Thursday, March 12, 2015

The Road Leading To Destruction, Part A

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 real problem with deciding the sin question is that the moral principles that Christians often claim to be "objective" or of God usually coincide with what they "feel" subjectively to be true.      This feeling is often explained as the, "Holy Spirit within us”, but indoctrination also plays an important role here.  When pressed to provide justification, the person being questioned can be led to believe through skillful manipulation that its concept of sin, morality or even of God might not be objective, and the question of sin becomes a question of what one believe.  Without a proper knowledge of God our belief structure is contaminated,  many are easily manipulated and led astray.

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