Why We Are Without Excuse

For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles. Romans 1:19-23

This is the first argument in the book of Romans about why all men are without excuse in worshiping and serving the true God. We are all without excuse, even without the revelation of the Bible because God has shown himself to the whole world by his eternal and divine nature as evidenced in the creation of the world. Many of us have heard the builder argument, but I want to explore it again here. Are you inside right now, or can you see a building? Did the building have a builder? You would have to say of course it did. Even if you had never met the builder, the building is proof that there was a builder. The same argument could be used for the car you drive. Does the car you drive have a car designer? Of course it does, because nothing as intricate as a car happens by accident. So look at your hand, it is more intricately designed than any building or car, and just because you have never met the designer doesn’t mean he doesn’t exist. Just like if you never knew the builder or car designer, your lack of knowledge and personal relationship with them does not make them not exist. So it can be said of the Creator as well. Just because you may never have met him personally, it is absurd to assert that he doesn’t exist. Your intricately designed body, that is so complex we still don’t understand it all, did not just happen by accident.

Carrying on with the train of thought that it is absurd to not believe in a creator, what many pagan peoples have done is rejected the truth of this supreme Creator God, the God of the Bible, and exchanged the honor of him for foolishness in their hearts. Claiming wisdom, they really became fools as the exchanged the glory of the immortal God for idols resembling birds, animals, reptiles, and even men. We in our post-modern society have even gone a step further in the debasement of our minds. Instead of making idols of false gods, we have become false gods unto ourselves. And not just we being gods but everything that exists!

How so you say? Because we claim in so many modern discussions with highly intellectual people that we created ourselves by a process of evolution. The theory of evolution is totally absurd and makes no sense at all. Let me put the theory of evolution into modern context. You go to a junkyard and you are standing there as a tornado rips through it. Much to your amazement after all the chaos a perfectly designed Boeing 747 is sitting where the junk used to be. Perfect order came from the chaos of a tornado. Make sense? Of course not, but this is what evolutionists want us to believe. Except that they will use one more component that my illustration lacks. There component is chaos plus time. So let’s look at it this way. If you had a garage full of junk shut the door and didn’t go out there for 100 years, when you opened the door would you expect to find junk or a Mercedes Benz? Well if your answer is a Mercedes try again. Time and chaos won’t make a Mercedes! It needs a car maker to make it! Shut the door for 1,000 years or even one hundred million years. There isn’t ever going to be a Mercedes unless someone cleans up that mess, and goes and gets one from a Mercedes maker. And life didn’t come from chaos either, no matter how much time has passed.

Can’t you see why it is so important as Christians that we believe the Genesis account of creation? When we believe that evolution happened, or that there are many gods, then we are denying one of the central truths of the Bible, that there is one, and only one, Creator God. And when we do that we have broken the first of his commandments by placing other gods before him, whether they are false gods (such as idols, which breaks Commandment two) or we become gods unto ourselves by believing that we created ourselves by changing our own DNA.

Lord,
Please help me to have faith in you as the Creator of the universe. Father I recognize that it takes faith to believe that you created all things, but it would take more faith for me to believe that it happened by accident, or that I created myself. I pray that you will guard this truth in my mind and heart, and that I may take all my thoughts captive to Christ. Amen!