ore Americans call themselves spiritual but not religious. The so-called “religious nones” —increasingly follow pagan and occult beliefs.

• Last week we discussed

practices that are being promoted in our culture, such as mindfulness, yoga, and more. At their core, these are mental or physical tools (thinking and stretching) that have been combined with spiritual ideology. We don’t need to fear them unless we engage with them spiritually, for they can only lead to fear at that point.
•

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spirituality, however, is the way we commune with God through the exercise of our mind in the truth of God’s Word.
• Throughout the centuries, humans have had a variety of responses to the natural world.

Humans are Intimately

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to the the Rest of Creation

• While the heavens are declaring the glory of God (Psalm 119:1), meaning that God’s invisible attributes, namely His eternal power and divine nature are clearly seen (Romans 1:20), instead of worshipping God, humans

the truth (Romans 1:18) of God’s existence and worship the Creation rather than the Creator (Romans 1:22-23).
• We see these two extremes becoming more and more attractive in

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generations.

What does it look like to “suppress the truth” of God’s

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?

• For many “Nones,” the existence of God has been edged out by naturalism.
• Properly defined,

is a philosophical viewpoint that asserts that everything arises from natural properties and causes, and supernatural or spiritual explanations are excluded or discounted.
• Philosopher, theologian and apologist Vern Poythress notes >> Naturalism is typically associated with two convictions: (1) nature is all that there is; and (2) the scientific method is the primary and exclusive method for dealing with problems. … The denial of the supernatural is a way of trying to ignore God’s presence, to have the laws without the law giver.
• One of the focal points for this series has been to understand how Christianity has home-field advantage in these areas. The area of nature or creation is replete with examples of God’s intentional design:

// The

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is fine-tuned for human life on earth, meaning that if certain cosmic principles were even slightly different, we would not be able to survive.
// There is an irreducible

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and a specified

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in biological systems, indicated that they are not the product of random chance.
// The

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we look within ourselves, we see the intentional arrangement of subatomic particles (the same particles we find in meteorites), but in living things (created things), we find DNA, which are molecules that carry genetic information for life to happen.

• So, how can people deny such evidence? Either they remain willfully ignorant of it or they have a worldview that (such as one of the -isms) mentioned above that immediately discounts any supernatural arguments for the origin of life.

What does it look like to worship the creation rather than the Creator?

• John Calvin >> The human heart is an idol-making factory.
• Even when it comes to naturalism and scientism, humans must strive to

the divine, even to the point of creating it.
• Romans 1:22–23 | 22Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.
• Through these idolatries, humans use

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to create a structure of fear to subjugate other humans.
• “Instead of obeying Him, serving, praising, and worshipping Him, most people do what is written in Romans 1:25: ‘Who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.’ Many people have done this to a greater or lesser extent. They admire or worship all kinds of created things—like intelligence, beauty, influence, wealth, accomplishments, and talent—instead of honoring or worshiping God. Consequently, they are prone to things like idolizing people, jealousy, sexual immorality, covetousness, pride, unthankfulness, being bound by what people think of them. … It is meaningless to admire created things and not the Creator. None of them would have existed if the Almighty Creator had not created them”

The nature of the world and the nature of humans points to the existence of God. We are simply called to follow the signs.