Most of you will recognize the words under which this article is written as being from the old song: “There’s a message true and glad, For the sinful and the sad, Ring it out, ring it out; It will give them courage new, It will help them to be true; Ring it out, ring it out.” The “27th Annual Oklahoma City Lectures” did just that! In today’s world, it seems that satan has the upper hand, but in this lectureship, for four days, truth had the upper hand!
Subjects that have been twisted, in an effort to teach what they never taught, were set forth in their truth! It was done in an open forum while the public was invited to attend. Those who spoke, stood up in public and spoke; they did not hide behind the smoke screen of “facebook,” as the unseen and unknown! No, these twelve men spoke in the open for all to see and hear! They stood up for the word of the God, they put forth the physical evidence for to test. Just as the apostle of Christ did, when he declared the existence of God: “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” (Rom. 1:20). The evidence of the “invisible things” of God are clearly evidenced by the things that are seen! Just how “clear” are the “invisible things” seen? The Greek word used by Paul is kathoraō and it means: “to behold fully, that is distinctly apprehend.” The “invisible things” of God are so distinctly apprehended that Paul concluded with these words: “so that they are without excuse.” There is no justifiable excuse for not reaching the honest conclusion; God is!
Let me here give the words from an interview between “SKEPTIC” magazine and Ann Druyan (the wife of the late Carl Sagan):
SKEPTIC: “I want to get down to where the rubber meets the road in the ontological question of god’s existence. What did Carl call himself— atheist, agnostic, non-theist…?’
DRUYAN: “Carl really was an agnostic, truly. He felt that people who say that they know how the universe came to be, who made it or didn’t make it, are kind of foolish in a way, whether they are believers or atheists. Carl believed that in a universe that is so vast, and for a species as young and ignorant as we are, the only reasonable position to take on these ultimate questions is agnosticism.’
SKEPTIC: “What most people mean by “atheist” is “belief that there is no God,” whereas agnostic means that we just don’t know?”
DRUYAN: “Literally yes, we do not know. Not that we can’t know, but at the moment in the present state we know so little about the universe. We’ve only been at this exploration of the universe in any sort of systematic way for what, four centuries? That’s such a tiny fraction of history. Carl would say “we just don’t know,” and the more we acknowledge how much we don’t know, the less chance we have of assuming things that turn out not to be true.” (The interview was done by Michael Shermer of SKEPTIC).
Nevertheless, the words from the Psalms: “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork” (Psa. 19:1). Thus, the evidence is overwhelming! Therefore, Paul’s words, “so that they are without excuse!”
Those who are blind, generally lead those who are blind! Their eyes are closed to the evidence, because the evidence leads them to a conclusion that God exists and this is unacceptable to them! But, why is God so unacceptable? If God exists, then, there is life after death and if there is life after death, then, there is a judgment! It is my firm belief that it is the judgment that the atheist and the agnostic fear the most! You see, they desire to live as they please without having to give account for it.
Finally, “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment” (Heb. 9:27). As surely as death, there is the judgment! God as also give us the assurance of the judgment in another way: “… God … but now commandeth all men every where to repent: Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead” (Acts 17:30-31). The atheist and the agnostic scoff at the idea of a resurrection. Why? Because it means life after death: God! God exists and there is going to be a judgement; therefore, let us “ring it out!”
Frank R. Williams