only religion but God’s merciful and gracious provision in Christ. No man comes direct to the Father! None can come without blood! Salvation is by God’s revelation and of the Jews, not by man’s will and imaginations. Those who worship God must worship Him in Truth and Spirit! God’s Word is Truth! Christ seeks sinners; lost spiritually dead men do not seek the true God.

The alive church thrives! The dead follow the dead just as the alive gladly and obediently hear the True Shepherd, follow Him and hear His alive teachers. Lastly, the alive church does not teach mere ‘theism’ nor that man is basically good. It proclaims the Gospel of Jesus Christ demanding repentance and faith in Jesus Christ Who rose from the grave and is coming again. Thus, we who are alive must never overlook that before, we also were dead, dead in trespasses and sin. Hence, we must be about showing His character and His love and wholeheartedly, obediently and gladly proclaiming His Word of reconciliation only in Jesus.

© 2011 David Holmes                                      Rev. 8/10/11