Psalm 14:1

NASB	NLT	VOICE
1 The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, they have committed detestable acts; There is no one who does good.	1 Only fools say in their hearts, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, and their actions are evil; not one of them does good.	1 A wicked and foolish man truly believes there is no God. They are vile, their sinfulness nauseating to their Creator; their actions are soiled and repulsive; every deed is depraved; not one of them does good.

Let’s have a tough discussion to this question: “What if God is not real?” Personally, I believe he is and has good reasoning to believe it, but what if I’m wrong? What if we’re all wrong? The argument tends to lead to: “Do you want to risk being wrong?” This question comes with the assumption that if one doesn’t believe, they are going to hell and will be eternally separated from God and believers in the afterlife. As I’ve studied, there’s a final chance for unbelievers to be accepted with a final place of repentance. Yet, if our focus on believing or not is JUST on the after-life perspective, I could argue people’s position to not believe and deal with the situation at that point of final judgment. However, what if we changed the original question to: “What if God’s message is wrong?”

The focus of the Bible is often centered on two commandments: Love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength and to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. Scripture states that we fulfill the laws stated within if we follow these two commands. Following these commands have been stated to safeguard us from the final destruction and ensure a place in the Kingdom of Heaven. Regardless of if the afterlife is as taught to us through the Bible, we should still live a life that honors our divine Creator to the best of our ability and to live our lives with compassion, love, and mercy to our neighbors around us.

Psalm 53:1

NASB	NLT	VOICE
1 The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, and have committed abominable injustice; There is no one who does good.	1 Only fools say in their hearts, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, and their actions are evil; not one of them does good!	1 The foolish are convinced deep down that there is no God. Their souls are polluted, and they commit gross injustice. Not one of them does good.

This psalm describes the foolishness of atheism. People may say there is no God for a variety of reasons: the intangibility of belief, the fact of intentionally disagreeing with the teachings, avoid facing the consequences of their own sins or moral sense. They want to continue sinning and ignore the possibly lifelong consequences. Again, this is centered around the mindset of people who do not focus on the eternal consequences of one’s actions. We know in the moment that we will have some sort of reaction, either positive or negative. The view of Christianity wants us to focus on those reactions on a longer-term, bigger picture scale. It is to shape our moral and ethical perspective as a human. It is also to define our eternal placement after our earthly life.

Romans 3:10-12

NASB	NLT	VOICE
10 as it is written: “There is no righteous person, not even one;	10 As the Scripture say, “No one is righteous – not even one.	10 Here’s what Scripture says: No one is righteous – not even one.
11 There is no one who understands, there is no one who seeks out God;	11 No one is truly wise; no one is seeking God.	11 There is no one who understands the truth; no one is seeking after the one True God,
12 They have all turned aside, together they have become corrupt; there is no one who does good, there is not even one.”	12 All have turned away; all have become useless. No one does good not a single one.”	12 All have turned away; together they’ve become worthless. No one does good, not even one.

Because God created us in his image and loves us, every person has value in his eyes. But no one has loved God and their neighbor perfectly, which shows that no one can earn a right standing with God. God still shows our value even though we’ve fallen into sin. God redeemed us through his son. He committed the ultimate sacrifice as a payment for our sins and becomes the sacrificial offering to God. This sacrifice allows us to have a right relationship with God. There is no work that we can or could have done to find this redemption. It can only be found through Jesus and his sacrifice. What we can do is show the world what God’s love is about and show the reason that we should honor Jesus and the sacrifice he made for us.

Next slice of manna: Manna for the Mind #194