Chapter 1 Part A
Understanding The Word Of God
For I am the LORD, I change not. (Malachi 3:6)
There are many of us who hold the opinion that
the future of humanity as we know it, is at risk because our
system of values have become corrupt and the world as we know it is moraly bankrupt.
Even America, that glorious nation that was founded upon the concept of, “One
nation under God”, seems to have lost its way and become engaged in the wiles
of the Devil. It’s people are becoming
adrift in a sea of deliberate confusion, as they seek to redefine the basic elements of
their spirituality. America, that once proud
nation whose founders chooses to challenge the status quo and had the audacity
to proclaim its existence was provided for by the grace of God, is now turning its
back on God.
This nation’s leaders has
ripped apart the moral fibers of its collective consciousness and now proclaims
itself a nation of many gods, cultures and beliefs. The only
consensus is the indoctrination of "In God we trust" has failed
and like many nations of the past, the road being traveled bears the marks of a
road leading to destruction.
Nations once derived their value system from their culture and their
culture derives their values from religion or the lack of religion. The
God of Abraham declared himself to be the God of the universe and proclaimed
that, “I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt,
out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt
have no other gods before me.” (Exodus 20:2-3)
The so-called Christian nations today
embraces a new and permissive ideology.
In the ancient days God was known to judge nations harshly if
they failed to honor him. The ancient values
of a God fearing society are now being cast aside and our culture is becoming a
self defining entity that is now entertaining the ideology that there is no God.
If there is no God, then the definition
of sin can no longer be definitive.
The concept of sin has become entangled in a legalistic argument
of what is right and what is wrong. The rules of marriage or even abortion can no longer be argued within the
context of the Word of God. In the eyes
of the courts, the true concept of God can no longer be injected into an
argument because the burden of proof cannot be met from a legalistic point of
view. Christianity is struggling in the
hands of the deceitful, in a fatal
attempt to prove its relevancy in any decision involving the sin question. Christianity is engaged in a life and death
struggling, it must come to an agreement on what is right and what is wrong and it must be based upon subjective (man)
morality rather than objective (God) morality. In a political correct
society it has become necessary to remove God from the equation and redefine
sin as right or wrong as it applies to all mankind, regardless of their religious
belief.
A modern day philosopher of some sort has stated, "Right is that
which is formed within a person's mind, which brings peace to his inner
longing." What's right for one may be wrong for another, this is an
accepted norm. Thus the rule of,
"If it feels good, do it", has become one of the standards of
determining right and wrong. A rather precarious way to begin a search for, or
establish what is right and what is wrong.
The Bible tells us that, “every way of a man is right in his own
eyes”. (Proverbs 21:2) This is human
nature, but God also tells us that He decides what right and what is wrong. In today’s politically correct society are we
really concerned about what God has to say? Humanity has always been determined to live its
life, its own way, the way that feels good, and as humanity follows its own
path, it considers itself to be right in its decisions. But this is a lie, because the very core and
inner working of human nature is based on pride and selfishness, the self being
first. Whether we admit it or not, this
basic nature is the cause of conflicts, arguments, dissension, envy,
competition, hatred, wars, stress, and all of the things that makes for an unhappy
lifestyle.
There are two basic ways to live life, one is to give, and one
is to get. Humanity, by nature lives by the
way of getting, for this reason the Bible speaks of the need for a new nature
imparted by God. Only when we seek God’s
help and allow him to change our nature, can we begin to find the true ways to
peace through living a life of giving. The
world does not know the way of peace. This is evidenced in a bloodstained earth
through 6,000 years of human history. A painful reality of life is to learn
that the way of man is steeped in deception, lies and a knowledge that is not based
upon the knowledge of God.
The Bible speaks of two sources of knowledge, the knowledge of
God and the knowledge of good and evil. In
a culture that is infused with the knowledge of good and evil rather than the
knowledge of God, there are two moralities at play, objective
and subjective. Objective morality recognizes God as the
decider of right and wrong and its conclusions are guided by the knowledge of
God. Subjective morality gives man the
final authority as to what is right or wrong and it conclusions are guided
by the knowledge of good and evil. Thus, with feigned and ambiguous words the
learned philosophers have set the rules of debate, man decides
what is right for mankind.
The objective morality verses the subjective morality debate is
really a Christianity verses atheist debate in disguise. To engage in a
meaningful debate, both sides must respect each other position, but
Christianity has never been a religion that respected the position of the
ungodly and the Atheist will never respect the values of Christianity.
“There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end
thereof are the ways of death.” (Proverbs 14:12) The objective morals
that once were promoted by the Western societies are being replaced by a
subjective morality. Christian values
have become toxic and are being replaced with politically correct
values. Christianity is adopting a message of peaceful coexistence rather
than confrontation. It is conceivable that if Jesus or Paul were to preach
a message in today's modern church they would be harshly chastised.
Imagine John the Baptist standing in the pulpit of a marvelous and richly
endowed church screaming, "Oh ye generation of vipers, who has warned
you to flee from the wrath of God."
There is a sin question that is dominating the human
agenda. To proceed forward in the path
that it has taken, humanity as a whole must come to a consensus as to what is a
sin and what is not. Once that door is
open, it must also be decided whether sin is a relevant entity in a modernist
society. The sin question cannot be resolved
if sin is nothing but a label applied to things that certain groups do not
like.
The debate as to what is right and what is wrong can continue to
the "N" degree, but the true question is, "Do the parties in the
debate believe in the same God?" If the answer is an unequivocal
yes, and without doubt, then the question of sin is settled. There is no reason for a debate. If one
or more parties do not believe in God or the Bible, or even have a different
interpretation of God, then there can be no consensus on the question of sin,
any discussion of sin is pointless.
Therefore, if we refuse to accept God as the Supreme Being, the
Bible as the history of God interaction with his creation that tells how all of
this began and how it will end, then we have nothing to add to solving the
sin question. Our acceptance or
definition of sin becomes merely a perverse form self-gratification known
as the justification of sin.
To be continued
Part B
