So that they are without excuse.

Romans 1:18-32 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

Unbelief and Its Consequences

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, ¹⁹ because that which is known about God is evident  within them; for God made it evident to them. ²⁰ For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. ²¹ For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. ²² Professing to be wise, they became fools, ²³ and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and  crawling creatures.

²⁴ Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them. ²⁵ For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.

²⁶ For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural, ²⁷ and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error.

²⁸ And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper, ²⁹ being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are gossips, ³⁰ slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, ³¹ without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful; ³² and although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them.

Today’s text says:  The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident  within them; for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.    If science, or if anyone views all that exists, from the magnitude and expanse of the universe, to the beauty and majesty of the physical earth, mountains, oceans, rivers, forests, plains and desserts; to the intricacies of DNA, genetics and subatomic structures, they will have to admit that the evidence of creation points to a designer rather than to a series of random accidents and occurrences. Consider this, the Monarch butterfly larvae feeds solely on milkweed, which is toxic. The toxicity builds up to the point where other animals will not eat them because of their bitterness. The toxic bitterness carries through even to the adult butterfly so that it too is an undesirable target of birds and preditors. The Viceroy butterfly has no defense of its own, but because it closely resembles the appearance of the Monarch, it too is avoided. Surely it was not years of Monarch science that devised this unique plan and surely it is not the result of an accident. Rather, it is one example of the unique and divine plan of the creator of the universe.

Why is it then that science and many people continue to proclaim and accept as truth things that are speculations and theory?  The text says:  Even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and  crawling creatures. Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them. For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.   The creature that many who believe a lie rather than the truth serve is self. By denying God, they believe that they themselves become the one who determines what is good and what is evil, what is darkness and what is light; they determine what is truth and what is a lie. This is evident in our culture and society today. Each person is encouraged to create their own reality based on feelings rather than on facts. The lie that perception equals reality; that a person is whatever they perceive themselves to be, does not change the facts or the truth. One of the most dangerous lies that is told by our culture and society today is that we are all equal, all the same. Our equality is not based the efforts of man to makes us the same. The Monarch butterfly and the thousands of other types of butterflies are not all the same, but they are equal in that each is uniquely created by God. To try to say that all people are the same is as ridiculous as to say that every butterfly is the same, or that a mouse and an elephant are the same. The unique qualities and characteristics of every living thing are not what makes one greater than the other. They are evidence of a divine creator who designed each one. The unique qualities and characteristics of each individual person are not what makes one greater than the other. They are evidence that we are all equally created by a loving God. In Jeremiah 1:5 God says: “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you;
Before you were born I sanctified you.”   Our equality is not based in the perception of people. It is based in the love of the God who created each of us uniquely, yet in His image and likeness. We are all equal according to John 3:16: “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”   Whoever, regardless of race, ethnicity or the color of their skin; whoever, regardless of their gender, their age, their physical stature or the social standing, God loves everyone equally and so Christ died for the forgiveness of their sins and the promise of eternal life.  

The text says:  … just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper,  being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful;  and although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them. - - The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident  within them; for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.   

Heavenly Father, Lord Jesus Christ; precious Holy Spirit, thank You that You have created us each uniquely, in Your image; that we are certainly not the same, yet we are equally loved by You, the one who designed and created us; the one who died so that we could live. May we as a people learn to celebrate our uniqueness and acknowledge our equality in You.  Amen.