Today's Devotion: The fool a says in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, their deeds are vile; there is no one who does good. (a The Hebrew words rendered fool in Psalms denote one who is morally deficient. The Holy Bible : New International Version. electronic ed. Grand Rapids : Zondervan, 1996, c1984, S. Ps 14:1)

According to Wilmington's Bible Handbook, David held contempt for those who denied God's existence. A fool, according to A Handbook on the Book of Psalms is one who denies a fear of God, which is the beginning of wisdom. God does not matter to him. Therefore is the fool is unable to act is he should, because his cold heart holds control over him.

Today's Comments: This verse takes me back to the ecumenical conference of two days ago. At our table we discussed whether or not one who is a Christian should enter into ecumenical worship with those who are not. While the case with respect Jews is not so clear (because we worship the same God while Jews do not accept Jesus as their savior and God), the case with Buddhists, Muslims, or those who worship idols is clear. If the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom, and if God, himself, says that we should worship no other Gods but Him, then our path becomes crystal clear. We may be able to dialog with these people, but worship with them is out of the question. And it seems that, lately, our concept of "interfaith" activities in the Episcopal Church setting may, in fact, have gone over the line.