RESULT OF REJECTING GOD.
By C. L. Emerson
Babylon the First. No. 2.
We know the Babylonians as heathen. They worshiped false gods with rites which were in no way to be commended. Lest it be said that it has not been thoroughly proved that they became heathen and practised their horrible rites as a result of rejecting God’s Word, we will here call attention to the words of Paul in Rom. 1:21–23. “Because that, when they knew God, they glorified Him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things.” They knew God, yet they did not glorify Him as God, neither were thankful. This proves they did not wish God’s way, even tho they did know it. Had they desired God’s way, they would have been so thankful that they knew God and His way. Then they could not have helped glorifying Him as God by worshiping or obeying Him. “Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools.” The Babylonians had refused to worship God, yet they had in them that which compelled them to worship. Mankind will worship. This statement is proved to be a fact by the concurrent testimony of the history of all nations. All nations of whom we have historic knowledge have had their system of religion and their God or gods. Every race of people discovered has always been found to recognize some divinities. A very few times navigators or explorers have reported that they have found a people who knew no gods, but subsequent investigation has always proved the first report untrue. As the Babylonians had chosen their own way, their gods must have been gods of their own making; the character given to their gods was given to them by the worshipers, and their system of worshiping these gods must necessarily conform itself to the character imputed to the gods. They could not impute to their gods characters superior to their own. The natural character of man is told in these words: “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked.” Jer. 17:9. “The imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth.” Gen. 8:21. It, therefore, matters little what they deified, the character ascribed to these deities could in no way surpass in excellence something that was “evil,” or “desperately wicked.” Since the character of a false god must be the character ascribed to the god by the maker of the god; and since the priest has more to do in declaring the character of the god than any one else; and since different priests have different propensities for evil, it follows that the god must constantly grow worse in character. When he had passed through one generation he reflected the image of that generation; when two generations had passed, his character would contain the vices of both, and so on, always growing worse. He might exist under different names and attributes to fulfil all this, but the god—the thing worshiped, whether under one or more names—was always growing worse and always reflected the vices of all the living and dead who had made and worshiped him. Another consideration shows that they were led still farther away from righteousness in the character given to their gods than their own hearts, left to themselves, would have led them. “Every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lusts.” When one has chosen self as the center around which all must revolve, he is in a position to be drawn away to any length; yet not knowing, to any extent, the plans of God, he could not oppose them directly in a very great measure. But the one who tempts man by drawing him away knows much about God and His work. He therefore would draw the evil heart away in every conceivable manner to oppose the work of Jehovah. The result of this would be that the gods of man’s making would reflect the image of man as bad as Satan could make the man. The worship of false gods came about after this manner: After refusing to worship the true God, the one who was recognized as a great leader, and for whom a nation or tribe had great respect, was after death deified and became their god. This was but the logical result of the first step from God. When Satan had gotten man to take his own way, it was but logical that he would lead him to deify man, or make gods of men. Thus the way was open to bring in, as virtues worthy to be copied, ambition, lust, avarice, etc., which the leaders of antiquity very generally possessed. In the language of another:— “They clothed beasts and depraved beings with the attributes of almightness, and in effect they worshiped almighty beasts and devils.” Do we then wonder that the pen of inspiration writes, “But I say, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils?” That men are conformed to the image of that which they worship is recognized by the priests of all religions. But it is unnecessary to take the word of priests. He who has studied the character of the gods of a nation is able to read the character of that nation without waiting for the historian to speak. Take one example in passing. The chief god of the early German tribes was Woden, or Odin, who is said to have been the first leader of that race.4They gave to him a character which was war-like, savage, and bloodthirsty. The result of this worship is told in these words: “Their worship turned the milk of human kindness into gall in the bosoms of its votaries, and they seemed, like bloodhounds, to be possessed of a horrid delight when they were reveling in scenes of blood and slaughter. It being believed that one of their gods, after destroying great numbers of the human race, destroyed himself, it hence became disreputable to die in bed, and those who did not meet their death in battle, frequently committed suicide, supposing that to die a natural death might exclude them from favors in the halls of Volhulla.”—Phil. of Plan of Salvation, p. 28. So we see that every effort man might make to lift himself up would but sink him deeper. So great a pit has man dug for himself by leaving the Word of God. Not only has he dug a pit out of which he could never climb, but he has in the same way cast miry clay in the pit, from which he could not extricate himself if there were no pit. So he has bound himself with double chains. Ps. 40:1, 2. This is the condition in which the Babylonians found themselves as soon as they had refused to hear God’s Word. And it is the position every one who has refused God’s Word will sooner or later realize that he is in. There is hope now for us by crying to the Lord, but it is held to us but for a moment. “Now is the acceptable time.” C. L. EMERSON.