HOTPRESSIONS
Humans don't own morality
(Rebuttal I to Seth Steinbacher's Pitt
News column: "Morality
is a decision of conscience, not necessarily religion”)
Ramesh C. Reddy
Editor in Chief
In a Pitt News
column called “Morality is a decision of conscience, not necessarily religion”
appearing in the Feb 05, 2003 edition of the Pitt News, Seth Steinbacher starts
of with religion causing death.
I am
not going to disagree with Steinbacher that people have been dying for their
religion for that is true. For me religion is just an eight letter word. It does
not mean much to me for in the name of religion people have done atrocious
things. Naturally that is going to turn people off. Better yet it is a hate
letter word.
People
have hated others because their religion is different from what they believe.
Currently, Christians are the most persecuted group in the world. You will find
columns in the Pitt News archives bashing Christians and their views but you
will never find columns bashing other religions or their views.
Why? For many, Christianity is a religion to hate and mock because of
its’ followers moral stance on issues that many people of the 21st
century believe to be moot. Christianity is taught to be hated as a religion and
associated with intolerance, bigotry, and so on.
When
people ask me what my religion is, I don’t tell them I am a Christian but a
follower of Christ. Being a follower of Christ is what gives me my morality
Now since I have given
you my view of religion let me say that morality is a decision of God and not
man which Steinbacher disagrees with.
He
wants you to know that “atheism gets a bad rap”!
There is a reason for that Mr. Steinbacher.
You
make the point, “The first thing that comes to many
people’s minds is that if you don’t believe in God, then you don’t have any
morals.”
I say
apart from God, you cannot have morals no matter how much you convince yourself
that you do.
Morality itself is not something human beings are willing to create.
Why would a human being bother to write commandments that
he/she himself cannot keep?
Humans
want to be winners and if they cannot keep the commandments they write, they
have started out as losers.
Will you right regulations and commandments you know that you yourself cannot
keep?
I
honestly don’t think so! What would be the purpose of a
human being writing down “a tidy 10-point list”
as you like to call it, when it puts restrictions on what a human being
can and cannot do unless of course they are commandments handed down regardless
of what humans think of them!
The
10-commandments were not written by a human being for morality but by a Supreme
Being for morality with clarity.
I will
never write commandments that I know I myself will not keep. That makes no
sense.
So if
you think you have grasped the concept of morality, you did not create your own
morality but it came from somewhere! You need to ask
yourself where?
Was it from your parents, your friends,
society, or from God Himself?
If you say parents, friends, or society then where did they get it from?
People
have said from their parents and so on. I would agree with that but that does
not change the fact that the first human got it from someone. Let us call that
someone GOD for argument sake.
Even
the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) must believe the commandments are not
human made. That is the reason why they fight so hard to remove the 10
commandments from so many places. Their argument always brings God into the
picture using the ‘separation of church and state’ argument.
For
your information, the ACLU was founded originally by Communists to promote
Communism and atheism. That is why they have so much hatred for those who
continue to uphold the Judea-Christian principles this nation was founded upon.
According to Allan Strong who writes for EtherZone.com, “And
there are the groups fronting for the Soviets designed to rout out every vestige
of Christianity. Preeminent among them is the ACLU (American Civil Liberties
Union). Wherever Christianity appears, ACLU goes to court to squelch it. What is
it? The preeminent founder of ACLU was Roger N. Baldwin. Roger Baldwin was a
Communist. How do we know that? The best reason we know of is that he said so.
Roger Baldwin said, "Communism is the goal." Yes, Communism, according to the
founder, was the goal of ACLU. The Communists, remember, are atheists; they hate
Jesus because He represents another loyalty. Another founder of ACLU was
Elizabeth Gurley Flynn. Elizabeth just happened to be General Secretary of the
Communist Party. Elizabeth was a member of the ACLU Board. Another ACLU founder
was William Z. Foster, who also just happened to be General Secretary of the
Communist Party, and was another member of the ACLU Board. How much more do we
need to know?”
Being
atheist is a choice you make because you do not want to believe the evidence
around you to show that there is a Creator and you are the created or just
because you hate to believe in God.
Many
times it is because of fear. People want to control their own destiny. Once they
start believing in God, they are afraid they lose their control. That does not
change the fact that there is evidence of God’s existence. With the evidence
there is and using our courtroom law presenting circumstantial evidence, real
evidence, testimonial evidence, jurors can rule in favor of God if God ever
bothered to have the right of patent for His creation, for He is the Author of
Life and human beings.
Athiests
love committing patent right infringement by taking credit for something that is
not of their creation! Humanity and morality are examples!
Where do you think conscience comes from Mr. Steinbacher?
It is
inborn when we are created and develops as we grow up.
Have you ever watched Pinocchio when you were young? There is this
character called J.C who lets Pinocchio know if what he is doing is right or
wrong!
You know what else J.C stands for? For me it stands for Jesus Christ who
lets human beings know what is right or wrong. Followers of Jesus believe Him to
be God so again morality has a source. It is not yourself but above yourself!
Steinbacher goes on to talk about killing by stating, “since
I neither believe in a supreme deity nor any kind of afterlife, I could kill
another person without fear of eternal redress. And if I could escape legal
consequences, there would be no penalties at all.”
Where do you think the
legal penalties came from? Oh you didn’t know! In the days of old many
places were not run by democracy but a theocracy. A theocracy form of government
had God’s laws as its laws.
When nations decided to move away from
theocracy into other forms of government, they held on to one thing. Theocratic
laws were etched into the law books and humans had to abide by them.
If you are into law, look at the
Pennsylvania Crimes Code and compare it with the Book of Deuteronomy. Better
yet, compare any crimes code with Deuteronomy and you will find that the laws of
the Old Testament have become etched into our law books.
Of course, many humans want to have many of
those laws removed such as the sodomy laws, etc. Legal consequences are based on
God’s rule of law whether you agree with it or not!
It
is good to know Mr. Steinbacher does not want to hurt people because he states,
“hurting people is wrong and that's
just all there is to the matter. My brain tells me not to harm anybody so I
guess it's a biological thing. I don't really care at any rate. It's natural to
love and be considerate, and I didn't have to subscribe to a religion to figure
that out.”
If you
believe something to be wrong, it is because in all of us there is an imprint of
God’s handy work even though we have free will. It is not your brain speaking to
you but God letting you know what you do is right or wrong.
Do you like to feel guilty?
If you
answered, ‘yes’, you are the first person I have met in the whole wide world of
human beings. Usually, people don’t like to be found guilty or feel guilty about
something. In light of that, they make rationalizations and many times stay away
from God.
Why? Because they may fear believing in God would
also prompt feelings of guilt if things were not done right.
It is
God that speaks to you of right and wrong. That is why when you know something
to be wrong, you feel guilty about it unless of course you have desensitized
yourself. That can happen! It is especially more prevalent in the case of
sociopaths or psychopaths.
Are you absolutely sure it is natural to love?
If you
are, let me remind you that love is of God and God is love. Love comes from God
and is passed on to human beings through His masterwork of creation. In human
beings will to choose, they choose whether to love or not. It is because a part
of God’s qualities are imprinted in them.
Of
course, the right manual helps develop those qualities and put them to action.
For me it is a process known as “Breathe in Bible, Live Eternally! (B.I.B.L.E)
Mr. Steinbacher goes
on to say, “Realizing without a doubt that there is no one in control of the
world was a painful thing for me to swallow. I have no purpose for being here,
anything I do or feel is ultimately negated after I die, and after death there
is nothing waiting for me. I simply cease to be.”
That is so sad you feel that way.
When did you realize that? Was it in a philosophy class on
Nietzche, on fatalism, existentialism, determinism?
What was it?
There has to be a reason you came to that conclusion. Regardless of the reason,
I want you to know, you can spit that reasoning out. There is a purpose for you
being here.
You don’t believe in God but God still loves
you even though you feel that way.
“I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord. They are plans to prosper you
and not to harm you, to give you a future and a hope” is what God promises you
from Jeremiah 29:11.
You do have a purpose and God has called you by name. You are precious and
special in His sight. Maybe nobody ever told you that but you are.
Since you do
not believe in God, you don’t also believe in a place called Heaven. I believe
Jesus Christ is the key to Heaven. Before you discount Jesus Christ and God, I
challenge you to be open-minded and read a ‘Case for
Christianity’ by C.S Lewis. I will read any book you want me to read and
maybe we can discuss both books one day.
Don’t you want to be sure in what you believe in?
I
have and so I have specialized myself in the study of apologetics which is the
defense of the Christian faith. Of course, I am not there yet completely but I
am on a journey and it has helped me in my faith and helped me to help others to
come to grips with their faith.
Have you studied Pascal’s wager and books called
‘Philosophers who Believe’ and ‘Professors who Believe’?
Pascal’s
wager goes something like this: If there is a God and you don’t believe then you
lose but if there is no God and you believe in a God, you don’t lose.
How can you lose for believing in God?
If you
believe in God then you would want to do what God wants you to do because you
trust in Him. God’s laws are for our benefit to help us. He is not an
absentee-landlord or the ultimate prankster as some would like you to believe.
He is there for you!
We all have
just one life to live so we should live it but the best way of living it is
taking the abundant life Jesus Christ wants to offer us. You can have that too
Mr. Steinbacher.
Your column
reminds me of some philosophers I have read who emphasized nothing but
hopelessness beyond this journey.
But there is hope,
yes there is!
“Faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not
seen.” (Hebrews 12:1)
Mr.
Steinbacher was not trying to sound preachy but I have been. Preaching and
reaching out with the Gospel of Jesus Christ has been part of me and I do it
because I believe in the evidence of the Absolute Truth and claims of Jesus
Christ for the salvation of humanity.
In closing,
the issue is not whether or not atheism is an empty, nihilistic take on life but
the issue is whether there is someone better out there who is more fulfilling
and true. There is someone better Mr. Steinbacher.
Jesus is His
name and in His presence you will never be the same. Saving souls and giving
abundant life is His game. He can give your life a much better aim.
Don’t you want to do what is best?
Athiesm is not the answer because there is a God and Jesus is the
Answer!
Give us your feedback
if you agree or disagree
|