But God shows his anger from heaven against all sinful, wicked people who suppress the truth by their wickedness. They know the truth about God because he has made it obvious to them. For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God. Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn’t worship him as God or even give him thanks. And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like. As a result, their minds became dark and confused. Claiming to be wise, they instead became utter fools. And instead of worshiping the glorious, ever-living God, they worshiped idols made to look like mere people and birds and animals and reptiles. So God abandoned them to do whatever shameful things their hearts desired. As a result, they did vile and degrading things with each other’s bodies. They traded the truth about God for a lie. So they worshiped and served the things God created instead of the Creator himself, who is worthy of eternal praise! Amen. That is why God abandoned them to their shameful desires. Even the women turned against the natural way to have sex and instead indulged in sex with each other. And the men, instead of having normal sexual relations with women, burned with lust for each other. Men did shameful things with other men, and as a result of this sin, they suffered within themselves the penalty they deserved. Since they thought it foolish to acknowledge God, he abandoned them to their foolish thinking and let them do things that should never be done. Their lives became full of every kind of wickedness, sin, greed, hate, envy, murder, quarreling, deception, malicious behavior, and gossip. They are backstabbers, haters of God, insolent, proud, and boastful. They invent new ways of sinning, and they disobey their parents. They refuse to understand, break their promises, are heartless, and have no mercy. They know God’s justice requires that those who do these things deserve to die, yet they do them anyway. Worse yet, they encourage others to do them, too. [Romans 1.18-32]
Why?
Because people knew God but would not humble themselves to worship and thank Him, subsequently, they began to entertain inaccurate ideas about God and their minds consequently became darkened and confused.
The results?
Pride. Idol worship. Shameful actions. Vile and degrading treatment of their bodies.
God's response?
He removed restraint. Their sexual desires became perverted. They became wicked, sinful, greedy, hateful, envious, murderous, quarrelsome, deceptive, malicious, gossipers backstabbers, haters of God, insolent, proud, boastful, eager to find new ways to sin, disobedient to parents, stubborn against the truth, promise-breakers, heartless, without mercy, defiant, and, worst of all, disciples of error.
The list above contains resulting fruit from a greater sin: failing to acknowledge and thank God as God thus allowing erroneous ideas to be generated.
We simply MUST worship and thank God for WHO HE IS (as opposed to who we think He is). How do we know Who He Is? The Bible. And, particularly, everything recorded that God says about Himself must be accepted as TRUTH.
Furthermore, we must accept everything Jesus lived and taught as evidence of Who God Is. Jesus Himself stated clearly: "He who has seen Me has seen the Father."
No matter what we think we have learned and know about God, it must (MUST) line up with what God says about Himself. It MUST line up with what the Bible reveals about God's character. It MUST line up with the fact that God loves the world. It MUST line up with the fact that God is the ultimate GOOD FATHER!
Otherwise, we will see all the disgusting things listed above in our lives (and, unfortunately, we are seeing far too much of it in the Church today).
Father, help us to see You as You ARE (not as we think You are).
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