Your morals may be impeccable, but if you do not worship God, then you are an atheist. If you worship Him and that devoutly, but not according to Scripture, you are an idolator. If according to the rule, but not according to the spirit of the gospel, then you are a hypocrite.

- William Gurnall

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Josh Hicks, Chloë's Dad
Christ Covenant Reformed Presbyterian Church, RPCGA
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It is God that multiplies our sorrows.... God, as a righteous Judge, does it, which ought to silence us under all our sorrows; as many as they are, we have deserved them all, and more: nay, God, as a tender Father, does it for our necessary correction, that we may be humbled for sin, and weaned from the world by all our sorrows; and the good we get by them, with the comfort we have under them, will abundantly balance our sorrows, how greatly soever they are multiplied. - Matthew Henry

Because the devil is a very subtle enemy, the saint must always be on his guard. Satan is called the old serpent. The serpent is subtle above other creatures; and an old serpent, above other serpents. If Satan was too crafty for man in his perfection, how much more dangerous to us now in our maimed condition - for we have never recovered from that first crack Adam’s fall gave to out understanding. And as we have lost knowledge, so Satan has gained more and more experience. Granted, he lost his heavenly wisdom as soon as he became a devil, but ever since, he has increased his craft. And while he does not have wisdom enough to do himself good, yet he has knowledge enough to do others harm. God showed us where Satan’s strength lies when He promised to bruise the head of the serpent; with his head crushed, he will soon die.

- William Gurnall

-William Gurnall
- William Gurnall
- William Gurnall
- William Gurnall

I have got to read Gurnall.

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Jacob Peters
Layman
URC
Toronto
Canada

Not to be flippant, that definition brings out the nitpicker in me.
You might merely be a devil, or of similar mindset (James 2 19)

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JennyG
Church of Scotland (Presbyterian)
Fife, Scotland

Demons are atheists in that they don't worship the true God. Atheism, generally speaking, is not merely that you don't have a God, but that you don't worship the true God.

I think I might have to disagree. The Bible distinguishes between those who worshipped false gods and those who deny the existance of any god.

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Joseph F Scibbe
Chaplain Assistant
Chapel of Wings Ft Rucker Al
Ephesians 1:4-7, 1 Thessalonians 2:8, Romans 12:1-2
Titus 2:2 - But you, teach what accords with sound doctrine.

http://twitter.com/just_joe_scibbe

As far as I know, both groups are classified (or at least implied) as fools. Could you elaborate a little more on the distinctions? Either way one cuts it, if you don't worship the true God, i.e. the only God, then you are an atheist. It is impossible for anyone to truly not believe in God, for their very nature screams it out. This is why Romans 1 says they are suppressing the truth in unrighteousness. Further, the Scriptures say, "The fool hath said in his heart 'there is no God.' " It's not that the fool can really always believe that. He's just telling himself that, so as to escape the plight of his conscience for his wrongdoing against the Law that is written upon his heart. The reason the man is a fool for saying there is no God is because, simply, he knows better. He's fooling himself to try and believe/think otherwise. It's an exercise in futility.

It turns on the definition of "atheist" of course. When I read the Gurnall, I thought first of the more or less universal modern understanding, of someone who denies their Creator's very existence. (I expect Richard Dawkins would disagree vigorously if told his atheism actually only consists in his refusal to worship a God whose being is all the while plain to him - though that is the state of the devils James speaks of)


That's interesting, which passage(s) are you thinking of?
Come to think of it, weren't the Christians called "atheists" somewhere because they didn't believe in the Roman pantheon? That would support Joshua's view

Not wanting to side track a serious discussion, but this is the first time I'm seeing Joshua in well, a serious discussion.

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Ewen
1689 LBCF
Assemblies of God Bible College
Singapore

Surely you jest?

In a sense, Jenny, you are correct. My point, however, is that since there is only one true God, and He's the God of Scripture, failure to believe in Him is atheism, thought general (albeit, still proper).

You have right on your side.... just, maybe not the dictionary!
Gurnall certainly must have been thinking along those lines, which suggests he didn't use the word in quite its current sense. It's interesting (even if not too important - I did say I was nitpicking)