No Absolutes = No Right To Get Angry.

Some who do not believe in God will often say there is no such thing as evil or sin. They also suggest that we are products of evolution over billions of years. But if this were really true then some get very angry and say, “Religion is the source of evil in the world!”

I have heard one too many make this statement on a number of occasions. So when they assert that religion is the “source of evil in the world” they destroy their own argument that evil, sin, or right vs wrong does not truly exist. If evil or wrong were phantasmic concepts and figments of the religious man’s imagination then they would have no real reason to be angry over an idea that is non existent. After all, right and wrong cannot really exist if we are all just animals. On one token they expect people to act better than animals and get disappointed when people don’t but they assert we are animals really. “We are really animals also” they say, and some say, “We are no more superior to these little furry friends” yet they are shocked, surprised, and angry when a “human animal” commits a heinous act.

They seem to retain their rights to get indignant about evil they do not believe can truly exist. It is not logically possible to believe two contradictory belief systems simultaneously. It is incongruent.

Either we are animals following our “human animal” instincts and there are no absolutes or we are as the Bible says “Created in the image of God” possessing conscience and the capability to know right from wrong. And if the latter is true which I’d say it is, then we are guilty when we do wrong, and have no excuse and cannot blame “animal instinct” for our evil.

It’s time to make up our minds.

A Historical Account of Christ’s Prophesy Fulfilled

The Destruction of the Jewish Temple

In Luke 21, Jesus predicted an event that took place approximately 33 years after he had been gone from earth, which gives some evidence to His divine ability to predict the future and may give some doubtful skeptics something to chew on. The event is an actual historical event that Christ told his disciples about when he predicted the destruction of the Jewish temple.

Luke 21:5 Some of his disciples were remarking about how the temple was adorned with beautiful stones and with gifts dedicated to God. But Jesus said, 6 “As for what you see here, the time will come when not one stone will be left on another; every one of them will be thrown down.”

Matthew 24:34, leads me to believe he was talking about this event when he said, “34 I tell you the truth, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened.” 33 years later his prediction indeed came true as as the Jews formed a united attack and rebelled against Roman occupation in 66 AD

Luke 21:20 “When you see Jerusalem being surrounded by armies, you will know that its desolation is near. 21 Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, let those in the city get out, and let those in the country not enter the city. 22 For this is the time of punishment in fulfillment of all that has been written. 23 How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! There will be great distress in the land and wrath against this people. 24 They will fall by the sword and will be taken as prisoners to all the nations. Jerusalem will be trampled on by the Gentiles (Non Jews) until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.

One of my sources describes it this way, “The Jewish Wars began in 66 A.D. and they were a direct revolt by the Jews against Rome’s authority. Titus with his Roman legions arrived at the outermost northern Wall of Jerusalem, the Passover of 70 A.D. The Romans built embankments of earthenwork, they placed battering rams and the siege began. The Roman army numbered 30,000; while the Jewish army numbered 24,000. According to Tacitus they were 600,000 visitors crowding the streets of Jerusalem for the Passover. After five months the walls were battered down, the great Temple was burned down, and the city was left ruined and desolate, except for Herod’s three great towers at the northwest corner of the city. These served as a memorial of the massive strength of Jerusalem’s fortifications which Titus of Rome had brought to rubble.

The legions of Rome brought the captives to Caesarea and after over one million Jews were killed, 95,000 captives were taken as prisoners, and among them was Josephus, the ancient Jewish historian. According to Eusebius, the Christians saw the might of the Roman army and through prophetic warning, fled to Pella.”
http://www.bible-history.com/jerusalem/firstcenturyjerusalem_destruction_of_jerusalem_in_70_a_d_.html

Another source http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/jewishtemple.htm describes the event in these such ways

(“In the year 66 AD the Jews of Judea rebelled against their Roman masters. In response, the Emperor Nero dispatched an army under the generalship of Vespasian to restore order. By the year 68, resistance in the northern part of the province had been eradicated and the Romans turned their full attention to the subjugation of Jerusalem. That same year, the Emperor Nero died by his own hand, creating a power vacuum in Rome. In the resultant chaos, Vespasian was declared Emperor and returned to the Imperial City. It fell to his son, Titus, to lead the remaining army in the assault on Jerusalem.

The Roman legions surrounded the city and began to slowly squeeze the life out of the Jewish stronghold. By the year 70, the attackers had breached Jerusalem’s outer walls and began a systematic ransacking of the city. The assault culminated in the burning and destruction of the Temple that served as the center of Judaism.

In victory, the Romans slaughtered thousands. Of those sparred from death: thousands more were enslaved and sent to toil in the mines of Egypt, others were dispersed to arenas throughout the Empire to be butchered for the amusement of the public. The Temple’s sacred relics were taken to Rome where they were displayed in celebration of the victory.) —http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/jewishtemple.htm)

Luke 21:24 They will fall by the sword and (will be taken as prisoners to all the nations.) Jerusalem will (be trampled on by the Gentiles) until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.

(The rebellion sputtered on for another three years and was finally extinguished in 73 AD with the fall of the various pockets of resistance including the stronghold at Masada.

“…the Jews let out a shout of dismay that matched the tragedy.”

Our only first-hand account of the Roman assault on the Temple comes from the Jewish historian Josephus Flavius. Josephus was a former leader of the Jewish Revolt who had surrendered to the Romans and had won favor from Vespasian. In gratitude, Josephus took on Vespasian’s family name – Flavius – as his own. We join his account as the Romans fight their way into the inner sanctum of the Temple:

“…the rebels shortly after attacked the Romans again, and a clash followed between the guards of the sanctuary and the troops who were putting out the fire inside the inner court; the latter routed the Jews and followed in hot pursuit right up to the Temple itself. Then one of the soldiers, without awaiting any orders and with no dread of so momentous a deed, but urged on by some supernatural force, snatched a blazing piece of wood and, climbing on another soldier’s back, hurled the flaming brand through a low golden window that gave access, on the north side, to the rooms that surrounded the sanctuary. As the flames shot up, the Jews let out a shout of dismay that matched the tragedy; they flocked to the rescue, with no thought of sparing their lives or husbanding their strength; for the sacred structure that they had constantly guarded with such devotion was vanishing before their very eyes.)-http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/jewishtemple.htm

Some skeptics say that Luke is not a valid source, because it was written years after Christ lived. However, it is widely believed by many scholars Luke wrote Acts as well, which was written as a sequal to the gospel of Luke in 60-62 AD.

In the intro of Acts the author Luke says in reference to the gospel of Luke  (Acts 1:1 In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach )

 

If indeed this is correct, than Luke accuratly portrayed the destruction of the temple and the Jewish wars well before they occured. Since the Jewish wars began in 66 AD and the resistence was squashed aroud AD 70.

The book of Mark which is believed to be written anywhere inbetween 55-59 AD gives this account.

Mark 13:1-2 As Jesus was leaving the temple, one of his disciples said to him, “Look, Teacher! What massive stones! What magnificent buildings!” “Do you see all these great buildings?” replied Jesus. “Not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down.”

Both Matthew and Mark are believed to be written well before 70 AD and the Jewish wars. According the the photo below and another web source.

http://www.gotquestions.org/Gospel-of-Mark.html .Date of Writing: The Gospel of Mark was likely one of the first books written in the New Testament, probably in A.D. 55-59.

The idea that the disciples wrote about the destruction of Jerusalem after the fact does not seem to pan out

Just A few Reasons Some People Don’t Believe in God.

Grantid, not everyone has the same reasons for believing or not believing something. It varies from person to person. However, over the years of talking with Atheists and Agnostics, some similar reasons seem to pop up. 

There are 2 main reason I believe people will refuse to believe in God and accept God’s offer of Salvation found in the Cross of Christ. I say “main,” because Im sure there are others. But I want to delve into a few for starters.

1.) Unbelief and skepticism
-These people are either unsure about God or think they have, “scientific proof” to disprove his existence.

2.) A Warped view of God.
– Some people have tasted bad medicine in their experiences with “religious people” and that left them in a state of not wanting to believe in God all together. They fail to realize that the God of the Bible is beyond appealing and he is not some grumpy or angry force that wants to punish their every sin, they don’t realize also that God loves them and that their life of sin cannot compare to the glorious pleasures of knowing their loving creator who made them with a purpose. As a non Christian I feared missing out on the fun if I truly turned my life and will over to Christ, however, this is a huge lie and Christianity done correctly is the most enjoyable fulfilling experience of the human soul, nothing can compare to doing the very thing you made for and experiencing a relationship with God himself.

3.) A Lack of understanding of a difficult God concept.

Some people cannot reconcile how a God of complete love could punish people in an eternal hell. For these people I recommend they check out 

https://austingeorge.wordpress.com/2015/07/15/why-god-must-punish-sin/

https://austingeorge.wordpress.com/2015/04/18/how-could-a-loving-god-send-people-to-hell/

Others cannot reconcile the idea of a good God allowing evil or suffering.

(See) https://austingeorge.wordpress.com/2015/07/19/if-god-is-good-thenwhy-suffering/

There are many other questions and concepts people wrestle with. And I hope some who do not yet know the love of the Savior might find this helpful.

The good news for either category of people is God can still save them, no one is beyond the reach of Christ and he does reveal himself to a seeking soul. If they are interested if finding him, He will be found.

Who Sets The Standard

Who determines right and wrong? Who sets the standard? Is it society? Is it the individual or their conscience? If this is so, and morality is a matter of opinion that varies from person to person, than one group might say “genocide” is acceptable, this thing has happened before in the past, I might add, unfortunately. We know it is not the case but some people like to argue that there is “no good or evil” nor “right or wrong.”

Others claim we are the product of evolution that has occurred over “billions and billions” of years ago.

Both arguments pose a serious problem. For one, if everybody decides individually what is right or wrong by setting their own standards, then everyone is really just doing their own thing, and if evolution is real and there is no God who sets a standard of right or wrong, or gives human life value? After all, evolution teaches, “survival of the fittest” and this does not work well. Take small children for example. Suppose you had a room full of children of various ages with no adult supervision and let’s suppose one of the kids sees a toy that a smaller kid is playing with and decides he wants the toy for himself, after all, he is bigger and stronger. He easily go and take it by force because there are no rules.

The tragedy is many times grown adults are not better, such as in the case of road rage or other unacceptable behavior toward others. The “blood diamond” of Africa is a good example, the powerful war lords oppress their fellow men and women. Since they are by far more dominant they oppress helpless people who are powerless to resist for the sake of their greed. Now tell me, since “there is no right or wrong” how then are so many people outraged at these kind of behaviors? Indeed, if we are really only byproducts of the “Big Bang” as some say, then why does this matter to us how people are treated? After all, are we not just “animals fighting to survive”? This is not really a safe ideology, it’s portrayed harmless in the public schools and by a large portion of the scientific community, but if you think deeper, realize this: its a domino effect because people act upon what they believe to be reality.

So the idea of every individual being their own moral compass is a pretty ridiculous assumption, and if you look at it through evolutionary eyes, then yes it is nothing more than “survival of the fittest”- after all in the wild, the dominant and stronger prevail against the weaker or sick animal. With lions, it’s fairly common for the dominant male to kill all his competition to secure himself as the leader of the pride. Another aspect of “Survival of the fittest” is also, naturally only the genetically superior or the intellectually savy (humanly speaking) have a shot at life. Basically, if you get the right breaks in life.  So either way “survival of the fittest” is a poisonous way of thinking.

This should not be the case with human beings though, yet sadly in many cases it is. Child abuse, domestic violence, and senseless killings, over trivial things happen all the time.

Well how about this, let us try on another idealogical shoe to see if this one fits. Let’s say that collectively society decides what is right. Is society and culture ever wrong? Can you think back to a time when the majority was in the error? Numerous instances throughout history large groups of people have tried this, in Germany during the Holocaust era, many people thought it was a a good thing to annihilate the Jews and in the Civil War days the North and South were at odds against one another, whether slavery was good or bad, the South thought they were in the right over something we now consider barbaric and inhumane. 

Communist China is another great illustration of the evils that can come from the wrong people getting to much control, they had for the longest time and probably still do have the law that forbids people to have too many children, especially female children. If the government found out that a family had more than the permitted number of female offspring, then they would come and take away the child and put her away to die.

As you can see, the collective approach does not work to well either. You can see this ideological shoe only leave feet of our intellect sore and blistered. 

A government is only as good as those running it. So back to my original question. Who determines right and wrong? since one opinion various from person to person, one group to another, and one nation to another nation?
IF then, there is no set standard of good and evil, and IF then, there is “no absolute,” then murder, rape, crimes against children, stealing, and all detestable actions are ok in certain cultures? If a society decides then, will this not vary?

This cannot be right at all. Deep down in people’s hearts they know, deep down that these things cannot be right. We know that prejudice and racism are evil things, and we know that child abuse is evil. Even someone who believes “evolved from apes” can sense indignation rise up in their souls over certain things. The contradiction arises though, when one claims there is no God and that we originated from lesser forms of life, like apes, which by the way have been known to kill each other in the wild. Why is this a problem? Well if we really are only acting out primortial instincts, it should not bother us, since one who is programmed by instincts has no real volitional control of his, her, or it’s impulses. An instinct is only a natural behavioral programming. “But our brains are more evolved” one might say, yet there are many extremely intelligent people in this world who still do terrible things, people who are brilliantly evil and deranged.

The truth is, and I say this without apology, God is the only standard of righteousness a person can find, God and righteousness are as ingrained to each other as dye to a rug. So if we are looking to people to show us the way, we will be sadly disillusioned. I have heard so many people say time and time again “I have lost all faith in humanity” and I always feel like saying “It’s about time.” The Bible says that everyone living that is alive or has lived is corrupt, aside from Jesus Christ. It says this not to cause despair over our pathetic condition but to respond to the only solution there is for a broken sinner, the message of Jesus Christ.

John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

The problem is for one: we trust that people are truly good, and that we ourselves are good, and we evaluate ourselves through ourselves. Number two, so many people try to rationalize God away and claim him to be an unscientific figment of the imagination. The only pro to that mindset is “we can do whatever the heck we want, no consequences.” The cons far outweigh the pros, and you may as well live however you want if that be the case since you exist merely to exist, with no purpose or meaning to your life but survival, pleasure, and there is no life but this “so let’s party it up”

1 Corinthians 15:32 If I fought wild beasts in Ephesus for merely human reasons, what have I gained? If the dead are not raised, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.”

Indeed, if this life is all we have and if there is no God who tells us what is moral, then live however you want. This is not how it is though so I think it’s time to start knowing what he expects.