By
GDW
“You shall know the Truth, and the Truth
shall set you free.”
~Jesus
We live
in a morally confused world. Where philosophers tell us even the notion of
morality is an irrelevant consideration in the makeup of society. "What
you believe in private doesn't matter in public". So keep your morality at home.
In
the book of Genesis, in the Garden of Eden the Devil, through a serpent, tried
to convince man he didn't need God to know good from bad, right from wrong.
That we could be like God. Nothing has changed except the form of the devil’s
messenger. The message is still the same. Now he just uses secular
philosophers, high-powered media, politicians, and "special interest"
groups to push this agenda, not mentioning Hollywood and the entertainment
industry. They're excellent salesmen for a very bad product. And the world is
totally buying it.
Meanwhile,
the people who do have the best product to sell to the world are the most
miserable salespeople. Christians are selling the Gospel short, through their
lack of assertive communication and of course their (our) blatant hypocrisy. In
fact they're even buying that dangerous product dished out by its aggressive
salesmen.
The
world thinks it can fix this itself without God. And people who believe in God
are starting to believe that to be true too. We somehow think that by walking
away from faith in the one who gives us a choice to believe in Him, we're becoming
liberated, and somehow more advanced in our humanness.
But
look around. See how lost we are. By being our own "god" we've almost
blasted morality into oblivion, and inserted our own preferences for
determining what's right and wrong. And we’re getting “loster”. We don't know
what's right or wrong anymore. We go by the majority and by the loudest
philosopher, like Oprah or Chopra. And grasp the air for some longer-lasting
point of reference from which we can know what's right is really right. Because
our private preferences are wearing thin. We say things like:
- It’s ok if it feels good
- As long as you aren’t hurting anybody else
- As long as the person you’re doing it to/with consents to it, it’s ok
- You have the power and freedom over your own body
- Be yourself!
- Don’t be held down by religion. Be free.
- Look out for yourself, your happiness is all that matters
- If it makes sense to do it, do it!
- God is what you say it is.
- God only thinks it’s wrong if you hurt others
If
you push those statements to their logical end, you’ll find a world of
contradictions, inconsistencies, clashes and lies. Let’s talk through a few of
them.
“If it feels good it’s ok”. But for some people it
feels good to kill others. It feels good to rape and taunt others. It feels
good to hurt themselves. It doesn't work. So enter another assertion: “As long as you don’t hurt others”. But
hurting others feels good. And besides, the other consents to it. So here he is, killing because he feels good, and
the other consents, but the world doesn't know so the world prosecutes him. “Be yourself!” But he was being himself
when he was raping the kids. He can’t reconcile that need to be himself with
the need to not hurt others without their consent. “You have the power and freedom over your own body”, so kill that
child in your body before it has a chance to breathe on its own. But then why
are we concerned that people should live healthy lives? Or why do we try to
discourage them from using drugs and wasting their lives? And when they want to
commit suicide—which means consenting to your own death, and executing
yourself, because you just want to be yourself and people won’t let you—we tell
them no please call us on this hotline and we’ll talk about it first. And when
they call we tell them “don’t do it!” Aren’t they entitled to do whatever they
want with their live and just “be themselves”? Aren’t they being themselves?
Maybe not existing anymore is better for them than existing miserably? They’re
not “hurting” others right? And finally, God
thinks it’s wrong only if you hurt others. But if God cares about not
hurting others, how could He not care about you hurting yourself. Contradictions
abound!
Back
to the earliest line that’s supposed to dismiss even this kind of essay: “What
you believe in private shouldn’t be shared in public!” So moral
convictions should not be brought in to the public discussions about how
society is shaped. Morality shouldn’t be a major factor in politics and social
re-programming. But think about that statement; a self-contradictory statement:
It is itself a private belief being shared
publicly, in the attempt to
discourage the public sharing of private beliefs, by private individuals.
You might as well say “my opinion matters and not yours. My word is truth and
not yours.”
Secular
teachings can get us into deep deep trouble. It cannot provide a coherent set
of answers to life and society’s moral dilemmas. You’ll have to amend the principles every time
a situation changes.
One
time at the crowded bus stop at Waigani a man had a carpenter’s saw sticking
out of his back pack, bare and ready to slice an unaware commuter. I asked the
man kindly to be careful about his saw as it may cut the others when we all
rushed for a bus. His arrogant answer was “wari blong ol!” He couldn’t care
less if someone got hurt by his equipment. But you wonder how his response
would be if he was another commuter who did get hurt by the saw sticking out of
someone else’s back pack. He would probably retaliate in anger at the person’s
carelessness. He would have amended his “wari blo ol!” principle. In fact he
would have completely about-faced on it.
And
that’s what the secular world tells us: to amend every time the situation or
some other variable (e.g. popular belief) changes.
Sure
we can be "good", do "good" things and generally not do
anything considered "evil" in this world. Even in a god-less state of
mind. But if we push our self-induced morality to its ends, we'd likely find a
whole heap of contradictions, and ultimate a weak foundation. Like houses built
on sand instead of on rock.
And
oh how we try to redefine God according to our preferences. Maybe He cares
about this and not that. Maybe He thinks this way and not that. As if His nature is
dependent on our beliefs. Like if I believed strong enough a stone will turn to
bread. Some things can't be altered no matter what or how strongly we believe. Same for truth. We
don't like it so we change its very definition, making it malleable. We want "truth" that's amenable
and subjective and relative...and of course convenient. But that isn't truth. Truth (a translation of reality into information), isn't dependent on our beliefs. It can't be changed.
Ray
Boltz, a Christian musician responsible for some of Christendom’s most popular
songs such as “I Pledge Allegiance” and “Thank You (For giving to the Lord)”,
came out publicly declaring that he was gay. Then he said, “If this is the way
God made me, then this is the way I'm going to live." So he divorced his
wife and pursued his homosexual practice. But did God really “make” him that
way? Does God want Him to stay that way? He seems to have amended God’s
character without God’s consent, only to suit his sexual proclivities. It would
have been better if he said clearly that “there is no God”.
The
question "Is there a God?" can only be answered "yes" or
"no". We can't ever say "it depends!" Yet the most
intelligent people and nations in the world would say "it depends".
If yes, does He give us our moral code? Did He write them in the deepest
crevices of our souls that we can know it without knowing Him? If no He doesn’t
exist, then no problem. Everything is permissible. And anything that is not
permissible must be explained to be not permissible. If it depends, then
morality is just a matter of “it depends”. It depends on anything: feelings,
gains, science, security, happiness, selfishness, pleasure, pain, etc. etc. etc.
A moral code keeps people from freedoms they think they must have to be happy. Renowned
atheist Aldous Huxley said it himself, betraying that the true reason for
people like him rejecting a God-ordained morality is their selfish lusts. “We objected to the morality because it
interfered with our sexual freedom.” (in Ends and Means).
That
kind of world, Papua New Guinea, can get as confusing as confusion can get. Yet
it seems to be what the world wants. As a nation we would do well to steer
clear of it.
Heavenise
day!
Ganjiki
