The theology of an atheist

 And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him. --Hebrews 11:6

Alain de Botton was born in Zurich and now lives in London and is the author of Religion for Atheists.  This essay appeared on NPR on March 16 under the title, "The Wisdom of Faith: What Religion Can Teach Us."

A survey published in the U.K. in January predicted that within 20 years, the majority of the British population will define themselves as having no religion. In the British isles, religion has become something of a sideshow, even a joke. Remember that this is the land that gave us The Life of Brian. Even the BBC has caught on with a satirical series called Rev., about a hapless comedic clergyman who has no faith but has a strong inclination to be good.
Of all the cultural differences between the old world and the new, this is perhaps the greatest. We think it rude to talk of money or sex: you think it rude to bring up religion. In both cases, at issue is what it might take to tread on sensitivities and cause offense. Euphemisms abound in the U.S.: "Do you come from a large family?" for "Are you Catholic?"
And yet, surveying the bitter religious disputes in the U.S., an outsider like me thinks just one phrase: the Jefferson Bible.
One of your greatest presidents famously tried to overcome the divisions between theism and atheism by rewriting the New Testament — with all the supernatural bits left out. Thomas Jefferson's new version emphasized Jesus' wisdom, ethics and consoling power. In so doing, he appealed to the entire nation, even those of different or no faith at all. It was a move of intellectual deftness which I can appreciate: I was brought up an atheist, and while I still don't believe, I've lost my cynicism. Now I long only for Jefferson's spirit of conciliation.
But where is that spirit now?
Unfortunately, recent public discussions on religion in the U.S. have focused obsessively on the most polarizing point of them all — whether or not the whole thing is true: a hardcore swathe of believers pits themselves against an equally strong band of atheists. Think of Christopher Hitchens' and Douglas Wilson's legendary book tours around the Bible Belt, where rallies would take place outside normally sedate lecture halls.
But, Jefferson in mind, I prefer a different tack. To me, the real issue is not whether God exists, but where one takes the argument to once one concludes that he might not. I believe it must be possible to remain an atheist and nevertheless to find religions sporadically useful, interesting and comforting — and be curious as to the possibilities of importing certain of their ideas and practices into the secular realm.
The error of modern atheism has been to overlook how many sides of the faiths remain relevant even after their central tenets have been dismissed. Once we stop feeling that we must either prostrate ourselves before them or denigrate them, we can discover their occasionally ingenious concepts.
Ultimately, atheists need to rescue some of what is beautiful from all that no longer seems true. With Jefferson's example before us, I propose that the wisdom of the faiths belongs to all of mankind, even the most rational among us, and deserves to be selectively reabsorbed by the supernatural's greatest enemies.
As your great president knew, religions are intermittently too useful, effective and intelligent to be abandoned to the religious alone.

Now, with all due respect to Mr. de Botton, his sentiment is naive at best, and dangerous at worst.  It appears that he is no longer a true atheist, but rather an agnostic, open to "truths" from all religions, and rejecting those that one cannot prove--the definition of agnostic is one who cannot know, or is "without knowledge" of the supernatural.  But more to his point about wanting to open up a dialogue between atheists and the religious sounds very much like Rodney King asking, "Why can't we just get along?"

To take his premise to its logical conclusion: if everyone would just realize that there is no god, then there would be less violence in the world--no sectarian strife, no religious wars, no Crusades--and on the flip side there would be less reason for atheists to be belligerent in their arguments.  Then men would be free to take the best from every tradition, and assimilate those traditions into our daily lives, without prejudice or bigotry or strife, because ultimately there would be no one alive to say, "you are wrong."

Respectfully, Mr. de Botton, you are wrong.

Let's examine your statement, "To me, the real issue is not whether God exists, but where one takes the argument to once one concludes that he might not."  I propose that if there is no God, then there is no goodness, no hope.  If there is no God, then there is no truth, and no accountability.  If there is no God, then there is no order to the universe, and we are left with chaos.

No God, no Good; without Him, no Hope
C.S. Lewis, himself a reformed atheist, wrote, "This is the fix we are in. If the universe is not governed by an absolute goodness, then all our efforts are in the long run hopeless. But if it is, then we are making ourselves enemies to that goodness every day, and are not in the least likely to do any better tomorrow, and so our case is hopeless again. We cannot do without it, and we cannot do with it. God is the only comfort, He is also the supreme terror: the thing we most need and the thing we most want to hide from. He is our only possible ally, and we have made ourselves His enemies. Some people talk as if meeting the gaze of absolute goodness would be fun. They need to think again. They are still only playing with religion."

What would be the point of assimilating religious traditions into society without acknowledging the God of that religion?  Wouldn't that be an empty exercise?  Let's reduce the Ten Commandments to just Eight, because the first two deal with the authority of God.  So all we are left with are platitudes--do not lie, do not steal, do not kill.  But without the moral authority of God, why would we follow those rules?  If there is no Supreme Being, then there is no ultimate consequence to my lying, or stealing, or killing.  It's every man for himself.  Sure, the society I live in may imprison me, lock me up away from the general population, but not because I have committed a "crime", but because it is in their interest to do so--to protect persons and property from theft and murder.  There are no more morals, but rather societal norms.  Emptiness.  Loneliness. Suspicion.  It's a wonder more people don't go "off the grid".

To that point, C. S. Lewis said this: "My argument against God was that the universe seemed so cruel and unjust. But how had I got this idea of just and unjust? A man does not call a line crooked unless he has some idea of a straight line. What was I comparing this universe with when I called it unjust? If the whole show was bad and senseless from A to Z, so to speak, why did I, who was supposed to be part of the show, find myself in such a violent reaction against it?... Of course I could have given up my idea of justice by saying it was nothing but a private idea of my own. But if i did that, then my argument against God collapsed too--for the argument depended on saying the world was really unjust, not simply that it did not happen to please my fancies. Thus, in the very act of trying to prove that God did not exist - in other words, that the whole of reality was senseless - I found I was forced to assume that one part of reality - namely my idea of justice - was full of sense. If the whole universe has no meaning, we should never have found out that it has no meaning: just as, if there were no light in the universe and therefore no creatures with eyes, we should never have known it was dark. Dark would be without meaning"

Atheists accept no accountability, as there is no Absolute Truth
Robert Laidlaw has written, "God exists whether or not men may choose to believe in Him. The reason why many people do not believe in God is not so much that it is intellectually impossible to believe in God, but because belief in God forces that thoughtful person to face the fact that he is accountable to such a God."  C.S. Lewis wrote, "If Christianity is untrue, then no honest man will want to believe it, however helpful it might be; if it is true, every honest man will want to believe it, even if it gives him no help at all."

If there is no Absolute Truth, then it is every man for himself.  But as William Murray says, "Humanism or atheism is a wonderful philosophy of life as long as you are big, strong, and between the ages of eighteen and thirty-five. But watch out if you are in a lifeboat and there are others who are younger, bigger, or smarter."  And that leads to my final point.

Without God, we are left with chaos
Douglas Wilson wrote: "If there is no God, then all that exists is time and chance acting on matter. If this is true then the difference between your thoughts and mine correspond to the difference between shaking up a bottle of Mountain Dew and a bottle of Dr. Pepper. You simply fizz atheistically and I fizz theistically. This means that you do not hold to atheism because it is true , but rather because of a series of chemical reactions… … Morality, tragedy, and sorrow are equally evanescent. They are all empty sensations created by the chemical reactions of the brain, in turn created by too much pizza the night before. If there is no God, then all abstractions are chemical epiphenomena, like swamp gas over fetid water. This means that we have no reason for assigning truth and falsity to the chemical fizz we call reasoning or right and wrong to the irrational reaction we call morality. If no God, mankind is a set of bi-pedal carbon units of mostly water. And nothing else."

Peter Kreeft said, "Someone once said that if you sat a million monkeys at a million typewriters for a million years, one of them would eventually type out all of Hamlet by chance. But when we find the text of Hamlet, we don't wonder whether it came from chance and monkeys. Why then does the atheist use that incredibly improbable explanation for the universe? Clearly, because it is his only chance of remaining an atheist. At this point we need a psychological explanation of the atheist rather than a logical explanation of the universe."  And that is ultimately the point.  Somebody once said that the atheist can't find God for the same reason that a thief can't find a policeman.  Rejecting God is a conscious act.  You must want to believe.  It takes faith to be an atheist.

It is much easier to have faith in something rather than to place your faith in nothing.  It is like trying to prove a negative--it is very hard to do.  You read the children's nursery rhyme "the cow jumped over the moon," and you say, "That can't happen."  But if I say "prove it," you can only show by your own experience that you have never seen, in your own experience, a cow jump over the moon.  You may even say that in your own research, in books, magazines, periodicals, and even on the internet, that you have not seen any other eye-witness accounts of an actual cow jumping over the moon.  But that proves nothing.  You have to know the physical limitations of cows, how they are created, to come to the conclusion that it is impossible for a cow to jump that high.  Then why is it so easy to say that God does not exist?  Prove it! "The fool says in his heart, 'There is no God'." (Psalm 14:1)

So no, Mr. de Botton, Jefferson did not make the world a better place by removing all evidence of the Divine from the New Testament.  That is not something to emulate in all of society.  Rather, the purpose of the Church is to invite debate, and to show the World the ultimate Truth.  For those who reject the Truth, they are free to live as they please.  But again quoting C.S. Lewis, "The lost enjoy forever the horrible freedom they have demanded."

A beautiful tapestry with intertwining threads--joy, grief, faith & revelation

In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.  These have come so that your faith--of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire--may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and  honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.  Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls. --(1 Peter 1: 6-9)

Joy, even through suffering; faith, even in what has not yet been revealed; salvation, the ultimate prize worth keeping the faith and the source of our joy.  These are the threads Peter weaves through his narrative.  It's as if Peter has so many ideas in his mind that his head is about to explode, and the tapestry that is left is what we read in this passage.

"In this..." verse 6 starts with a reference back to the threads he was talking about in verses 3-5: through mercy we have been given a new birth, and that new birth makes hope alive in us; we have hope because Jesus was resurrected from the dead.  This mercy also allows us to share an inheritance, sealed by God--imperishable, kept in heaven for us.  We, the heirs of God, by faith are protected by God's power until his salvation is fully revealed.  Whew! Are you following this?  So whether the "this" refers to mercy, new birth, living hope, resurrection, God's inheritance, heaven or salvation, we have no choice but to ..."greatly rejoice."

"Though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials."  The days, weeks, months, or years that we grieve in this life pale in comparison to an eternity with God in heaven.  Romans 5:3 says, "Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance."  Note that in this verse Paul did not say we rejoice because of our sufferings, but in our sufferings--he does not advocate a morbid view of life, but a joyous and triumphant one.  James 1:2 says, "Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds."  The same Greek root word lies behind the word "trials" here and the word "tempted" later in the text--one represents difficulties from outside us; the other refers to inner moral trials such as temptation to sin.  But Peter doesn't dwell on the suffering of trials and temptations; he encourages us to rejoice.

"These have come..."  Again, "these" in verse 7 refers back to the trials in verse 8.  "...so that your faith...may be proved genuine."  Have you ever known anyone with a genuine faith?  I guarantee they didn't get there without going through a living hell.  Peter says this kind of faith is worth more than gold, "which perishes even though refined by fire."  What happens to gold when it is put in a crucible? It runs.  It takes a liquid form and does not stand.  But through Christ the faithful can stand through the fire, just like Shadrach, Meschak and Abednego.  Remember the story? These three faithful Hebrew men refused to bow down to the image of Nebuchadnezzar, so he had them thrown into the fiery furnace.  Not only that, but he was so angry that he asked his attendants to increase the heat seven times hotter than usual.  But after the men were thrown in, and the soldiers who threw them in died because of the heat, "King Nebuchadnezzar leaped to his feet in amazement and asked his advisers, 'Weren't there three men that we tied up and threw into the fire? Look!  I see four men walking around in the fire, unbound and unharmed, and the fourth looks like the Son of God.' "

If you read my last blog entry, the one about Solomon dedicating the Temple, you might remember I Kings 8:51, "For they are your inheritance, whom you brought out of Egypt, out of that iron-smelting furnace." Moses, who led them out of Egypt, is revered and given honor even now.  Peter says your faith, too, "may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed."  Yes, we will praise the Son of God when He comes back to Earth, but He also will give us honor, saying "Well done, good and faithful servant."  Won't that be exciting! 

Peter now segues into a dissertation on the revelation of Jesus Christ.  Verse 8 says, "Though you have not seen him, you love him."  Why? Because he is God.  How do we know? By faith.  See how these threads continue to intertwine?  "Even though you do not see him now, you believe in him."  In 1 Corinthians 13, Paul concludes his chapter on the subject of love this way: "Now abide faith, hope and love, these three; but the greatest of these is love."  Peter describes our love borne of faith in Him and the hope of salvation in this way: "you believe in him, and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy."  Remember your first love? How you felt when that person entered the room?  Nothing else mattered--your beloved was there.

Peter had been in the room when Jesus appeared to Thomas, the doubting disciple.  John 20:29 says, "Then Jesus told him, 'Because you have seen me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen, and yet believe'."  John 3:15 says, "that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life."  John 3:36 says, "Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will  not see life, for God's wrath remains on him."  Genesis 15:6 says, "Abram belived the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness."  Romans 4:11 says, "And he (Abraham) received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised.  So then, he is the father of all who believe but have not been circumcised, in order that righteousness might be credited to them."  Hebrews 11: 7 says, "By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family.  By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.”  How rich are the scriptures when they speak of faith leading to righteousness.  Maybe this is what Peter was thinking when he wrote verse 9: "For you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls."

Isn't that what it's all about? That is why we put up with the sufferings of this life; that is why we rejoice.  Faith, like gold, must be purified in the fire, but results in genuineness and purity.  By our genuine and pure faith, we see Jesus revealed in us to a dying world.

What a friend we have in Jesus, 
 all our sins and griefs to bear! 
 What a privilege to carry 
 everything to God in prayer! 
 O what peace we often forfeit,
 O what needless pain we bear, 
 all because we do not carry 
 everything to God in prayer. 
 

 Have we trials and temptations? 
 Is there trouble anywhere? 
 We should never be discouraged; 
 take it to the Lord in prayer. 
 Can we find a friend so faithful 
 who will all our sorrows share? 
 Jesus knows our every weakness; 
 take it to the Lord in prayer. 

 Are we weak and heavy laden, 
 cumbered with a load of care? 
 Precious Savior, still our refuge; 
 take it to the Lord in prayer. 
 Do thy friends despise, forsake thee? 
 Take it to the Lord in prayer! 
 In his arms he'll take and shield thee; 
 thou wilt find a solace there.

A Person, A People, A Prophetic Prediction

"Teacher,which is the greatest commandment in the Law?"  Jesus replied, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.  This is the first and greatest commandment.  And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.  All the  Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments." --Matthew 22: 35-40

One of the greatest sermons delivered in the Old Testament is found in 1 Kings chapter 8.  Solomon  has completed his work on the Temple, a permanent House of God, where men could go and meet Him face to face.  Solomon called all the people together for a dedication service, and this is what he said:

O Lord, God of Israel, there is no God like you in heaven above or on earth below--you who keep your covenant of love with your servants who continue wholeheartedly in your way.  You have kept your promise to your servant David my father; with your mouth you have promised and with your hand you have fulfilled it--as it is today.

Now Lord, God of Israel, keep for your servant David my father the promises you have made to him when you said, "You shall never fail to have a man to sit before me on the throne of Israel, if only your sons are careful in all they do to walk before me as you have done."  And now, O God of Israel, let your word that you promised your servant David my father come true.

But will God really dwell on earth?  The heavens, even the highest heaven, cannot contain you.  How much less this temple that I have built!  Yet give attention to your servant's prayer and his plea for mercy, O Lord my God.  Hear the cry and the prayer that your servant is praying in your presence this day.  May your eyes be open toward this temple night and day, this place of which you said, "My Name shall be there," so that you will hear the prayer your servant prays toward this place.  Hear the supplication of your servant and of your people Israel when they pray toward this place.  Hear from heaven, your dwelling place, and when you hear, forgive.

When a man wrongs his neighbor and is required to take an oath and he comes and swears the oath before your altar in this temple, then hear from heaven and act.  Judge between your servants, condemning the guilty and bringing down on his own head what he has done.  Declare to the innocent not guilty, and so establish his innocence.

When your people Israel have been defeated by an enemy because they have sinned against you, and when they turn back to you and confess your name, praying and making supplication to you in this temple, then hear from heaven and forgive the sin of your people Israel and bring them back to the land you gave to their fathers.

When the heavens are shut up and there is no rain because your people have sinned against you, and when they pray toward this place and confess your name and turn from their sin because  you have afflicted them, then hear from heaven and forgive the sin of your servants, your people Israel.  Teach them the right way to live, and send rain on the land you gave your people for an inheritance.

When famine or plague comes to this land, or blight or mildew, locusts or grasshoppers, or when an enemy besieges them in any of their cities, whatever disaster or disease may come, and when a prayer or plea is made by any of your people Israel--each one aware of the afflictions of his own heart, and spreading out his hands toward this temple--then hear from heaven, your dwelling place.  Forgive and act; deal with each man according to all he does, since you know his heart (for you alone know the hearts of all men), so that they will fear you all the time they live in the land you gave our fathers.

As for the foreigner who does not belong to your people Israel but has come from a distant land because of your name--for men will hear of your great name and your mighty hand and your outstretched arm--when he comes and prays toward this temple, then hear from heaven, your dwelling place, and do whatever the foreigner asks of you, so that all the peoples of the earth may know your name and fear you, as do your own people Israel, and may know that this house I have built bears your Name.

When your people go to war against their enemies, wherever you send them, and when they pray to the Lord toward the city you have chosen and the temple I have built for your Name, then hear from heaven their prayer and their plea, and uphold their cause.

When they sin against you--for there is no one who does not sin--and you become angry with them and give them over to the enemy, who takes them captive to his own land, far away or near; and if they have a change of heart in the land where they are held captive, and repent and plead with you in the land of their conquerors and say, "we have sinned, we have done wrong, we have acted wickedly"; and if they turn back to you with all their heart and soul in the land of their enemies who took them captive, and pray to you toward the land you gave their fathers, toward the city you have chosen and the temple I have built for your Name; then from heaven, your dwelling place, hear their prayer and their plea, and uphold their cause.  And forgive your people, who have sinned against you; forgive all the offenses they have committed against you, and cause their conquerors to show them mercy; for they are your people and your inheritance, whom  you brought out of Egypt, out of that iron-smelting furnace.

May your eyes be open to your servant's plea and to the plea of your people Israel, and may you listen to them whenever they cry out to you.  For you singled them out from all the nations of the world to be your own inheritance, just as you declared through your servant Moses when you, O Sovereign Lord, brought our fathers out of Egypt.

 Wow! What a prayer for God's people.  All those who heard Solomon's words could hear his heart, how he loved the people, and how he yearned for them to follow God's ways.  But he knew our failures; he could predict our falling short even before it happened.

In the first paragraphs of this sermon, we hear of the attributes of God--He keeps His promises; He has made a covenant with us, a promise or contract, that He will not break; this covenant of His is not to keep us enslaved to Him, but rather it is "a covenant of love" (verse 23); and most importantly, if we, as the weaker partner, fail to keep up our end of the bargain, the covenant may be suspended, but it will not be revoked: over and over again, Solomon predicts that man will fall short, but his prayer is that God will restore the covenant as soon as our hearts are made right with Him.

• When we commit a wrong against our neighbor (verse 31).  Wise Solomon knew that a man's interest would sometimes clash with the interest of another man.  Even if we try to do the right thing, someone might get hurt.  But if we allow God to be our judge, He will show us a better way.
• When we are defeated by the enemy (verse 33).  In his own mind, Solomon was probably thinking in military terms: he knew that their nation had enemies, and that at some point in time their enemies might be stronger than their nation.  This is not slighting God--even God's people would be defeated by other peoples; but God will never be defeated by other people's gods.  Ephesians 6:12 says, "For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms."  God knows we will fall into sin; yet He stands ready to forgive and rescue us from spiritual bondage, if only we will "turn back to You and confess Your Name, praying and making supplication to You." (I Kings 8:33).
• When the heavens are shut up and there is no rain (verse 35).  Again, Solomon was probably thinking of periods of drought, that naturally occur over time.  At those times, the people could pray to God for rain, and if they brought their umbrellas (believing with all their hearts and minds that God would answer their prayers and send rain), then God would respond.  But the spiritual application is no less true: when we, as travelers in a foreign land, experience spiritual drought; when it seems like the blessings of God have been turned off from the source; or when through our own choices we find ourselves far from God and outside of His protection--these are the times when we should pray with all our hearts and minds and souls, so that our thirst for Him is quenched, and our need for blessing is met.  Just as we will die without water, our spirits crave fellowship with His Holy Spirit.  Whether the famine is sent by God as a test, or if it is self-inflicted, the solution is the same: call out to God, openly and honestly, without reservation.
• Whatever disaster or disease may come (verse 37).  Solomon gets very specific here: he says in verse 38 that each of us is aware of the affliction of our own heart.  What gets you down may not affect me; what knocks me to my knees may just brush past you.  But in every case, the solution is the same.  In our humbled state, we can only lift our hands to the Father.  And our Father, who knows the hearts of all men (verse 39) will respond rightly.  He knows whether we are sincere in our repentance.  He knows when we are sorry only that we got caught, or when it is all for show, or if we are only getting caught up in the moment.  Yes, we are only human; but God will always keep his covenant with us, because He loves us.
• When the foreigner has come from a distant land (verse 41).  Praise God, the covenant is not just available to the Jews, but through Jesus is offered to all men.  We are all offered to be a participant in the covenant blessing.  If we choose not to participate, He will not force us, but will instead allow us to live in an eternity without Him.  But if we do choose to participate in His covenant, we are covered by the Blood of the Lamb, that takes away the sin of the world.
• When your people go to war against their enemies, wherever you send them (verse 44).  Solomon was probably thinking in military terms.  Some of you may have friends or family members in the military, or some of you may have even felt the call to service to your country.  Take heart in this verse.  For the rest of us, whatever enemy we face, whatever task we are sent to do, we have the grace by God's power to overcome.

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to His purpose.  For those whom God foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of His Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.  And those He predestined, He also called; those He called, He also justified; those He justified, He also glorified.  What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all--how will He not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who can bring any charge against those whom God has chosen?  It is God who justifies.  Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus who died--more than that, who was raised to life--is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.  Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?  No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us  For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.  (Romans 8:29-35, 37-39).

• When they sin against you, for there is no one who does not sin (verse 46).  Romans 3:23 re-states this truth: "For all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God."  But Romans 6:23 gives the solution: "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."  Solomon intercedes for the people in his prayer of supplication.  I Kings 8:47 says "if they have a change of heart...and repent and plead with you...and say, 'We have sinned, we have done wrong, we have acted wickedly' ": verse 48 says, "if they turn back to you with all their heart and soul...and pray to you"; verses 49 and 50 say, "then from heaven, hear their prayer and their plea, and uphold their cause.  And forgive your people who have sinned against you; forgive all the offenses they have committed against you...show them mercy."  This, then, is the solution for our sin.  Sin separates us from God, but God provides a path to mercy and forgiveness.
• May your eyes be open...and may you listen to them whenever they cry out to you (verse 52).  Here is the best part--no matter how far away from God we find ourselves, He sees us; no matter how isolated we feel, He hears us.  All we have to do is call on Him in faith.

After Solomon had prayed this prayer in the hearing of all the people, he stood up and faced the people and raised his hands out over all of the people and made this benediction:

Praise be to the Lord, who has given rest to his people Israel just as he promised.  Not one word has failed of all the good promises he gave through his servant Moses.  May the Lord our God be with us as he was with our fathers; may he never leave us or forsake us.  May he turn our hearts to him, to walk in all his ways and to keep the commands, decrees, and regulations he gave our fathers.  And may these words of mine, which I have prayed before the Lord, be near to the Lord our God day and night, that he may uphold the cause of his servant and the cause of his people Israel according to each day's need, so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the Lord is God and that there is no other.  But your hearts must be fully committed to the Lord our God, to live by his decrees and obey his commands, as at this time. (I Kings 8:56-61).

Amen.