The Albatross forever hung around the neck

I was reading some Cornelius Van Til when I came across the comment that the created world is the Albatross forever hung around the neck of the unbeliever. What a profound comment!

For those of you who aren’t familiar with the background of this comment, he’s making a reference to The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, a poem written by the English poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge published in 1798.

In the poem a ship is driven off course by a storm, when the storm lets up an Albatrosses appears (a sign of good fortune) and begins to lead the ship out of the icy sea that they found themselves in. But for some reason the mariner shoots the bird of good omen with his crossbow and brings a curse upon the entire crew.

As the curse begins to unfold the angry crew members take the dead bird and hang it around the mariner’s neck to identify him with and remind him of his sin. With the dead bird hanging around his neck the mariner never had one moments peace, it was always there declaring to him his guilt.

In a like manner, Van Til is saying, the created world is right there, hung around their neck so to speak, where men are always aware of it; always reminding men of their sin and alienation from the God that made them. Always screaming in the ear of their conscience that they stand condemned, guilty and under the curse of God for what they have done.

Scripture tells us that deep down inside all men know that God exists through what He has made.

“The heavens declare the glory of God; And the firmament shows His handiwork. Day unto day utters speech, And night unto night reveals knowledge. There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard.” (Psalm 19:1-3) “For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes have been clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse.” (Romans 1:20)

All men will be “without excuse” on the Day of Judgment. No one will be able to say that they did not know that God existed. Every time we open our eyes creation is right there in our face, so to speak, testifying to the existence and greatness of God. But we don’t even really have to go that far; we don’t even have to open our eyes, for we ourselves are a part of God’s creation and as those who are created in God’s image our very being testifies to the glory, greatness, and existence of God. We are a revelation of God unto ourselves.

No wonder men who love sin so much and want to really enjoy it are dying to believe in something like Evolution or Atheism; it explains the bird hung about their necks in such a way that they that they can quit thinking about the God who has cursed them and go back to their beloved sins with a little bit a false peace about the whole situation. The dead bird, they tell themselves, has been hung around their neck by mere chance.