Rationalism and God

Rationalism treats human reason as the judge of reality and therefore reshapes God to fit man’s standards. By ignoring Scripture’s teaching that all people already know God and suppress that truth because of sin (Ps. 14:1; Rom. 1:18–22), rationalism misdefines atheism as an intellectual problem rather than moral rebellion. It assumes reason is autonomous, neutral, and capable of judging God, instead of recognizing that reason itself is fallen and dependent on God’s revelation. Biblically, God’s existence is not something to be “proved” by reason; He is the ground of all proof and all reason. When man begins with autonomous reason, he inevitably replaces the living God with an imaginary, weakened god who answers to human judgment. Rationalism thus repeats the original temptation—man seeking to be his own god (Gen. 3:5)—and substitutes human authority for God’s self-revelation, preferring to judge God rather than be judged by Him.