Active Unbelief

"Unbelief is not a negative but an active thing...It is not just a refusal to believe. This is how the devil foils us, of course - he persuades modern unbelievers into thinking that they are unbelievers because of their great intelligence, their wonderful intellect and understanding. They think that people who are Christians are fools, who have either not read or have not understood what they read. The unbeliever thinks he is in that state because of his marvellous brain and mind, and especially bcause of his scientific knowledge, and that it is in light of these things that he refuses to believe...according to the Bible that is an utter fallacy. Unbelief is terribly positive and active, a state and condition of the soul, with a very definite mentality and the Bible indeed does not hesitate to put it like this: Unbelief is one of the manifestations of sin; it is one of the symptoms of that fell and foul disease...Unbelievers of course do not agree with that, but that is what the Bible tells them. It tells them that they are unbelievers because they are the dupes of Satan, the slaves of sin and of evil. They rejoice in their great emancipation, that they have been delivered from the shackles of the Bible, and that they have been emancipated from this drug, this dope of the people which we call the gospel. Poor things! They are unconscious slaves and, like the victim of many another vice, they do not know that they are victims. It is like a person suffering from a disease without realising it...The trouble with all of us in such a state or condition is that we are not prepared to listen and we do not want any information and instruction. We start with the postulate that we have a theory of life, we know exactly what is needed and therefore we demand it and come to the gospel with our demands...The unbeliever does not come with an open mind, but with preconceived ideas and prejudices, waiting to criticise."

Martyn Lloyd Jones