{"id":2662,"date":"2016-01-14T11:46:53","date_gmt":"2016-01-14T16:46:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prayerplainandsimple\/?p=2662"},"modified":"2016-01-14T11:46:53","modified_gmt":"2016-01-14T16:46:53","slug":"a-prayer-against-creeping-atheism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prayerplainandsimple\/2016\/01\/a-prayer-against-creeping-atheism.html","title":{"rendered":"A Prayer Against Creeping Atheism"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"p1\" style=\"text-align: center\"><strong><span class=\"s1\"><i>The wicked are too proud to seek God.<\/i><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\" style=\"text-align: center\"><strong><span class=\"s1\"><i><span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 \u00a0 <\/span>They seem to think that God is dead.<\/i><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\" style=\"text-align: center\"><strong><span class=\"s1\"><i>They think, \u201cNothing bad will ever happen to us!<\/i><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\" style=\"text-align: center\"><strong><span class=\"s1\"><i><span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 \u00a0 <\/span>We will be free of trouble forever!\u201d<\/i><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\" style=\"text-align: center\"><strong><span class=\"s1\"><i>The wicked think, \u201cGod isn\u2019t watching us!<\/i><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\" style=\"text-align: center\"><strong><span class=\"s1\"><i><span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 \u00a0 <\/span>He has closed his eyes and won\u2019t even see what we do!\u201d<\/i><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\" style=\"text-align: center\"><strong><span class=\"s1\"><i> They think, \u201cGod will never call us to account.\u201d<\/i><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\" style=\"text-align: center\"><strong><span class=\"s1\"><i>Psalm 10:4, 6, 11, 12b<\/i><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">This Psalm aptly describes the philosophies of atheists, pantheists, or Deists:<\/span><\/p>\n<ol class=\"ol1\">\n<li class=\"li1\"><span class=\"s1\">God is dead.<\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"li1\"><span class=\"s1\">There are no standards of morality.<\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"li1\"><span class=\"s1\">Nothing and no one is holding us accountable. <\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"li1\"><span class=\"s1\">If there is a God, he is uninvolved in our lives.<\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"li1\"><span class=\"s1\">Nothing is bad, so, we can do whatever we please.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">If we&#8217;re not careful some of this philosophy can infiltrate the believer\u2019s belief system. Our faith can slowly ebb away, and before we know it, we are allocating certain areas of our lives (our sexuality in particular) to an atheistic philosophy that says, \u201cGod\u2019s not really involved in <em>this<\/em> area of my life. I\u2019ll do it because it feels right.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Let\u2019s be on guard against creeping atheism; we are bombarded by this philosophy everywhere we turn in our culture. All the more reason to stay in the Word daily, aligning our thoughts with the Truth. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><i>Father,<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><i>Forgive me for my fuzzy philosophy. I repent of any creeping atheism in any arena of my life. I realign my belief system with Your Word:<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n<ol class=\"ol1\">\n<li class=\"li1\"><span class=\"s1\"><i>You are not dead but very much alive. <\/i><\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"li1\"><span class=\"s1\"><i>You have standards that you have put into place not unlike the law of gravity; if I follow your ways, my life works; if I try to defy gravity, I fall.<\/i><\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"li1\"><span class=\"s1\"><i>You indeed hold me accountable for my actions, yet you not only forgive but you also detox me from darkness when I turn from folly and turn to you.<\/i><\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"li1\"><span class=\"s1\"><i>You are fully active in all of my affairs of life.<\/i><\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"li1\"><span class=\"s1\"><i>Right and Wrong are built into the fiber of the universe. I choose the Right Way. I choose you!<\/i><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><i>Now, Lord, I receive your help to walk out my salvation, to lead a life that brings you joy, brings others joy, and brings myself complete joy as well.<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><i>Amen<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The wicked are too proud to seek God. \u00a0 \u00a0 They seem to think that God is dead. They think, \u201cNothing bad will ever happen to us! \u00a0 \u00a0 We will be free of trouble forever!\u201d The wicked think, \u201cGod isn\u2019t watching us! \u00a0 \u00a0 He has closed his eyes and won\u2019t even see what&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":478,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14,15,7,4,25,3,1],"tags":[1572,1571,1573,1575,1576,1574],"class_list":["post-2662","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bible","category-bible-prayer","category-daily-prayer","category-god","category-jesus","category-prayer","category-uncategorized","tag-atheism","tag-creeping-atheism","tag-deism","tag-god-is-dead","tag-god-is-not-dead","tag-pantheism"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>A Prayer Against Creeping Atheism<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prayerplainandsimple\/2016\/01\/a-prayer-against-creeping-atheism.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Prayer Against Creeping Atheism\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The wicked are too proud to seek God. \u00a0 \u00a0 They seem to think that God is dead. They think, \u201cNothing bad will ever happen to us! \u00a0 \u00a0 We will be free of trouble forever!\u201d The wicked think, \u201cGod isn\u2019t watching us! \u00a0 \u00a0 He has closed his eyes and won\u2019t even see what&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prayerplainandsimple\/2016\/01\/a-prayer-against-creeping-atheism.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Prayer, Plain and Simple\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-01-14T16:46:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Mark and Jill Herringshaw\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"A Prayer Against Creeping Atheism","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prayerplainandsimple\/2016\/01\/a-prayer-against-creeping-atheism.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"A Prayer Against Creeping Atheism","og_description":"The wicked are too proud to seek God. \u00a0 \u00a0 They seem to think that God is dead. 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