Rise Up And Build
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"So They said, `Let us rise up and build,' Then they set their hands to do this good work," Neh.  2:18
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	Sadly, and tragically, Atheism is on the increase in our modern society. And many atheists are very evangelistic in their Satanic endeavors to destroy faith in a Supreme Being.  For example, the late Richard Dawkins was a prolific writer. Of the many books he authored, two bore the titles: “The God Delusion,”  and “The Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution.”  Obviously, a book entitled “The God Delusion” would contend that one who believes in God, in a supreme Being, is deluded.  Of course, if there is no God, then the only explanation for our very existence would have to be the Dawinian theory of Evolution; nothing was created; we evolved from a single cell which spontaneously generated itself from nothing, and which over eons of time has evolved upward to man as he currently is!	

	More and more in modern times the person who believes in the existence of God, and in the Bible as the inspired word of God, is ridiculed and mocked.  The intelligence of one  who believes that God “is” (Heb. 11:6) is questioned, and he is regarded as superstitious, behind the times, uneducated, and uninformed.  I agree that many religious people have basically “inherited” their religion; they are what they are because they are following in the footsteps of their parents without having taken the time to seriously ponder why they believe what they believe.  Obviously this is not what God wants of us.  We are commanded to “try the spirits,” I John 4:1, to “prove all things,” I Thess. 5:21, to  “take heed how” we hear, Luke 8:18, to “take heed what” we hear, Mark 4:24, and we are given the example of the noble Bereans who “received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily whether these things were so,” Acts 17:11.   The very fact that we are commanded to “be ready always to give an answer to every man” who asks “a reason for the hope” that is within us, I Pet. 3:15, is proof that God does not want us to be mindless robots ready to embrace, without investigation “every wind of doctrine,” Eph. 4:15, which might be blowing in our direction.

	The reasons as to why one should believe in God are so abundant and so convincing that I must concur with the Psalmist who exclaimed, saying, “the fool has said in his heart there is no God,” Psalm 14:1.  However, the burden of this article is not to present reasons as to why a person should believe in God; rather its focus has to do with the consequences — consequences which necessarily follow if  there is no God.  

If There Is No God, Then:

	1. There is no absolute basis for morality!  The validity of this statement is affirmed in scripture.  Note Psalm 14:1, the beginning of which says “the fool has said in his heart there is no God,” and which concludes with these words: “they are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none who does good.”  Note also Romans 1:20 which reads as follows: “For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse.” In this verse the inspired writer reasoned from the effect back to the cause; in other words, the existence of the “creation” necessarily infers the existence of the Creator.  However in the verses which follow the writer described a people who once “knew God,” but did “not glorify Him as God,” a people whose “foolish heart was darkened,” who professed “to be wise,” but who “became fools,” who “exchanged the truth of God for a lie,” whom God gave “up to vile passions” (vs. 21-25), and then the morality of those so described went from bad to worse as they became “filled with all unrighteousness.”  To clearly define all the sins of which they became guilty would result in an “x-rated” article!  

	Consider America as an example.  This nation was largely founded by people who believed in the existence of God and in the moral principles so clearly set forth in both the Old and New Testaments.  But primarily beginning in the 1960’s “God” has largely been legislated to the background, and the Godless theory of secular Evolution has been thrust to the foreground.  Consequently abortion (baby killing!) has been legalized, along with so-called “same-sex” marriage, plus the introduction of “gender” issues, so that 
“He” often becomes “she,” who sometimes reverts back to “he,” and who dresses or undresses accordingly.  

	2. There are no absolute moral values.  Granted,  most atheists regard certain forms of conduct as being “evil,” but they have no absolute standard, or basis, for even calling something “evil.”  Hence, what is “evil” for one may be looked upon as “good” by another.  No doubt this is one of the reasons why we hear so much now-a-days about “Postmodernism” (“a philosophy that says absolute truth does not exist”), and which leads to Relativism, the idea “that all truth is relative.”  Of course, a thinking person wonders “how can one be absolutely sure that there are no absolute truths?”  Moreover, if truth is relative, then what is truth for one person may be erroneous for another, and what may be “wrong” for one person may be “right” for another.  Consequently in today’s world the person who affirms that God “is,” and opposes certain forms of conduct as being “evil,” is the one who is vilified as a “hate monger,” and often called a sexist, racist, homophobic bigot.  And, sadly, the ones who are in the forefront of teaching Godless Evolution, and the similarly character-destroying theories of Postmodernism and Relativism are professors in our public schools, colleges, and universities — some of whom regard it as almost their “sacred” duty to destroy the faith which many parents sincerely try to instill into their children!

	3. Despair Prevails.  After all, if there is no God to serve, if there is no heaven to gain, no hell to shun, and if our total existence is confined to this life only, then there is no real purpose in life, and nothing to strive for when life on earth is over.  This despair may be illustrated by these words of  unbelieving Robert Ingersoll (1833-1899), spoken at his brother’s funeral: “Life is a narrow vale between the cold and barren peaks of two eternities.  We strive in vain to look beyond the heights.  We cry aloud and the only answer is the echo of our wailing cry...”  Read those words and then compare them with the following words penned by that peerless apostle to the Gentiles, who was in prison, awaiting execution for having believed in God, in Christ, and for having preached the saving gospel of Jesus Christ: “...the time of my departure is at hand.  I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.  Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing,” 2 Tim. 4:6-8.  

	4. One is forced to believe the unbelievable!  The Atheist believes that something came from nothing.  He believes that his ability to think came from mindless matter.  He believes that life came from non-life.  He believes in the existence of the creation without a Creator.  He believes the unbelievable (and the unscientific) and yet has the gall to question the intelligence of one who believes that mind is greater than matter and that therefore the first cause that caused everything else is Mind — a mind necessarily possessing all the attributes the Bible ascribes to “God.”

	Conclusion: Pity the poor Atheist, whose philosophy has been described as “a journey without a destination, a body without a soul, a religion without reason, life without meaning, a faith without hope, and a universe without God.”
	              ****    —B. Witherington

“The parents should make the child realize that ‘no’ is a complete sentence.”

“It’s kind of hard for a child to learn to live right if he’s never seen it done.”

Work Group Number One meets tonight after worship.  We encourage all in this group to please meet and participate in this very important work.

Our Gospel Meeting is Getting Closer!  It is scheduled for May 6--11, with Dennis Allan preaching. It behooves each of us to plan our schedules accordingly, and resolve to do all within our abilities to pray for, prepare for, work for, and attend this meeting.  .

The Sick Among Us:  At this writing (Friday p.m.) Marionette Parks is in the St. Joseph Hospital in Riverview, FL.  She has been hospitalized twice before in recent  weeks.  Her daughter, Paula Pollice, is now wearing a cast on her leg and must depend on someone else to drive her to the hospital.  Jerry Harrington is having a tough time dealing with cancer; the same is true with Mary Lee Kelley.  Sharon Blankenship was suffering last week with “walking pneumonia.”  “Blank” Blankenship has a severe case of emphysema and has great difficulty breathing.  Juanita Hardin has serious knee problems and may have to undergo knee replacement surgery.  Randy Lindsey was unable to attend last Sunday.  Jerry Lindsey receives dialysis treatments and is on a wait list for a kidney transplant. P.J. Anderson seems to be recovering on schedule following his surgery caused by a collapsed lung.  Belinda and Steven Ehl have on-going heath issues. Lillian Ortiz has serious heart problems; her husband, Victor suffers from a herniated disc.  Glenda Romanski was ill last Sunday.  The Romanski’s daughter, Melissa Riley, receives chemotherapy for cancer. Margaret Allan  suffers from much low back pain; her son, Jimmy Paschal, has serious health issues. Pray also for Anita Throop, Edith Ortiz, Billy Mathews, Pat Wessels, Sharon LeMire, Connie Doss, and all the ill. 

April 15, 2018

If There is No God

            Elders    		 Seffner Church of Christ		Deacons                             Everett Hardin754 0303		     621 E. Wheeler Road          Mike Ehl              986 4323       Jerry Jamison  657 3161                    Seffner, FL 33584             Gerald Paugh 330 573 6141  Mike Soule     374 1085                 Phone (813) 684 1297          
Bobby Witherington	                                    	         

        Evangelist:
Payton Anderson 402 990 3336

www.seffnercoc.org
		    			                           				                          
          Editor:		 				                  Times of Services:
Bobby Witherington				Sunday:	Bible Study	10:00 a.m.
(813) 681 6422							Worship	10:50 a.m.
(813) 571 0058							Worship	 6:00 p.m.
						Wednesday:	Bible Study	 7:30 p.m.

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