Can Man Live Without God?

There is a common belief in the secular world that science will find the answers to all of humanity’s problems. More and more, the material world treats God as a myth.

The Bible teaches us, “What is a man that You are mindful of him, or the son of man that You take care of him? You have made him a little lower than the angels; You have crowned him with glory and honor.” (Hebrews 2:6-7) This is the way humanity was created, but something happened which caused them to lose their honor. “A man who is in honor yet does not understand, is like the beasts that perish.” (Psalm 49:20)  Sin robs us of our godlikeness.

How tragic that humanity created in the image of God can lose its godlikeness.  This is the story from the garden of Eden. “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you shall eat of it you shall surely die.” (Genesis 2:16-17) The Hebrew language says, “dying; you shall continue to die.” There was an immediate spiritual death which ultimately climaxed in physical death. The first thing sin causes us to lose is the death of wonder.

The Death of Wonder

A child is born into a marvelous world where anything is possible. This is why children love fairy-tails where animals talk and do all kinds of beautiful things. The child believes in a magical world. We can ride through the sky on the backs of fire-breathing dragons. The child is fascinated with the world around him. 

The infinite capacity of God is revealed in the ability of a child to rejoice in the monotonous. You will never see a bored baby. They can make a game of anything to entertain themselves, but as we grow and mature, it takes greater and greater things to hold our attention. 

Only God is great enough to keep us from boredom. “And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness; God was manifested in the flesh, Justified in the Spirit, Seen by angels, Preached among the Gentiles, Believed on in the world, Received up into glory.” (I Timothy 3:16)

1. The Loss of Mystery

Under the pretense of science, the theory of evolution has robbed humanity of mystery. The evolutionist boasts, “Darwin freed us from the shackles of God,” but Darwin’s theory has reduced us to time, chance, and matter. By reducing humanity to time, chance, and matter, we have lost the miraculous. The secularist only believes in what he can see. The atheist does not believe in miracles and thinks science will explain everything. He only believes in the things he can reproduce in the test tubes of his science laboratory.

2. The Loss of Gratitude

One of the lies of evolution is everything evolves into a higher form of life. History destroys that assumption. There is something broken in people which causes them to do bad things.  The apostle Paul warned about the end-time, “But know this, that in the last days perilous times shall come: for men shall be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,” (II Timothy 3:1-2) Because the atheist doesn’t believe in God, there is no one for him to thank. The heavens are empty.

There is an old Christmas tradition of parents putting candy in their children’s stockings on Christmas Eve. On Christmas morning, the children find the candy in their socks and thank their parents. How much more thank you and I should be to have two feet to put into our socks, but without God, there is no one for us to give thanks. 

3. The Loss of Awe

To the child, a simple tiny balloon is a magical delight, but as we age, it takes more incredible complexity to make us stand in awe. The believer can see God in a flower and stands in amazement at the glories of nature, but not the unbeliever. It is well said, “There are two groups of people in the world, those who see miracles everywhere, and those who see miracles nowhere.

To the atheist, there is no sense of awe or wonder. Everything simply exists as the result of cause and effect without any miracles. Boredom is the result of a life without surprise.  Can man live without God? We can exist for a few years, but to truly live, we must know the everlasting God who can share with us eternal life.

As We Age, Only God is Great Enough to Keep Us Amazed.