What bunk
I’m posting this again because one of the chief evils of this age is the notion–the delusion–that a purely worldly salvation can be had in a fallen world, apart from Jesus Christ Our Savior. Heck, you don’t even have to try to be good: we’re all gonna evolve into a higher form of being, blah-blah…
Beware any hope of “moral evolution.” We are saved by Christ alone: the grace of God, the love of God, the word of God made flesh. We do not “evolve.” We do not re-engineer society to tweak all the bad stuff out of it. Rousseau and Dewey and Marx were and are disastrously wrong.
Have no fellowship with unfruitful works of darkness.
That’s the thing, we cannot save ourselves.
No, and the ones who promise to do it for us are only after our money.
Without God there can be no moral standard. Otherwise what else do you base morality on except someone’s opinion, which changes from day to day. That is apparent from the writings of Godless philosophers like Rousseau, Marx, and Nietzsche. They all believed morality was relative. Nietzsche wanted to go beyond good and evil, instead he ended up going mad. The godless Communists, who were the end product of those philosophies, could murder millions without compunction. That’s easy to do when you don’t believe in a God.
People believe they don’t need God to be good, but they haven’t really been tested. Take away all the laws so they are not accountable for their actions, then put them in a situation where it’s every man for himself. Let’s see how “good” they act then.
As is so often the case, you have stated matters very well.
Jesus, when asked the most important commandments stated “. . . one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, asked him, “Which commandment is the most important of all?” 29Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ 31The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” Mark 12:28 – 31
Having One Standard is essential. We all have to be reading from the same playbook or there will be chaos. God’s standards are simple and benefit us. If followed, we will have a happy, productive and prosperous civilization. However, if someone tries to live within such a society, but ignore the moral standards, they will not fare as well. God’s laws can’t be ignored without consequence; they are the rules of the Universe (despite what some scientists may claim).
At the Quantum Level, the physical world is chaotic, but this chaos is driven by very predictable probabilities. It is possible for all of the air molecules in a room to group themselves in one half of the room, leaving the other half in a vacuum, but the probablility of this is essentially zero and in literally never happens. So the view that the Universe is chaotic is fallacious. Yes, tiny little particles hop around in ways we can barely imagine, but God, being a God of order, has built a Universe which operates with astounding predictability. His laws govern the Universe.
We can ignore God’s law by force of our free will, but doing so goes against the current of reality. The moral laws of the Bible are no less pervasive than the physical laws. I can declare myself free from the law of gravity, but if I step off the roof of a tall building, I’m still going to hit the ground, and hit hard. In history some peoples have enagaged in the practice of sacrificing their children. How well are these ancient civilizations doing today? The worship of Moloch, and other forms of human sacrifice seem to be features common to civilizations which last only a short time. The True God stated the the Caananites were vomited out of the land. Their disgusting practices brought their downfall.
If it doesn’t come down from the Mountain, it’s not the Law.
Exactly. Indeed the moral capital of those whom fear the True God benefit all of mankind. That’s fine by me, as long as I’m not hindered in my worship and obedience.
With regard to what comes down from the mountain: The history of Christianity is chocked full of examples where people have decided theirs was the one path to God. God’s word, in the form of the Bible, is what we have to work with. How do we know it’s from God? The Bible has proven reliable and is a book of prophecy with a perfect track record.
Sometime back, I had someone try to convince me that God dealt only through their denomination. This person was convinced that his church was God’s conduit and that church history was more than ample evidence of Divine Favor.
When Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt, they left in a hurry and entered a harsh land. Pharaoh had a change of heart, after releasing them, and unleashed the most formidable army of the time upon them, leading that army himself. The Israelites were no match for this army and were, by human standards, the very definition of doomed. By the Power of the True God, Moses split the waters and they Israelites walked across the Red Sea on dry land. Pharaoh sent his army in pursuit and all was lost. THAT’S how God shows someone that he’s dealing with a man as His earthly representative. It was to Moses that he gave the Law and it was obvious that God used Moses as a spokesman.
Then there was this obscure Jewish man, basically a day laborer skilled in carpentry. He fasted, and then begin to teach disciples. He changed water into wine, restored sight to the blind, even raised the dead. THAT is how God demonstrates His backing. Jesus became the greatest prophet of them all and we know the the teachings of Jesus are reliable.
So, when someone claims special favor for their church, I am respectful. Many churches teach much that is true (while unfortunately many have abandoned truth) but that truth comes from God’s written word.
Someday, hopefully someday soon, Christ will return and mankind will see more amazing things. God’s favor in this matter will be not only evident, but also it will be obvious.
Meanwhile God’s handiwork is all around us–“For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made”–and we are without excuse (Romans 1).
Atheists mostly live off the moral capital amassed by Jews and Christians.