Moral

by Guy Takamatsu

Created on: October 08, 2009

The intellectual case for Christianity is very strong: so strong that St. Paul would say that the unbelievers are without excuse. God has given us external and internal proofs of his existence and will. The creation is an external proof of God's existence and the law written on our hearts gives us an indication of his will. However ever since the fall, we have an imperfect conscience written on our hearts. Our knowledge of God is marred by our sinful nature. God has clearly spelled himself out to us in his revealed word, the Bible. Granted, the Bible does not tell us everything there is to know, but everything we need to know.

Christian speaker and apologist, Josh McDowell, in one of his speeches, remarked that 90 percent of the people who object to his message do so from a moral basis. Becoming a Christian means giving up a certain lifestyle. Granted some of these unbelievers may have a mistaken notion as to what one has to give up. These unbelievers may mistakenly think being a Christian means giving up having fun. But what is having fun? Eating or drinking to excess is not fun. Getting drunk and having a hangover does not strike this writer as fun. Granted some Christian denominations did impose restrictions which they considered Biblical separation. But it is possible that they went too far and added extra boundaries to God's word, just as the some of the later Jewish practices were added to prevent transgressing God's word. The motives may have been good, but that probably created other problems. God not only said not to subtract from his word, he also said not to add to his word. Later practices and traditions may have had good intentions, but one has to be careful not equate tradition with scripture.

Martin Luther once remarked that reason was the devil's whore. Luther did not mean that reason in and of itself was bad. But that reason used in the service of denying God was the devil's whore. Science used in the service of denying God's existence is one such example. Some may try to argue that science has disproved God's existence, but that is their interpretation. Most comical is Dawkins' claim that what one sees in nature is not design, but apparent design. Dawkins is halfway conceding God's existence by having to resort to a vain argument of apparent design. Perhaps Dawkins' books are not the product of intelligence, but apparent intelligence. That being the case Dawkins should not be eligible for royalties, since those are supposedly a reward for intelligent thought.

Not only are there external proofs for God's existence, there is also God's law written in our hearts. In the debate between John Lennox and Richard Dawkins, Lennox made a very good point in saying Dawkins could not really account for morality. Dawkins had a lame plea that we can do better. He could not formulate a justification for morality based on atheism in his debate. Probably one of the best arguments for morality and the moral law is found in C.S. Lewis' book Mere Christianity. Lewis points out that people who deny morality will cry out that's not fair if they feel they are wronged. In other words they point to a moral standard.

C.S. Lewis does a wonderful job of first starting with the Law and then expounding from there. We Lutherans say that one must start with the Law. The Law is what shows people there inadequacies. Sin means missing the mark. Think of an archer shooting and missing his target. God has given us a target and we sinners always miss the mark.

That is why we need a savior.

Christianity is not anti-intellectual. C.S. Lewis in a letter mentioned in the book A Severe Mercy pointed out that the atheist is not the brave one. The atheist is the one running away from God. The atheist does not want to be held accountable.

Christianity raises the question of accountability. Is there a God to whom we are accountable? If we cannot meet that standard of accountability, what can we do? The answer is we can do nothing to please God. God himself is the one who lived a perfect life for us and paid the price for our sins (i.e. missing the mark). The only thing one can do is believe on Christ (Acts. Chapter 16 verse 31). We cannot earn our way to heaven.

Since we are fallen creatures our sin nature naturally refuses to follow God's commandments. Or our sin nature refuses to accept God's remedy for our inability to follow his commandments, preferring to save ourselves by keeping the law. It is not intellect so much as it is will which keeps people from accepting God's offer of forgiveness.

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