Questions You Need Answers To – Part 5
Bible Text: Romans 2:13-15 | Presenter: Rev. James Destine | Series: Questions You Need Answers To | Worldviews are formed by a coherent answer to these four questions:
Origin
Meaning
Morality
Eternity
Origin
Human beings originated by accident from a single cell, God is automatically excluded.
Meaning
Life has no meaning, purpose or worth
Morality
Morality is obsolete
Destiny
Life ends at the grave and justice is dead
Origin
Because evolution cannot happen until life begins, we must look to a creator for the origin of life
Meaning:
What makes us different than animals?
The same thing that makes us different is what gives life meaning.
Human beings are the only being that was created in God’s image and in his likeness. Both male and female.
Human beings are sacred because we are connected to God – _He breathes the breath of life in us._
When you exclude God as the creator or originator of life you automatically de-sacralize life and when you desacralize life everything becomes profane.
Not only do we need God for life to happen and for human life to have meaning, purpose and worth, we need God for absolute moral law
Morality:
Because life has worth, life must be protected. It cannot be left to heteronomous or autonomous; it must be theonomous.
Morality is a system of standards , principles or conduct that distinguish between what is proper or improper, right or wrong, good or evil.
What is the purpose of morality?
Morality has the following five purposes:
To create stability-keeping society from falling apart-
To ameliorate human suffering
To promote human flourishing
To resolve conflicts of interest in just and orderly ways
To establish justice- by assigning praise and blame, to reward the good and punish the guilty.
Do you need to believe in God in order to be moral?
Not at all!
Romans 2:13-15
Though we don’t have to believe in God in order to be moral, we need God to exist in order to have absolute morality?
There are three societies in relation to morality.(HAT)
Heteronomous society:
Hetros means another
nomos means law
The few at the top control the masses or the mainstream of the society.
Autonomous society:
Autos mean self
nomos means law.
Each person sets their own moral standards (codes).
No two people agree on everything and the moment one disagrees with the other, they switch to a heteronomous culture.
Theonomous society:
Theos means God, nomos law.
We can hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal.
If morality is indispensable to human beings survival, morality has to be objective.
It must not and can never be subjective.
Morality absence of objectivity becomes human convention and will never work.
Therefore heteronomous and autonomous morality is subjective and will not work.
The morality that will work must have a moral law giver other than a human being or beings.
Only a moral law give can adjudicated true and objective justice. We theist call him God.
The question of destiny addresses life after death:
What happens when humans who pass from this world to the next?
Is there life after death?
The question of destiny has two competing worldviews:
Theistic worldview
Atheistic worldview
The theistic worldview is life continues after the grave for all human beings:
Two eternal states for all individuals after they pass from this world to the next:
Heaven – eternal life with God in Christ Jesus.
Hell – eternal separation from God without Christ Jesus
The atheistic worldview is life ends at the grave
Who is right and who is wrong?
The facts are:
No one has returned from the other side of the curtain
We can’t interview those who have already died
It is impossible to figure out what comes after death
The atheist cannot claim superior knowledge or information on the subject.
The theist also concedes the fact that:
We too, like the atheist, have not been to the other side
Have not questioned any dead people
Level the playing field between atheists and theists on this subject
If all we have is the atheist’s denial of life after death and the theist affirmation of it, at this point, what we ultimately have from both is a faith-based position.
The theist can’t agree to disagree:
The absence of proof is not proof of absence
Belief in life after death is historically both timeless and global.
The poll is on the theists side
Logical and coherent reasoning
Biblical reason
Empirical proof
Logically
If there is no life after death, we are all on this earth, like passengers on the Titanic:
We can rearrange the deck chairs and turn up the music, but we are ultimately doomed.
Coherently speaking, if life ends at the grave, morality is obsolete. Giving the finality of death it really doesn’t matter how you live.
It would make no difference whether you live as Hitler or mother Terressa.
If mortality is obsolete, life is meaningless; all things would be permitted without repercussion
Who are we? How did we get here? What makes us human?
After all human beings are primates evolved from one single cell by accident cannot answer that question, because evolution cannot happen until life begins.
Before you remove a fence, you need to find out why it was there in the first place.
Two things are certain:
We can face death with serenity, viewing it as a gateway to another life and ultimate justice.
It has a huge implication of how you live your life on earth.
Morality is no longer obsolete; morality is absolute.
How you live your life here on earth in large part is determined by where you will spend eternity. That fact brings meaning to life. You could not do as you please with human life.
Meaning for life cannot come about by accident. For life not to occur by accident, you need a creator.
The atheists beliefs on destiny is based solely on faith, might I say blind faith; the theist beliefs on destiny is based on the basis of historical facts grounded in faith in Jesus Christ.
The atheist faith on its beliefs of destiny is wrong:
We are certain that someone has returned from the other side of the curtain
That person was interviewed and eyewitnesses documented what they witnessed and others documented the testimonies of the eye-witnesses.
Jesus Christ!