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I remember reading one atheist's argument that if God exists, He is evil. It went something like this.

A man is sitting by a pool, reading a book. A two-year-old comes into the pool area and falls into the pool. The man does nothing. He could put down his book, jump in, grab the child and haul her to safety. But he does nothing. Is that man good or bad?

You can feel the pull at the heart strings. Clearly this man is evil. And you can feel the pull against God. "Yeah, why doesn't God save us all?" So before our brains are ever engaged, our stronger emotions on the subject flood us with outrage.

Here's the problem. It's not true. Not one bit.

It's not true that God does nothing. Infinitely not true. As even the atheist knows, "God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life." (John 3:16) "Gave His only begotten Son" is not nothing.

"Oh," they object, "but He could save all and He doesn't." I find it fascinating that they're outraged that He doesn't eliminate free will in order to save everyone, but they're outraged that He would impinge on their free will to make moral demands. Can't make up their minds?

But that part was easy. The real error occurs much more subtly. You see, we are not cute little "two-year-old" gods. We are not in the same species as God. You see, the underlying error is precisely the problem: "I will be like the Most High." We make ourselves out to be gods.

Let's revise the illustration to more aptly fit the true situation. A man has built a nice pool in the backyard complete with safety fence to keep out trouble. He's enjoying the sun and water when a crowd of angry mosquitos attempt to fly over the fence to attack the man. Unfortunately, they lack the ability and all fall into the water, drowning. Now, what would a good man do? If he was to sacrifice his son on behalf of the mosquitos and deign to scoop out a few to save them, his neighbor might think he was daft. "Hey, why are you saving any?" "Because I wanted to," would be his gracious and sufficient reply.

We are not little gods. We are not innocents, accidently falling into a problem. God is not under any obligation to save us. To do anything to save us. If He chooses to do so, it is an act of sheer grace -- unmerited favor -- not the act of a grand humanitarian. And we are not ambivalent toward God. We are hostile to God (Romans 8:7). And it is only out of magnificent grace that He takes the absolutely necessary step of sending His Son to pay for our sin that would provide the slightest hope of salvation for even one of us. Because His imaginary neighbors would all be saying, "Hey, why are you saving any?" And His reply would not be "Because it's right" or "Because I ought to", but "Because I want to."

"Bible verse and quote" from Jan Couns

Bible and Quote - March 4-8