Mankind’s Nature of
Exchanging God for Idols

The Foolishness of Mankind

(Romans 1:22-23)

Mankind considers themselves wise, claiming to draw closer to the truth through rational progress. In reality, however, they have walked a path of regression, moving further away from the original monotheism. Even after knowing the true God, they have exchanged His incorruptible glory for images in the form of corruptible things.

1. Progress? No, Regression!
“I believe in the power of reason. In the past, when people were ignorant, they relied on superstitions. But as they escaped that ignorance, they transformed those beliefs into systematic religions, and things closer to the truth survived as high religion.” Mankind claims to believe in this rational progress, but historical records show the opposite: in early Rome and Greece, there were no idols in the form of animals or humans. The Bible also shows that before and immediately after Noah’s Flood, the very concept of idolatry did not exist. Mankind has walked a path of regression—a way of reprobation where they abandoned the true God to worship other things.

2. Philosophizing? No, Rationalization!
Mankind attempts to interpret all things through reason rather than the truth, puffed up with confidence in their own wisdom. However, the standards of life created by reason are aligned only with fleshly inclinations and fail to reflect spiritual reality. As a result, mankind cannot acknowledge their own sinfulness but instead only justifies themselves. God evaluates such people simply as “foolish.” Philosophizing—the attempt to explain everything through foolish speculation while ignoring revelation—is nothing more than empty rationalization.

3. Following the Word? No, Following Greed!
We confess to living by God’s Word, but are we not actually placing more trust in rational reason? Are we not putting idols like personal achievement, fame, and the desires of our hearts in the place where God should be? God alone must be our Master, the purpose of our lives, and the light that guides our path. Only God’s truth and the teachings of Scripture should be the firm foundation of our thinking and the true hand that leads our lives to eternal life. It is my earnest desire that God alone becomes the center of our lives and our everything.

Overseer Sung-Hyun Kim