I've pointed out before that that passage is about those who were once worshippers of God, who then turned their back on God, and the result was a descent all the way down into atheism.
Citation needed. Where does it say they became atheists? It says they became worshipers of various things (which is pretty much the definition of not being an atheist). Where does it say they stopped worshiping gods altogether? Is my KJV missing something? Because I don't see that bit.
In other words, once they got their eyes off of the true God, they became polytheists, and eventually some became atheists.
We see that even today with someone who claims he was once saved, and is now an avowed atheist.
Via polytheism and/or nature worship? And what does this have to do with anything anyway? Christians can become atheists -- is this news to anyone? The question at hand is whether atheists worship nature. Not did, not might, but do. And Thaumaturgy (if that's who you're referring to) is pretty adamant that he doesn't.
What if that passage said they became auto mechanics, and Psalm 14:1 says auto mechanics change tires? Would you think these priests-turned-atheists in Romans 1 changed tires?
(I know --- anachronism!)
Anachronism I can cope with. Going over the same faulty logic is less fun. Seriously, AV, come on -- we've been here. This reasoning of yours works only if Psalm 14/53 is interpreted as saying that all fools are atheists (or all auto mechanics change tires). But then other problems arise. (1) why not just use the word "atheist" instead of the ambiguous "fool" which has other meanings in common use? (those 17th century translators were so clever that they knew what God meant even when the original authors didn't, but they didn't think it smart to choose a specific word for these verses?) and (2) other verses make no sense when the same substitutions are made (fool -> atheist). This means there has to be some magic marker that shows us why the substitution is ok in Romans 1 but not anywhere else (or, at least, not everywhere else). But you're yet to provide that info, so the "challenge" remains unanswered: you still haven't shown that the Bible says that atheists worship nature.
Well, I can always fall back on our motto
No, you can't -- that's the point! The very question here is whether the Bible says it or not. And we -- we members of the EAC -- are the ones saying that it doesn't. God loves irony, I guess.
You guys huffing and puffing about it isn't doing your side any good, either. It shows I must have hit a chord.
That we don't like unfounded claims? How is that an indictment against us? Perhaps your metric for "doing any good" is "convincing AV". If so, sorry to break it to you, but that's not mine, nor many others' here.
A neutral observer will have seen that we press home against a perceived weakness while you bluster and dodge, fail to answer the question, then run away or claim to have answered it, thus appearing to demonstrate a complete lack of moral fiber.
