Calvin presses us here with an uncomfortable truth: although God has planted a seed of religion in every human heart, almost no one allows it to grow into genuine piety. Instead of receiving God as He reveals Himself, people either sink into superstition or harden themselves in deliberate rebellion, fashioning a god of their own imagination and then worshiping that illusion. Calvin shows that false religion is not a harmless mistake but a culpable corruption—born of pride, curiosity, and a refusal to submit to God’s justice and providence. Even those who claim God is distant or indifferent are, in effect, denying Him, since a god without judgment, governance, or moral authority is no God at all. What results is a fear without reverence: a servile dread that produces rituals and excuses rather than obedience and love. Yet even here, the sense of G ...