Romans 1:18-32
God’s Wrath Against Sinful Humanity
18 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 19 since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20 For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.
21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles.
24 Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. 25 They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.
26 Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. 27 In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.
28 Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done. 29 They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; 31 they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy. 32 Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.
God's Creation started with perfection...And then we fell from God's Grace....We became wicked and began to sin, and we needed a Savior...
Francis Schaeffer was an American evangelical theologian, philosopher, and Presbyterian pastor... He believed as Paul did about Creation...Schaeffer coined the term “true truth” to describe that which simply is, always has been, and always will be, whether we like it or not...Followers of the Gospel and Jesus believe that "true truth" is ultimately found in God and His revelation through the Bible...This is because Jesus teaches us that God's Word is Truth...Christianity, in Schaefer's view, presents a true picture of reality, explaining all the things around us, our origins, purpose, and an ethical framework...So if there is a "true truth," then there are also moral absolutes – right and wrong that are not relative, but objective...True Truth is not personal but objective and universal...True Truth challenges relativism and offers a foundation for meaningful discussions about ethics and morality...The Bible is a source of objective universal truth and not relative truth...Schaeffer believed in a personal Creator God who brought the universe and everything in it into existence...This allows man to see what God has done on earth and in the universe...Schaeffer saw creation as foundational to understanding "true truth."...If God created everything, then there's a moral order, justice, love, forgiveness, objective reality, and eternity...
Schaeffer also argued that Christianity shouldn't stifle artistic expression and imagination...Imagination, when used responsibly, can create art, music, and literature that reflects and honors "true truth."...Schaeffer saw imagination as a God-given gift that allows us to: that goes beyond the literal...Imagine concepts like love, justice, or eternity, which are difficult to define solely through reason...Imaginations then helps us explore the implications of True Truth...Imagine the potential for good and evil, the beauty of creation, or the consequences of human choices...Imagination helps us understand and appreciate the rich imagery and metaphors found throughout scripture...Imagination helps us go beyond just reason and logic...
Francis Schaeffer wrote these things about Creation, the world, and of life: “The Bible is clear here: I am to love my neighbor as myself, in the manner needed, in a practical way, in the midst of the fallen world, at my particular point of history...This is why I am not a pacifist...Pacifism in this poor world in which we live -- this lost world -- means that we desert the people who need our greatest help.”..."Consider the mighty ways in which God used a dead stick of wood...“God so used a stick of wood” can be a banner cry for each of us...Though we are limited and weak in talent, physical energy, and psychological strength, we are not less than a stick of wood...But as the rod of Moses had to become the rod of God, so that which is me must become the me of God...Then I can become useful in God’s hands...The Scripture emphasizes that much can come from little if the little is truly consecrated to God...There are no little people and no big people in the true spiritual sense, but only consecrated and unconsecrated people...The problem for each of us is applying this truth to ourselves: is Francis Schaeffer the Francis Schaeffer of God?"...“Christianity is not just involved with "salvation", but with the total man in the total world...The Christian message begins with the existence of God forever, and then with creation...It does not begin with salvation...We must be thankful for salvation, but the Christian message is more than that...Man has a value because he is made in the Image of God.”...“Christians . . . ought not to be threatened by fantasy and imagination...Great painting is not "photographic": think of the Old Testament art commanded by God...There were blue pomegranates on the robes of the priest who went into the Holy of Holies...In nature there are no blue pomegranates...Christian artists do not need to be threatened by fantasy and imagination, for they have a basis for knowing the difference between them and the real world "out there."...The Christian is the really free person--he is free to have imagination...This too is our heritage...The Christian is the one whose imagination should fly beyond the stars.”...“The Christian should be the person who is alive, whose imagination absolutely boils, which moves, which produces something a bit different from God's world because God made us to be creative.”...“The ancients were afraid that if they went to the end of the earth they would fall off and be consumed by dragons...But once we understand that Christianity is true to what is there, true to the ultimate environment - the Infinite, Personal God who is really there - then our minds are freed...We can pursue any question and can be sure that we will not fall off the end of the earth.”...
He adds: “Truth carries with it confrontation...Truth demands confrontation; loving confrontation, but confrontation nevertheless.”...