Sinclair Ferguson

It carried a report of a service of tribute that had been held in St.

Martin's-in-the-Fields Church of England in London, a memorial service for the famous English novelist, Sir Kingsley Amis.

Kingsley Amis, as you may know, had been knighted by the Queen for services, I think, to literature.

His son, Martin Amis, who was also a successful novelist, gave an address about his father.

And in that address, he told the following story.

On one occasion, these are the days of the Cold War when I suppose every Russian thought that every Englishman was a Christian.

On one occasion, the Russian poet and playwright Yevgeny Yevtushenko met Martin Amis' father.

And then Martin Amis said something that apparently prompted an outburst of laughter in St.

Martin's in the fields.

Well, yes, said Kingsley Amis, it's true I'm an atheist, but it's more than that.

You see, I hate him.

People thought it was funny, like seeing a cartoon of someone who says something when it's quite clear that what they've said is self-contradictory.

I'm sure Kingsley Amos' son meant people to laugh, a great moment in the service.

But you know what he said was not so much funny as tragic.

I wonder if any of the A-listers in the congregation that day thought how desperately sad, how stunning an illustration of what Paul says in Romans 1 verses 18 to 32.

Kingsley Amos denies the existence of God and yet hates the God whose existence he denies.

He's simply living and now dead proof of what Paul says in Romans chapter 1.

He has suppressed the truth he has known and he's done it not because of intellectual honesty but because of unrighteousness.

You know, if Yevgeny Yevtushenko had been a Christian, I think he might have wanted to pull on this loose thread that was so obviously sticking out of the poorly woven garment of Sir Kingsley Amis's bravado and pointed out the inconsistency between what he professed to believe and what he really deep down believed.

I imagine that would have taken not a little courage.