“It is by God’s own will that we get to choose our own fate. He has given us the rules, now it is up to us to win the game.” - L
There are a lot of ideas within the humanist and liberal movement that I feel are intelligent in design. They lack the humbleness of the saints (at least what God had hoped for us), but can not be completely denied based solely on this one argument. The humanist view that truth and morality is sought through human investigation; as such, views on morality can change when new knowledge and information is discovered and the liberal belief of self-determination in human existence are both divine in nature.
I am not certain that morality can change. However, I think it is very apparent that our view and understanding of morality can deepen. The Old Testament laid out a set of laws and rules to follow to a very naive and ignorant society. As they progressed (for better or for worse) so did their understanding of right and wrong. In the New Testament God defined these laws in a different light. He told us if we love one another and treat each other well and hold God as the most high, then we could not disregard the law, henceforth they are one and the same (not different, just more complex). As our understanding of sin and morality increased and became more complicated in nature, so did God’s commandments to us. The church of antiquity (and America less than fifty years ago) thought it was okay to suppress and belittle women, propagate racism, and indulge in king worship (theocracy or papacy), by today’s standards that is immoral. More evidence that we as a body of believers can better define the nuances of moral questions as they become more complex and we become more mature as a people.
While the liberal and humanist reliance on self-worth is extravagant to say the least, as a religious man I do believe in self determination. Many intellectuals from the Enlightenment, including those most influential in creating our country; George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, Ben Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, John Jay and many more, believed that individual liberty was not only humanly moral, but a God given entitlement presented to us and proven in His own actions in our history. God gave us a choice. This is never more apparent than in our freedom to worship. If the divine creator of all that exists insisted that we believe and worship faithfully, than we would. The fact that we all do not can be most apparent when believers at times exhibit extreme lapses in judgment and morals. Therefore, I can not understand why the church feels the necessity to propagate and espouse its moral authority upon the rest of the world (or at least our country). If God gave individuals the freedom to choose, how could we rationalize otherwise? Perhaps we as the body of Christ suffer from a form of narcissism or at the very least delusions of grandeur. We should not choose to destroy that which God has created and self determination is ever apparent from Adam and Eve to Revelation.
Intellectual progress is what God wanted for us. Reason, understanding and rational inspection of self evident truths can be seen from the writings of Moses to John. It is our nature and duty to progress; this is why we are not saved from birth. Liberty and free will are an essential part of life on this planet. We might not like the choices that others make but God did not intend for us to stand in between another man’s intellect and his actions. We choose and suffer the consequences of our action, God does not choose for us. He gives us the knowledge to succeed and we choose to listen or deny. It is our commission as saints to provide the information necessary to present the steps of salvation to the world, God never gave us permission to oppress those that choose otherwise.
Yes, God does talk about our freedom to choose. However, it might be wise to differentiate between freedom to choose in a moral sense and our freedom to choose for the Kingdom of God. For example; you know I'm concerned about the persecuted church. Those Christians have made a choice to lay down their personal freedom in order to take up their cross and follow Jesus. Yes, their choice will have consequences, maybe even death, but they do have that choice. To me, that is far different than wrong moral choices.
ReplyDeleteSo tell me, should the church not teach morality? We understand God's reasons for certain moral issues. If we have wisdom and knowledge about that shouldn't we teach it? Will you not teach your children moral laws and discipline them strongly if they "choose" wrongly? Maybe, as the church, we should not kill people who don't believe as we do, morally or spiritually. I think it is good and right to teach what God says is righteous behavior though. In America, we get to have our own views on life so why not teach a good biblical concept of morality. Where the choice and freedom arises is at the point where people accept the teaching or reject it. The church should be a moral compass in a nation, not bring judgement on those who disagree but leading the way to truth.
The church is narcissistic and has delusions of grandeur? It would be far easier to just cave to societies desire for immorality to reign in our nation. We don't take a stand to be osbstinate but to obey God! If we lived in a communist country or Iran we would not have the freedom to teach right and wrong, but here in America we still have a voice and it shouldn't be silenced!
I would like to know how we are oppressing those who choose otherwise. THey are not tortured and thrown into the dungeon for their beliefs by Christians! Some Christians are though.
Bottom line; I believe we have the right to effect our society as best we can in moral issues because we have intrinsic knowledge of basic moral concepts.