The previous nine chapters have all been based on Hebrews 1:1-2, "God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son." Our argument has been that God has spoken. He has unveiled to us His mind and heart. He communicated His message in a limited fashion through the Book of Nature. He has spoken in a comprehensive way through the prophets and finally in a full-blazed manner in His Son. The sum total of spoken and written communications constitute the word which we call the Scriptures.

As a result, we ask the question Peter asked, "To Whom shall we go?" Or we might phrase it, "To what shall we go?" If a person turns away from God and the revelation He has given in His Word, to whom or to what can she turn? What are her choices? In reality, the choices boil down to two, what God has revealed, or what humans think. In this final chapter I want to set out some of the stark contrasts between accepting and rejecting God’s revelation.

There is nothing new about humanism, the exaltation of human capabilities. Its roots go back as far as the Garden of Eden where Satan dangled before Eve the tantalizing possibility, "Ye shall be as God." The achievement was to be accomplished by disobeying God and eating of the tree of good and evil. While humanism has always existed through the ages, there probably has never been a time in history when it has become so dominant and controlling in our thinking as today.

Various developments have contributed to the growing exaltation of man. Consider the incredible increase in knowledge in every field of life, especially since World War II. In the medical field a large number of "firsts" have been achieved, such as heart, liver, kidney, and limb transplants, and the elimination or polio, tuberculosis, and the like.

In December 1982, doctors implanted the first artificial heart in a patient whose condition had deteriorated to the point of death. He died several months later, not from any malfunctioning of the heart, but from lung problems induced by years of smoking. Dr. Pierre Galletti of Brown University stated, "We have entered the era of "spare parts medicine." Science can now or soon will be able to replace more than fifty parts of the body. Among them are artificial lenses for cataract-clouded eyes, as well as hips, knee, shoulder, elbow, wrist, and ankle joints. Pacemakers are almost routinely implanted to keep faulty hearts beating at a regular rate. Chemical artificial blood can temporarily carry oxygen to blood tissues. Plastic artificial skin is used in research programs to help heal victims of burns. Artificial arms and legs with internal computerized motors can mimic real arms and legs. In fact, Dr. William Dobelle of the Institute for Artificial Organs in New York City predicts that by the turn of the century every major organ except the brains and the nervous system will have artificial replacement.

As the result of the foregoing, the elimination of dreaded diseases and the reduction of infant mortality, longevity has increased dramatically. Women now live to an average age of about eighty and men to about seventy-two. It is confidently expected that this record will be substantially bettered by at least twenty years in the near future. Some optimistic experts predict that the growing knowledge of the aging process will eventually enable man to live indefinitely. Perhaps we should inject here that no particular pride can be taken in the present longevity record. It has merely caught up to the experience of Israel in the days of Moses, when he said, "The days of our years are threescore years and ten, and if by reason of strength, they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labor and sorrow, for it is soon cut off, and we fly away" (Psalm 90:10). We can also make the positive assertion that death, one of the consequences of sin, will never be eliminated this side of heaven.

The progress made in genetic engineering; i.e., attempting to reformulate human cellblocks which constitute the basic makeup of a human being, is both remarkable and frightening. It is envisioned by pioneers in this field that future human beings can be reconstituted and rebuilt so that society will be comprised of model, law-abiding men and women.

Developments in the technological and scientific fields are nothing short of astounding. For example, micro-miniaturization has reduced the cabinet-sized radio of the nineteen thirties to a fraction of its former volume. We are now in the age of computers with unbelievable accomplishments. A little "chip" about the size of a finger nail has or will soon be able to store 256,000 pieces of information. We are told that this is merely the beginning of a new way of life. Experts believe that it may be possible to eventually implant a tiny computer in the brain which will enable man to learn and absorb knowledge at a vastly speedier rate. Thus, one might be enabled to learn a new language in hours instead of years. Further, knowledge stored in the memory could be instantly and correctly retrieved.

As a result, science has become the new god to many in this country and the world. People look to science as having the solution to all of mankind's problems and, in fact, as having the potential of becoming the savior of the world. Our dreams include a great and glorious future, a man-made millennium, with science playing the major role in bringing this dream to pass.

Dr. Henry A. Murray, former Professor of physiology at Harvard, expressed it in this way: "In my scales the ultimate concern of man is man himself, the development toward perfection of his inner being, the development^- toward perfection of his interpersonal relationships, the development toward perfection of his societies, and eventually the creation and maintenance of a harmonious world community; in short, better personalities for a better life, for a better world, the highest spiritual good of all men and women of this earth."

Corresponding to the growing worship of human beings is a consequent dethronement and belittling of God. Some regard Him as having become weak and feeble, presumably no longer able to cope with a troubled world, or surely indifferent to its sufferings and reeds. Some have already consigned Him to the graveyard, declaring His demise, or saying He is no longer relevant to our age. The notion is that we have outgrown our need for God because we have outstripped Him in knowledge and wisdom and do not possess the same frailties as our forefathers.

It seems paradoxical to say this, but the evidence argues that all of the vaunted knowledge and attainments we have seen in the past 60 years has not helped us answer the same basic, fundamental questions and problems which have confronted us since the beginning of existence. We list three:

A. Where Did we Come From? Is life a creation of God or a freak accident of nature? The underlying teaching in our schools today is evolution. Although it is generally set forth as a universally believed and proven fact, evolution is only a theory. It should be emphasized that it will forever remain a theory. It will never be possible to prove it as a scientific fact. There simply are no methods or means available to humans to establish it as a fact.

Evolutionists are sharply divided as to how and when the universe and man began. Numerous theories advanced through the years have been discredited. Yet the humanist must subscribe to evolution, for he realizes that the only alternative is creation, which of course, confronts him with a living God. A living God suggests truth and order and accountability, and those concepts are difficult to handle.

The believer has a most satisfying answer as to the origin of life. In the beginning God created not only the heavens and the earth but also mankind in His own image and likeness. The believer understands that he is a unique creature, made a little lower than the angels. This is not only a satisfying explanation, but it is entirely logical and reasonable.

B. Why am I here? What is the purpose of life? Is there meaning to existence? As someone once asked, "Is there life before death"? Every creature on earth fulfills some purpose. It is designed to occupy a particular habitat, live a specified period of time and fill some special niche in the world. Is it conceivable that humans, admittedly the highest and most complex of creatures, should have a mindless and meaningless purpose and existence?

The believer says, "I believe in the God portrayed by the Bible, infinite in power, in knowledge and wisdom, a personal God, who loves me and is concerned about me. He has a purpose for human life. He has a plan for me. He has provided a way of salvation whereby the problem of sin can be dealt with, and I can live victoriously. The revelation of His Word contains the answers to all problems of life with its inevitable sorrows and trials, including the great enemy of mankind, death itself."

The man who rejects the revelation of God has no satisfactory answer to the question of existence. He must necessarily concentrate on this world, and for him it must be essentially a material world filled with things, conveniences and means for gratifying self. His heaven must be built in this world or not at all. As the saying goes, "While we're here, let's live in clover, for when we're dead, we are dead all over."

The question of existence is intertwined with the question of origin. If we believe that we are an accident of evolution, we have no answer to the purpose for our existence. Associated with the question of existence is the issue of morality. If we believe that we evolved from a brute, it should not be surprising when we behave like one. The believer's goal on earth is to live a godly life, in conformity with the purpose of his Creator. His standard of morality springs from God Himself, His code of conduct is set forth in Scripture and is accomplished by the supernatural enablement which God gives him.

The person who rejects the standards of the Bible will, of course, develop his own. Such a person may say, "the trouble with marriage is the lack of variety. Therefore, each married person should have ample opportunity for sexual experiences outside of marriage. Further, the high rate of divorce is due to husband and wire getting bored with each other. What is my solution?" He may say, "We must take the 'lock' out of wedlock." Once the standards are gone, almost any "laws" are possible, including a recognition of the individual's right to die with dignity, euthanasia, the right to commit suicide, the right to abortion, ethnic cleansing, etc. The basis for moral decisions has become that which seems right to us or that which appeals to us. What seems right to us is usually determined by the shifting sands of our backgrounds, our different types of education, and influence of society around us. One of the charges leveled at our Supreme Court is that its decisions on moral issues are not determined by what is right or wrong but rather by the "social conscience" of society, or what the Court perceives to be that social conscience.

Morality, integrity, and righteousness rest upon an acknowledgment that God has stated His Will in His Word. His laws have been clearly spelled out, starting with the TEN. Life here on earth is tied in with righteous living which one cannot have without God and the Bible. The strongest blockade against a flood of wickedness is the Word of God. Once we dispose of that Word, morality is up for "grabs," to be controlled by whoever has enough power or influence to set the standard. And that could be Hitler.

C. What is my destiny? One of our worst enemies is death. Every one of has an appointment with death. It is inevitable and inescapable. Apart from revelation, there is no answer to the question of destiny. There is no way we can explore what happens after death.

The humanist rejects any belief of life after death. Thus, when death invades a home, the only comfort he can offer is a so-called ministry of quiet support and concern. He says that man must live for actions and ideals an this earth, for it is our one and only life. Therefore, when a loved one is taken, all that remains is the memory of his life.

One of the most comforting and assuring truths for the believer is the one regarding the resurrection of the body, followed by life everlasting with Christ. When death strikes, the believer doesn’t have to sorrow to the same extent as those who have no hope. She is supported by the knowledge that within a relatively short time there will be a glorious reunion with loved ones who have died in Christ.

One must ask, where can we find certainty, security, joy, hope, and answers to the foregoing elementary questions of life and of death itself? These are questions which gnaw at the heart and mind of everyone, especially as we grow older and realize the exceeding brevity of life. We cannot ignore them and sweep them under the rug. Even if we do for awhile, they continue to resurface. They plague us at 3:00 in the morning when we cannot sleep. They stab us when we looks at our graying hair and the deepening lines in our faces as well as other stark reminders of the brevity of life.

The bottom line is that we are completely incapable of discovering answers to the questions of origin, purpose, and destiny. We are confronted with the choice of either accepting God’s revelation or continuing the speculative search for answers from our peers.

Religion is not the same as Revelation. In fact, there is quite a gulf between the two. Revelation is what God has communicated to us about Himself. Religion constitutes the attempt of humans to reach, describe, or represent God.

Satan encourages religion because it is easily filled with error and superstition. It exalts humans and our ways of "discovering" God. For example, a quote from a flyer put out by a modern day "church" says that man is free to believe whatever persuades him. It adds, "We believe experience reveals a Mystery more sublime and wonderful than human life and which exceeds our understanding. In this we see the sound of mind and spirit. We recognize that each of us must name this Mystery as his thought directs but that the language of the heart has called it God." Actually, there is nothing new about this concept. It is an apt description of the Unknown God, the subject of Paul's sermon on Mars Hill in Acts 17.

This kind of religion regards the Bible "as a collection of many books of varying value, "not a supernatural revelation, but there are in the Bible things of enduring value comparable to books of other religions . . . Inspired words are still being written . . . We have no closed Bible, no finished or changeless creed, no superhumanly guaranteed truth." At the same time such religion speaks of making an honest, continued search for truth. As Paul said, "Ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth" (2 Tim. 3:7).

The person who rejects God’s revelation for religion is in effect saying, "I don't need a compass. I myself am my own compass. I can guide and direct myself, for I have the light of my own intelligence and wisdom, the light of science, learning, and knowledge. Furthermore, I am sincere." Such a person makes herself vulnerable and open to superstition of all kinds, to error, as well as what may amount to plain foolishness.

The first chapter of the epistle to the Romans outlines what happens when a person makes that kind of choice. It starts with a certain amount of accurate knowledge about God (1:19-20) which is ignored. Instead of "glorifying" God and expressing "appreciation" for God’s gifts, the individual turns to his own thinking, his own wisdom, and reformulates God into his own image (1:21-23). As a result, he moves downward, rather than upward. His heart becomes darkened, his thinking becomes muddled, and he sinks down into sin. All the while he envisions himself as wise and religious. The final result is described in v. 28, "Even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do these things which are not seemly." What happens is that sin becomes a part of the religion, so that fanatically religious people can ultimately be engaged in the most horrible of sins, all for the purpose of obeying their god! The long list of perverse sins in the final verses of Romans one are contrary to common sense, to elementary reason, to conscience, to common decency, and to the basic questions of right and wrong. Yet they develop out of one’s religion.

Think of the religion of astrology. How amazing that people believe that distant stars, millions of light years away, somehow exercise control over their actions. We have the speculations and stupidity of reincarnation propounded by many otherwise intelligent people. Shirley MacLaine, former movie actress and a writer of best sellers, believes that she has finally found "herselves." She was a dancer in a previous reincarnation. Her twenty-three year old daughter was her mother in a former life, truly an amazing discovery. Many other religious systems could be mentioned, such as transcendental meditation, yoga, the Ouija board, the occult, and the many varieties of oriental and eastern systems. Religion is broad and tolerant enough to embrace any and all forms of errors. Men who reject the truth can and are given over to strong delusions (2 Thess. 2:10-12).

A. Testimonies of humanists and unbelievers. Romans one says that once a person opts for something other than God’s revelation, the path of his life progresses downward. This path usually leads to pessimism, gloom, and despair, especially as a person grows older and nears the end of life. We quote a few of these testimonies:

Robert Ingersoll, an avowed infidel, who spent a good part of life attacking the Bible, made these remarks at the funeral of his brother: "Death is a narrow vale between the cold and barren peaks of two eternities. We cry aloud and the only answer is the wailing echo of our cry."

George Bernard Shaw, skeptic and scoffer, wrote: "The science to which I pinned my father is bankrupt . . . its counsels which should have established the millennium have led directly to the suicide of Europe. I believed them once . . . In their name I helped to destroy the faith of millions of worshipers in the temples of a thousand creeds. And now they look at me and witness the great tragedy of an atheist who has lost his faith."

Mark Twain, one of America's best humorists, became immensely popular during his life time and was honored by royalty as well as the "greats" of the world. During the prime of his life he became wealthy, but in his later years, his daughter died, and then his beloved wife. Several business ventures failed. Shortly before his death, Mark Twain wrote the following:

"A myriad of men are born. They labor and sweat and struggle for bread. They squabble and scold and fight. They scramble for little mean advantages over each other. Age creeps upon them, and infirmities follow. Shames and humiliations bring down their prides and their vanities. Those they love are taken from them, and the joy of life is turned to aching grief. The burden of pain, care, and misery grows heavier year by year. At length ambition is dead, pride is dead, vanity is dead. Longing for release is in their place. It comes at last — the only un-poisoned gift earth ever had for them — and they vanish from a world where they were of no consequence, where they achieved nothing, where they were a mistake and a failure and a foolishness, where they left no sign that they have existed — a world that will lament them a day and forget them forever." Mark Twain became a philosopher of gloom with a bitter and cynical outlook on life as he approached the end of his earthly days.

J. Robert Openheimer, noted atomic physicist, said, "This is a world in which each of us will have to cling to what is close to him, to what he knows, to his friends, and his tradition and his life, lest he be dissolved in a universal confusion and know nothing and love nothing."

Such pessimism and gloom is not peculiar to our age. Pliny, the ancient Roman sage, a brilliant man who knew more of natural history than any other man of his day, could only say this concerning life, "There is nothing certain save that nothing is certain, and there is no more wretched and yet arrogant being than man. The best which has been given to man amid the many torments of this life is that he can take his own life."

The "man under the sun" echoed a comparable view. He said, "There is nothing better for a man than that he should eat and drink, and that he should make his soul enjoy good in his labor" (Ecclesiastes 2:24).

The life of the person who turns from God’s revelation can lead only to frustration, pessimism, and despair. He must ultimately reach the feeling of the purposelessness and emptiness of existence, coupled with a hopelessness of never being able to arrive ever at positive knowledge. "The way of the wicked is as darkness . . ." (Prov. 4:19). It becomes increasingly darker and eventually will end in the darkness of hell itself.

B. Testimony of the believer. Contrast the above with the testimony of Henry Durbanville, as he grew older: "My mouth is full of laughter, and my heart is full of joy. I feel so sorry for folks who don't like to grow old. I revel in my years. They enrich me. If God should say to me, 'I will let you begin over again, and you may have your youth back once more,' I should say, 'O, dear Lord, if Thou dost not mind, I prefer to go on growing old.' I would not exchange the peace of mind, the abiding rest of soul, the measure of wisdom I have gained from the sweet and bitter and perplexing experiences of life, nor the confirmed faith I now have . . . in the unfailing mercies and love of God, for all the bright and uncertain hopes and tumultuous joys of youth . . . These are the best years of my life, the sweetest, and the most free from anxious care. The way grows brighter. The birds sing sweeter. The winds blow softer. The sun shines more radiantly than ever before . . . My 'outward man' is perishing, but my 'inward man' is being joyously renewed day by day."

What a comment on Proverbs 4:18, "The path of the just is like the shining light that shineth more and more unto the perfect day."

Does a person have to spend a lifetime searching for answers to pertinent questions of origin, life, and destiny, and still at the end of life find himself wandering like a lost pilgrim in a trackless wilderness, inquiring, investigating, probing, and asking without obtaining a satisfactory answer?

The answer is "NO" because there is a God who is personal, intelligent, and infinite, and who has revealed Himself in His Word! He guarantees in this Book that He, as well as the answers He gives, will be validated through our experiences. I have turned to Him, coming in the way He has prescribed, through Jesus Christ, the way, the truth, and the life. I repeat after Peter, "We believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God" (John 6:69). Millions have similarly come through the years and the centuries. Their testimonies are uniformly the same. "Lord, to who (else) could we go? We have believed and are sure that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." We repeat after Paul, "I know Whom I have believed." Again, "We know that if the earthly house of this tabernacle be dissolved, we have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens." Again, "we know that all things work together for good." Again, "Lord, Thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations." Again, "The eternal God is thy refuge and underneath are the everlasting arms."

Here is the triumph of faith, faith in a solid foundation, the Rock of Gibraltar, the Word of God, which Christ said shall never pass away. It is either this triumph of faith or the tragedy of unbelief and doubt, which rejects the Word, the God of the Word, and elects to say with Julian Huxley, "I believe in the infinite possibilities of man."

Remember, no person on her death bed ever repented of being a Christian!