It takes a real fool to not believe in a God

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It is my impression that the Hindus, the Buddhists, and the Moslems of the world are all much more serious about their religion, are much more religious in general, than are the Christians of America and Europe. They are not so “intellectually advanced” as we are as to doubt the existence of God, to believe in nothing. They all believe in a God, in the immortality of the soul, in a life after this one, and in a heaven and a hell, with the Good being rewarded and the Bad being punished. Indeed, if one looks at the history of man through the ages there are very few cultures that have not believed in a God, in the immortality of the soul, and in a life after this one. Even the most primitive believe in these things. Why? Why is belief in these things so universal? It is because of this: It takes a very special person to be able to look at the great and marvelous universe that surrounds us and not intuitively understand that there must be a God behind it all. It takes a very special person to not intuitively understand that man is more than flesh and blood, that he has a soul. It takes a very special person to not intuitively understand that there is good conduct in this world and there is bad conduct and that there will be final justice in the end where the Good will be rewarded and the Bad will be punished. In fact, it takes a real fool not to understand these things. What could produce so many fools such as we have here in the United States and in Western Europe? What an interesting phenomenon. So many fools! How do you explain such a phenomenon? Could it be from reading too many books? Could it be that too much reading has addled their mind (in the same way that reading too many books on chivalry addled the mind of Don Quixote)? Or does it comes from man’s tendency to wish to be in fashion, to keep up with fashion, and to follow the crowd? The intellectuals have had the great audacity to question the existence of God and so the masses wish to be up to date with the latest intellectual fashion?

Intellectuals ask why there is so much injustice and evil in this world. The Bible gives the answer to that question. Satan. Satan is the reason there is so much evil in this world. Satan and man’s natural inclination toward evil.

Western man has learned methods for discovering nature’s secrets and has made great technological advances. These technological advances have brought him great wealth and luxury. And they have given him lots of leisure time. They have also made him very arrogant. And they have brought serious problems for him. With machines doing all the work in a society, people have difficulty finding work, finding ways to sustain themselves. The days of multitudes of unskilled jobs are gone and people must train themselves for skilled jobs and then compete for them. Too much leisure time can be a problem if a person doesn’t know how to use it. Idleness is a destroyer. Man needs occupation. Too much money, luxury and ease can be a problem if it blinds people to what is really important in life. What is really important in life, do you ask? Personal morality, goodness, and virtue. Knowledge of Right and Wrong. That is what is important.

I strongly suspect that the poor Hindus, Buddhists, and Moslems will fare much better on that great Day of Judgment than will the Christians. Wealth, luxury and too much leisure time corrupt. Moral corruption leads to Hell. I suspect that the poor Hindus, Buddhists, and Moslems working hard all day providing for their families through subsistence agriculture — doing labor intensive work like planting, weeding and harvesting rice and other foods for themselves and their animals; feeding and caring for their goats, chickens and pigs; hauling water and firewood from a distance; cooking meals over a wood fire — are generally far better people morally than the wealthy western Christians with all their big, nicely decorated, air conditioned houses and multiple cars. Why? Lots of hard work, difficulty and struggle builds character. It builds it in both children and adults (it is a very important ingredient for the good development of the character of a child). Too much wealth, luxury, ease and idleness destroys character — in both children and adults. Wealth, social status, education, and power will all count as absolutely zero on that great Day of Judgment. In fact, I suspect that the Christians of America and Western Europe will, in the end, find themselves competing with the people of ancient Sodom for the hottest part of Hell. They have sullied the name Christian, brought discredit on Jesus Christ, by their great wickedness. That fact will count heavily against them.

The people of America and Europe spend a lot of time worrying about the environment. Concern about the environment seems to be the new religion of the West. Working for the environment is their way of doing “good deeds”. Although concern about this topic may be justified, it is no substitute for straight, clean moral living. One won’t go to hell for polluting the environment but he will go to hell for immoral living. The Bible teaches that God will, one day, destroy this world that we live in and replace it with a new heaven and a new earth. Maintaining a healthy environment is important but concern for the environment is no substitute for personal integrity and goodness.

Mar 2015