Believing in God

"Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble" (James 2:19).

It is a good thing to believe in God. A man must close his eyes to this vast creation to deny the Creator. There is no excuse for anyone to be an atheist because any honest person can clearly see that God made the world (Rom. 1:20). The evidence is so plain that a man is a fool if he denies it. "The fool hath said in his heart, there is no God" (Psa. 14:1).

Denying the existence of God is serious. No one can go to heaven without believing in God (Heb. 11:6). Robert Ingersoll mocked God in public. Lenin and Stalin outlawed the free worship of God. Madalyn O'Hair ridiculed Christianity. Carl Sagan boasted that evolution is the explanation of our origin. These are all dead. They no longer defy the Creator. But universities are still full of this foolish arrogance. Professors do their best to persuade young minds that they are nothing but animals.

But there is something worse than being an atheist. Paul said, "But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel" (I Tim. 5:8). An infidel is a fool, but a man who will not provide for his own family is worse than he is! What does this say about the idea that no one sin is worse than another? What does it say about a man who is too sorry to work or too stingy to help his own needy relatives?

James said it is good to believe in the one true God. It is much better to believe in God than to believe in no God or to believe in all gods. Belief in God is the basis for a safe, civilized society. How people think of each other and what they think about God makes a huge difference in how they act. If they believe that people are created in the image of God, they are far more prone to respect each other and treat one another civilly. If they think people are just animals, they will treat each other like animals. If they believe God watches over the world and will hold us accountable for our lives, they tend to be more conscientious about how they live. If they convince themselves that there is no God, or that God will not judge us, they will have no real standard for right and wrong and no genuine concern for their behavior.

When Americans in recent decades were asked "Do you believe in God?" they overwhelmingly answered yes. But it has become increasingly apparent that numerous people believe in their own version of God, not the Bible doctrine of God. In the much publicized Baylor University survey on religion, the majority of people said they believe in God. But one of every four people who answered yes to this question said they believed in a model of deity described as a "distant God"—one who does not intervene in the world or hold us accountable for our actions as the Bible teaches. Not surprisingly, less than five percent of people who have this view of God think living together outside of marriage is wrong, and only one out of three who believe in a "distant" God think homosexuality is wrong. One doesn't have to be a college researcher to see that one's view of who God is and what He is like plays a big part in how he behaves.

We must not forget, though, that James wrote to people who had the correct view of God. He is talking about Christians who believe in the one true God but fail to put that belief into practice. What good is believing in God and even arguing against those who deny Him if we are not living like we believe? "But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?" (James 2:20).
—Kerry Duke