The spirit of godlessness leads humanity to destruction
Godlessness as an attitude and concept of life rejects any existence of God and therefore any claim and laws of a God to the world. For them, there is no creator and legislator, but man is his own creator and creates laws for which he is not accountable to anyone except himself. The law of self-preservation becomes the supreme law.
Morality and ethics, the orders of the human community are formulated and prescribed according to this law by those with power. There are strong and weak, rulers and the ruled, and people place themselves in the cycle of nature, in the food chain of eat and be eaten.
Man sees himself as a more highly developed animal that has the opportunity to develop to such an extent that he can one day overcome the laws of nature that limit him, in the belief that he will one day overcome even his greatest enemy, death.
At all levels of power or powerlessness, the godless are driven by the one wish and desire to be their own lord and master, their own god, at least in their possibilities, even if, soberly seen, this is absolute illusion and wishful thinking, because everyone, no matter how powerful he may be, is never free from influences that he cannot determine, such as diseases, natural events, unpredictable behavior of people, such as betrayal, greed, weakness, presumption and irrationality.
In godlessness, the law of the strongest prevails, and in the end, it is an unmerciful law because the weak and unsuccessful are only of importance and value as long as they are useful to the strongest and serve his survival and livelihood.
The God of the Bible, whom the ungodly reject, says that man was created in the image of God and is to be transformed into the nature of God by recognizing and accepting the truth about God, which became flesh in his Son Jesus the Redeemer of the world. But when the ungodly man transforms man into his image, he creates empty shells and copies of himself, because man is not the original. Without God, he is a blank page that is filled with messages from powers greater than himself and he can never be his own lord and master, even if he believes it in his delusion.
Whoever leaves the given commandments and laws of life that the Creator has determined and goes his own way will go astray, end up in chaos, and pervert himself and his humanity to the point of destruction. But what connects a godless mindset with religions that also reject and hate the claim to the truth of the God of the Bible? Religions such as Islam, rabbinical Judaism, Hinduism and every form of religion that invokes a God have in common that they reject the Bible's claim that God is only in the revelation of Jesus, the Son of God, the incarnate truth about God, and thus establish their own concept and idea of God.
From the point of view of the God who has revealed himself to the world through his Son and commits the world to his Son when it comes to his rule, to the relationship with him, religions are also godless because they reject the only path that leads to him. Jesus says of himself: “I am the way, the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father except through me. (John 14:6)
This narrow view of the knowledge of God and access to him is an offense and an affront to all human effort and pride in going one's own way, whether religious or not obviously religious. In the understanding of the New Testament, which sees itself as the fulfillment of God's word in the Old Testament, they are all godless.
Thus Christ, and with him God's plans for humanity, becomes the main enemy of their own ways and self-determination. Even if the religious and the non-religious fight against each other for power in the land of godlessness, they are a united force in the battle against the God revealed in Christ and his claim to be Creator and Lord of the world.
Just like the church believing in Christ, the Jewish people are also connected to the coming reign of God's rule of the Messiah Jesus. The restoration and history of the Jewish people have to do with God's plans for the world. Godlessness is threatened both by the testimony of the believing community of Christ that Jesus is Lord over life and death and that every knee must bow to him, and by the existence of the Jewish people with whom God has connected his name and his plans. Therefore, the common hatred of believing Christians and Jews is a fact that unites atheists and religious people and mobilizes them to fight together. Antisemitism and hatred of Christians go hand in hand and are a worldwide phenomenon.
Marcel is the director of “Community of Reconciliation” (COR), which he founded in 1988. He came to Israel in 1994 with his wife Regula and their four now grown children. Marcel serves as an elder in a messianic congregation in Jerusalem. He is involved with other leaders in Jerusalem and nationwide, facilitating fellowship, unity and cooperative efforts to advance God’s purposes for the messianic body in Jerusalem and in Israel.