Who Decides?

I just received a DVD I am looking forward to watching with Mary Ann when we have an evening where we can sit and do so. As best as I understand it, it is produced by a homeschool family and the church the father pastors. It is called Friday at Noon and one of the quotes associated with the movie's promotions is from Fyodor Dostoyevski, and it says, "If there is no God, everything is permissible." My understanding is that the movie will use a fictional story to explore if atheists can call anything wrong.

I think it intrigues me so because at West Point, in my pre-Christian days, I concentrated in philosophy and once considered myself a moral relativist (I believed that what was right for some was right for some, and what was right for others was right for them). My enjoyment of academic intellectual arguments was rocked when a professor there (who I many years later found out to be a Christian) told me that if he really believed I was he would do all he could to have me kicked out of the academy. It was too dangerous to him to have someone preparing for an officer's position of leadership and authority who didn't recognize there are absolute rights and wrongs.

I think that my encounter with that professor (which I have written about that encounter and moral relativism before in this blog) rattled me so much because up until that time things like philosophy, religion, etc., were just intellectual things to have fun arguing. But his intensity and passion was new to me. He really believed it mattered and had consequence and wasn't just fun and games.

Later in my journey toward Christ the argument for absolute right and wrong was a strong factor in my conversion. I came to realize that at my core I had a strong sense of right and wrong—it was one of the things that led me to West Point and the military—and if I was honest I couldn't explain that, or defend it, without an appeal to authority in it . . . God.

Tonight I had fun with our girls at dinner. I asked them to explain to me why some things are right or wrong without appealing to God. Needless to say it was quite a conversation! Each time something was brought up as right or wrong I could simply ask, "Why?" and then not let them use God in their argument. As we talked back and forth they came to see that, without an absolute authority, there is no true right or wrong. Some might say it is defined by popular vote, or majority opinion, or the strongest, or ??? But the reality is that there is no way to say one person is more right than another, or one thing is more right or wrong than another, without some appeal to authority that is higher than them all. Even a country that decides right and wrong by votes on moral issues or laws can be overrun by a country with a stronger army that decides right or wrong on its own moral compass—and the invaded country has no basis to say that they are right and the invaders are wrong.

It is truly a scary thought when someone denies there is a God by Whom absolute right and wrong is defined. If they are consistent in their logic from that point on then they have entered a realm where anything goes, and they have no basis or standing or appeal to say someone is wrong, even if that someone intrudes on their rights or safety. It is, I believe, a powerful approach to witnessing because it is a very rare person who will not acknowledge that inside them they have a sense of right or wrong. To pursue where that comes from and if it is absolute or relative is a powerful door to begin to talk about God, being made in His image, and His transcendence over all.

So, sit back, pour yourself a good cup of coffee, gather some friends, and try and define absolute right and wrong without including God. It should be an eye opening time! I'd love to hear about it! Blessings, and thanks for reading. —Erick

A Devotional on Loving God . . .

Mary Ann and I are big fans of quality Christian movies. As such we have really valued the ministry of Dave Christiano who produces Christian movies, and also sells Christian films through his ministry Christian Films.com.

This week he sent out an email newsletter and in it he reprints a devotional from a friend of his, Jimmy D. Brown (www.living4jesus.com). In light of what I have been studying this week, and I have asked both you and the fellowship I pastor to meditate on (what it means to love God), I found this to be more than coincidence. I contacted Jimmy D. Brown and received his permission to reprint the devotional here:

I was reading this week and just one of the most basic verses of Scripture there is just really resonated with me: "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength".

That's it. That's everything. That's the whole entire thing we're supposed to do here on earth all rolled up in one simple statement. Love the Lord with everything we have.

Oh how our families and other relationships would be blessed if everyone did it. There would be no more Tiger Wood headlines. Nor wars in the middle east. Nor thievery or murders or hatred. No more broken homes and cheaters and selfishness and pride.

If every one of us just loved the Lord with everything we have, what a different world we'd live in.

Just love Him. More than anything else. With all your heart, soul, mind and strength.

Or, said another way...

Keep Christ First!

Jimmy

It is truly something to stop on for awhile and meditate about. What does it look like to love God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength? What would it look like if more did it? I think we might be truly shocked at what God stands ready to do through one person who would simply love Him with everything he or she has.