Acts 17:22-29

22So Paul stood up in front of the important officers of the city. He said to them, ‘People of Athens. I see that you have many gods.

23I have walked in the streets of your city. I see that you have built many special places where you worship your gods. I saw one altar with a notice on it. The notice said, “To the god that we do not know.” This shows that you want to worship a god that you do not know. Now I will tell you clearly about who this God is.

24The true God made the earth and everything that is in it. He rules everything in the earth and in heaven. He does not live in any buildings that people have made for him.

25People make things to give to God. But God does not need anything like that. It is God himself who causes everyone to live. He gives them everything that they need.

26God first made one man. From that one man he made all the different groups of people. He caused them to live in different places all over the world. He decided where each group of people should live. He also decided how long they should live in each place.

27God did all this so that people would want to know him. They would look carefully for him and perhaps they would find him. Really, God is near to each of us.

28Someone said this: “Because God gives us life, we are alive. Because of him, we can move about. Because of him we can be who we are.” One of your writers has also said, “We too are God's children.”

29So, because we are God's children, we should not think that he is a thing like an idol. Clever people use gold or silver or stone to make images of gods. But God is not like these things that people choose to make for themselves.