What does God see when He looks at unbelievers? Psalm 14 says that in His eyes they are all corrupt and can do nothing good. Psalm 16 clarifies that without God there is nothing good. So can atheists only do bad things? By earthly eyes, atheists can do good things. They can volunteer or be doctors or do great kindnesses to the world and their neighbors, but in God’s eyes it’s not good. Why? I don’t know. The few verses that state this idea aren’t discussed in my study Bible (conveniently for the writers), but I’ll try to answer it for myself.
In John 15 verse 5, Jesus says that no one can do anything good unless through Jesus. My guess is that God looks down from above and only counts things as “good” that are done in His honor. When we help others as a way of thanking God for all that He does for us or as a way of helping others because He has helped us, God sees that as “good”. When unbelievers do anything helpful, it’s because of their own logic, not to honor God. To my modern thinking, that seems a bit petty, but the Bible is about God being very strict on His laws and views. We are warned again and again about the foolishness of unbelief. Psalm 19 states that the stars in the sky proclaim the greatness of God, Psalm 148 says that the whole planet praises Him. there is no reason for the sons and daughters of man to not know of God. If you look at the myths of different cultures, many of them retell Bible stories, so God does not accept excuses for why people don’t believe in Him. What a blessing to be part of the good that God sees in the world!
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