The Darkened Mind

No man will see truth clearly at all and truly believe it unless God first opens his eyes to see it.

I sit listening to two college professors over a cup of coffee discuss their work and the intricacies of academic life. It's obvious they are smart men intellectually. But what is also obvious is that they are self-confident, arrogant men. I desire to walk to their table and after introducing myself, say to them, "Gentlemen, is it at all real to you that one day soon you will stand before Jesus Christ, the Judge of the universe, and give account to Him for everything you've ever done and every word you've ever spoken. You will give account for every word in your classroom, every motive you've ever had, and every thought of your heart. Are you now ready to meet Him?" Such men, unless they are Christians, would think I was either a dinosaur or mentally imbalanced.

As I think about it, it is clear. Men's minds are so darkened, prideful and blind, they could sooner be persuaded that they could build a ladder to the moon with spagetti noodles than be persuaded of their personal accountability to God. Their darkened minds have convinced themselves He doesn't even exist. If they believe He exists at all, in is obvious that He is not pertinent to this life and will not factor at all in their death.

Men more easily believe there is life on other planets than believe they will stand before God one day.

Men more easily believe that they came from monkeys than from their Creator.

Men more easily believe they will be re-incarnated as a bug than that their soul is to live forever.

Men more easily believe they will cease to exist after death than that they will exist consciously in an eternal state.

Men more easily believe that life originated here by the arrival of aliens than that they were created.

Men more easily delude themselves into thinking everything will somehow be all right when they die than face the truth that they will perish in their sins.

Why will people more easily believe a lie than the truth? Because the natural mind is darkened. It is at enmity with God and wants to believe a lie. They don't want God to exist; they want Him gone and out of the picture as a non-factor. If they can delude themselves into believing the lie, then they are free from any personal responsibility and accountability.

What an awesome and terrifying prospect awaits the secular, proud man upon death--to awake in eternity, only to realize too late that all you denied IS true and all you believed is a lie. Then its too late, for the eternity condition is irreversibly set.

The most terrifying thought an unbeliever can have--"Hell is real and what if I am there forever?"

The second most terrifying thought--"My personal accountability to the living God--when I die, I will stand before God in judgment."

- Mack Tomlinson