Difference between revisions of "The fool says in his heart, "There is no God.""

Many atheists are very intelligent. It is not intelligence, or a lack thereof, that leads a person to reject belief in God. It is a lack of righteousness that leads a person to reject belief in God. Many people do not object to the idea of a Creator, as long as that Creator minds His own business and leaves them alone. What people reject is the idea of a Creator who demands morality from His creation. Rather than struggle against a guilty conscience, some people reject the idea of God altogether. Psalm 14:1 calls this type of person a “fool.”

Psalm 14:1 says that denying God’s existence is commonly based on a desire to lead a wicked life. Several prominent atheists have admitted the truth of this...

Belief in a divine Being is accompanied by a sense of accountability to that Being. So, to escape the condemnation of conscience, which itself was created by God, some simply deny the existence of God. They tell themselves, “There is no overseer of the world. There is no Judgment Day. I can live as I please.” The moral pull of the conscience is thus more easily ignored.

Trying to convince oneself there is no God is unwise. The point of “The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God’” is that it is an impious, sinful heart that will deny God. The atheist’s denial flies in the face of much evidence to the contrary, including his own conscience and the universe he lives in.

A lack of evidence of God’s existence is not the true reason atheists reject a belief in God. Their rejection is due to a desire to live free of the moral constraints God requires and to escape the guilt that accompanies the violation of those constraints. “The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them . . . so that people are without excuse…Their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools…Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts…They exchanged the truth about God for a lie” (Romans 1:18–25).^[2]

In each case, the psalm is about the stupidity and wickedness of those who ignore God and exploit people as if there would never be a day of reckoning. But, there is the assurance that God sees what is happening, acts on behalf of those who are hurt, and will one day bring his full salvation to those who trust and obey him.

The dominant theme is the folly of those who live without thought of God.

Psalm 14 may have one of the most dramatic opening verses of all psalms:

“The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God.’” (v.1)

There are two things to note right away.

First, the New International Version has a footnote for this verse, and it tells us that “fool” – which is the Hebrew word nāḇāl – means someone who is morally deficient. He’s not merely stupid, as if he can’t think straight. Rather someone described as nāḇāl is a fool like an adulterer or bank robber or embezzler. He’s not unintelligent, but he is wicked. There’s even a sense of defiance in the meaning, like a child who resents being told to tidy her room so instead switches on the TV or calls her friend, anything other than obey Mom or Dad. The kind of fool described in the psalm may be very clever, but does what is wrong and does it with defiance.

Second, we think of someone who says “there is no God” as an atheist, a person who denies God’s existence. That’s not the meaning here. This fool engages in practical atheism, not actual atheism.^[3]