²² Professing to be wise, they became fools, ²³ and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures.

Greatest of irony that it is, rejecting God is the height of foolishness. Atheism, despite its pseudo-sophistication, bodes pathetic at the best, and demonic at the worst. Jeremiah said it well: “Every man is stupid, devoid of knowledge; every goldsmith is put to shame by his idols; for his molten images are deceitful, and there is no breath in them” (Jer 10:14). The psalmist agrees: “The fool has said in his heart, ‘There is no God.’ They are corrupt, they have committed abominable deeds; there is no one who does good” (Ps 14:1, see also Ps 53:1).

Denying God is no less foolish than denying the existence of the sun or moon. “But,” you say, “I cannot see God.” We could marshal an infinite number of examples of reality we cannot see, yet do not deny. We breathe air we cannot see. We accept moral truth though not scientifically measured. The absurdity of denying God is unparalleled, especially when couched in philosophical frameworks. “Professing to be wise, they became fools.” One can sense God’s derision. “He who sits in the heavens laughs, the Lord scoffs at them” (Ps 2:4). “The Lord laughs at him, for He sees his day is coming” (Ps 37:13).

Herein is the origin of all the false religions of the world. By rejecting the true Creator God of the universe, humans needed something to fill the void, so they began to form alternate constructs of God, infinitely inferior, of course, but nonetheless objects of worship. On the surface of it, without any depth of thinking, one can see the patent ridiculousness of worshiping statues made to look like humans or animals, made of earthly materials that will in time disintegrate as all material things do. Human worship has degraded into short-lived gods of metal, wood, and anything else they can find to represent a kind of god they can control and make however they like. The word “fools” is aptly chosen, for it means “to be devoid of good sense or judgment.” Put simply, all human efforts to define deity are senseless. We get it wrong every time!

So today their churches are full of marble statues (which are given various levels of veneration), temples have their stone gods and tribal witch doctors their amulets. But we have a God who is “incorruptible,” who is not made of created material. He is the Creator of all things. Therefore worshiping Him not only makes sense, but it is the wisest thing one can do. The acknowledgement of God and worship of Him are the only philosophical “system” that is wise.

Lord God, I worship You and in so doing anchor my life in eternity.