They Are Without Excuse

Man has chosen to draw a line with regards to those things that are to be accepted beyond the laws of nature. The inclinations towards a humanist perspective on life continues to influence man’s ability to accept that which stands outside of logical and philosophical reasoning. It is the advancements of man that continue to feed and adjust the epistemology (or theory of knowledge), by which our claims are measured and the basis or grounds for interpretations given. For example, the claims made in Scripture by Israel is not grounded on establishing an affirmation for the existence of God,  but rely on a believe in God through self-revelation to the Patriarchs and Prophets. Belief in God is structured on a responsive reaction to an initiative established by God, and not based on investigations led by human reasoning and origin.  However, today this has been restructured in order to have God be the object of study through natural scientific comparison and not through self-revelation. The argument then becomes, that if there is an argument for the existence of God, then it must be aligned with the natural laws of existence.

It does bypass man that God is self-existent. By this I mean that God’s existence is not based on external circumstances. Because He has always been and is, as Creator, He is the very substance by which all existence came to be. This being the case, then a natural scientific study for the existence of God would be based on matter created by the very God who’s existence it is attempting to prove. This would only serve to emphasize the limitations established in natural matter, which can only serve to provide a partial fingerprint of its creator.

However note that natural matter (the things that have been made) does provide a clear look to God’s eternal power and Godhead, providing a view of His invisible nature and attributes.  This is clearly stated in Romans 1:20, “For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse.”

The issue with a natural scientific study is not in obtaining the proof for the very existence of God, it is when the study logically attempts to move further than what nature has provided by moving passed the cause and effect of nature and attempting to place God within the confines of natural laws. Again, God is creator and nature is created. To attempt to study nature in an attempt to study God is a reversed order in which that which has been created will be limited by a limitless Creator. That which has been created is only a beginning to understanding the nature of God and removes all excuses for the argument of His existence. That which has been created is subject to its Creator.

Calvin goes on to explain it in this way, “No idea can be formed of God without including his eternity, power, wisdom, goodness, truth, righteousness, and mercy. His eternity appears evident, because he is the maker of all things – his power, because he holds all thing in his hands and continues their existence – his wisdom, because he has arranged things in such an exquisite order – his goodness, for there is no other cause than himself, why he created all things, and not other reason, why he should be induced to preserve them – his justice, because in his government he punishes the guilty and defends the innocent – his mercy, because he bears with so much forbearance the perversity of men – and his truth, because he is unchangeable.”

Calvin concludes with the following, “Having forsaken the truth of God, they turned to the vanity of their own reason, all the acuteness of which is fading and passes away like vapour”.

In conclusion, man attempts to rationalize the existence of God within the study of nature, only to be led by their own reason into a blindness to the truth found in the very testimony of nature itself. This self-imposed ignorance does not excuse them from the very fact that nature itself claims the very attributes of our creative God that holds all things in the palms of His hands.