The Fool’s Creed
By Bill Denton
The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God . . . .” (Psalm 14:1, NASB95)
Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia said: "God assumed from the beginning that the wise of the world would view Christians as fools, and he has not been disappointed. If I have brought any message today, it is this: Have the courage to have your wisdom regarded as stupidity. Be fools for Christ. And have the courage to suffer the contempt of the sophisticated world."
Penny Brown Roberts, “Scalia: Faithful Live for Christ,” theadvocate.com
It seems that from whichever direction one chooses to consider things, somebody is a fool! The Psalmist declared that the fool has announced to himself, “There is no God.” On the other hand, the worldly view of the non-God crowd is that those who believe in God and His Son, Jesus Christ, are just a bunch of fools. See, somebody is a fool.
Consider for a moment the person who believes in God and Jesus. This person doesn’t come to believe in a vacuum. After all, he or she has had to deal with the biblical explanation of the Universe itself. They have been forced to confront the obvious about themselves: there is something terribly wrong with people, and it’s called sin. They have heard that there is good news proclaimed in the name of Jesus and it’s good because it has to do with the solution to our sin problem. They have it on the word of God that while life may bring sorrows and tragedies, and end in death, ultimately there is a resurrection to life and an eternal home in heaven. Foolishness, declares the non-God folks.
So what does the unbeliever have to offer us? Frankly, nothing. Any appeal to human wisdom immediately runs into the reality wall. Any appeal to technology, philosophy, or any number of promising areas of benefit to humankind fails to generate much hope. After all, the evidence in whatever area one might care to explore, reveals not just failure, but hopelessness.
Which fool’s creed is better? One that consistently produces hopelessness or one that consistently produces hope? In one sense, we get to choose what kind of foolishness we’ll believe, and what kind of fool we’ll be.
If the biblical message about Jesus isn’t true, if he didn’t take away our sins, if he didn’t rise from the dead and if he’s not coming back to gather us to our eternal reward, then it doesn’t matter what we choose. If it’s true, then it makes all the difference in the world. Perhaps this is one reason the Psalmist understood so well the root problem of the real fool. He is the one who declared God nonexistent. He says to himself that God isn’t true. But, God if God is true, then the real fool is the one who says he isn’t. I believe God is! I know. I’m a fool. What are you?
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