Category: Theology

Atheism – twisting man’s chief end

In explaining why atheism is pernicious to the atheist himself, Stephen Charnock writes that:

[The atheist] deposeth the noble end of his own being, which was to serve a God and have a satisfaction in him, to seek a God and be rewarded by him; and he that departs from this end, recedes from his own nature.

Works, Vol. 1, Pg 175, Banner of Truth, 2010

True contentment and joy are only found in fulfilling one’s created purpose. Looking to creation, Charnock points is to the sun taking joy as it obeys the Creator’s summons and runs across the sky (Ps 19:5). Charnock’s co-pastor Thomas Watson echoes this idea:

Creatures below us, and above us, bring glory to God; and do we think to set rent free? Shall everything glorify God but man?… The curious workmanship of heaven sets forth the glory of its Maker; the firmament is beautified and pencilled out in blue and azure colours, where the power and wisdom of God may be clearly seen. ‘The heavens declare his glory:’ we may see the glory of God blazing in the sun, and twinkling in the stars. Look into the air, the birds, with their chirping music, sing hymns of praises to God. Every beast in its kind glorifies God.

A Body of Divinity, pg 9-10, Banner of Truth, 2019

All creation proclaims God’s glory, yet as long as the atheist persists in unbelief against God, he can never find contentment or fulfill his true purpose. Charnock concludes:

What content can any man have that runs from his end, opposeth his own nature, denies a God by whom and for whom he was created, whose image he bears, which is the glory of his nature, and sinks into the very drags of brutishness?

Works, pg 175

Bavinck on psalm singing

Beautiful words to encourage the church in the singing of Psalms…

It is the harmony of God’s objective revelation and His subjective leading which is voiced in the song, and which is sung as in the presence of God, dedicated to His honor, which calls upon all creatures to join in the paean of praise, which keeps on singing until all that is in heaven and on earth picks up its chords, and which is, therefore, for all ages and for all generations, the richest expression of the deepest experiences that the human soul has felt. The psalms teach us to say what goes on in our hearts in connection with His revelation in Christ through the Spirit. Because of this significance these psalms were uttered by the Psalmists not only, but were also placed on the lips of the church of all ages.

Herman Bavinck, The Wonderful Works of God, 2019, Westminster Seminary Press, pg 93. (Originally published in Dutch in 1909 as Magnalia Dei: Onderwijzing in de Christelijke Religie naar Gereformeerde Belijdenus, translated in 1956 by H. Zylstra as Our Reasonable Faith)