This is a long quote from a dead guy, so you ‘re going to be tempted to skip it. Go ahead, I dare you.
Epictetus was a Stoic philosopher who lived in the 1st century AD. This is a portion of his section entitled “Of Providence.”
“I declare, by Zeus and all the gods, one single fact of nature would suffice to make him that is reverent and grateful realize the providence of God: no great matter, I mean; take the mere fact that milk is produced from grass and cheese from milk and wool from skin. Who is it that has created or contrived these things?
“‘No one, ‘ he says.
“Oh the depth of man’s stupidity and shamelessness!…
“If we had sense we ought to do nothing else, in public and in private, than praise and bless God and pay him due thanks. Ought we not, as we dig and plough and eat, to sing the hymn to God? ‘Great is God that he gave us these instruments wherewith we shall till the earth. Great is God that he has given us hands, and power to swallow, and a belly, and the power to grow without knowing it, and to draw our breath in sleep. ‘ At every moment we ought to sing these praises and above all the greatest and divinest praise, that God gave us the faculty to comprehend these gifts and to use the way of reason.
“More than that: since most of you are walking in blindness, should there not be some one to discharge this duty and sing praises to God for all? What else can a lame old man as I am do but chant the praise of God? If, indeed, I were a nightingale I should sing as a nightingale, if a swan, as a swan: but as I am a rational creature I must praise God. This is my task, and I do it: and I will not abandon this duty, so long as it is given me; and I invite you all to join in this same song.
Epictetus was not a Christian, but he was not as blind as many others who lived in his world and in ours. He did live part of his life in Rome, and Paul wrote to the Romans in the 1st century:
Romans 1:18-23 (NIV) “The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 19 since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20 For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. 21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.”
(Translation from C. K. Barrett, The New Testament Background: Selected Documents, 1st ed., p. 67.)