No excuse - God is in the world

Romans 1:20 (NIV)

For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.

The argument the apostle presents is that “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, because God has made it plain to them.” God may be invisible in His nature to us, but His creations and His actions in our life should be evident that there is no excuse not to believe in God.

An atheist was walking through the woods, admiring all the "accidents" that evolution had created.  "What majestic trees!  What powerful rivers!  What beautiful animals!" he said to himself. As he was walking alongside the river, he heard a rustling in the bushes behind him.  Turning to look, he saw a seven-foot grizzly bear charge towards him.  He ran away as fast as he could up the path.

He looked over his shoulder and saw the grizzly was closing.  Somehow he ran even faster, so scared that tears came to his eyes.  He looked again, and the bear was even closer.  His heart was pounding, and he tried to run faster.  He tripped and fell to the ground.  He rolled over to pick himself up, but the bear was right over him, reaching for him with its left paw and raising its right paw to strike him.

At that instant the atheist cried, "Oh my God!" Time stopped.  The bear froze.  The forest was silent.  Even the river stopped moving.

As a bright light shone upon the man, a voice came out of the sky, "You deny my existence for all these years, teach others that I don't exist, and even credit creation to a cosmic accident.  Do you expect me to help you out of this predicament?  Am I to count you as a believer?"

The atheist looked directly into the light and said, "I would feel like a hypocrite to become a Christian after all these years, but perhaps you could make the bear a Christian?"

"Very well," said the voice.

The light went out.  The river ran.  The sounds of the forest resumed.  Then the bear dropped his right paw, brought both paws together, bowed its head, and spoke: "Lord, for this food which I am about to receive, I am truly thankful."

This was intended to add a little humor to the morning, but there is serious message in the joke. Even those who deny God will at times call out to God in their panic or moment of distress. Madalyn Murray O'Hair and her son Jon ran an organization called American Atheists. She was instrumental is having Bible reading removed from the schools. In 1995 she was kidnapped, murdered, and her body mutilated, along with her son Jon Murray and granddaughter Robin Murray O'Hair, by former American Atheist office manager David Roland Waters.  One has to wonder what she thought in those last moments when she finally met her creator.  Jude 1:4 says, “For certain individuals whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord.”