For, even this wouldn’t solve all problems… one would want to then know what caused the tornado to blow in the first place and where the materials came from to construct such an engineering marvel as an airplane. What’s interesting in this analogy is that the heightened degree of complexity in something as simple as the design of our cells alone is more complex from an engineering standpoint than an airplane. That being said, we are logically correct to deduce that a Master Designer is Creator of all. We humans are the only known intelligent life in the universe, and are therefore by default the Creator’s highest physical beings (that we know of). This special status makes each of us unique and important on a cosmic scale.
If, on our own steam, we could discover certain attributes about this Creator, or God as I like to call Him, what would we find? Let us first start with the Rule of Right and Wrong, or Law of Human Nature, which is a real, pre-existing phenomenon inside each of us. One could argue that right behaviors, or morality as I like to call it, are simply learned behaviors passed on to children from parents. This is true in one sense, but morality is pre-existing in the same way mathematics is, humans have only discovered it. For example, when a teacher teaches mathematics to a child in a school room, the rules by which addition and subtraction operate would be no different than a man on a remote island would find if he were to discover mathematics simultaneously on his own. We each find this Rule of Right Behavior pressing on us, making us feel responsible and uncomfortable when we do wrong. This gives us our first clue into the Mind of God.
Human beings all over the earth have this curious idea they ought to behave in a certain way, and cannot rid themselves of it. We all know the Law of Nature, a basic Law that we did not invent, and yet still do not obey it fully (hence the need for a Savior, but more on that later). This Law is over and above our basic instincts, and acts as a governing force between the two, silently but insistently urging Right Behavior. These basic facts are foundational to all future clear thinking about ourselves and the world we live in.
Now, since we acknowledge this sense of morality as originating from the Designer of the universe (where else would anything pre-existent come from since there cannot be an infinite regress of causes, thus, there had to be an original cause), we realize this Creator has purposes and appears to prefer one thing to another. We can deduce that this controlling power behind the universe, the great Designer, created a vast and beautiful universe partly for reasons we do not know, but yet still intends to show us details about His purposes inside us as an influence or a command trying to get us to behave in a certain way. Certainly this ought to arouse our suspicions?
Relax, I am not yet within a thousand miles of the God of Christian theology… but let us sum up what we have learned so far: there is a Something which is directing the universe, and which appears in us as a moral law urging us to do right and making us feel responsible and uncomfortable when we do wrong, and it is similar to a mind in the sense that it has purposes.
The next subject matter I shall delve into will be the discussion of the rigidness of this moral law, which is hard as nails, and doesn’t seem to care whether or not it is convenient or easy to obey. (More on this later, so stay tuned)
If, on our own steam, we could discover certain attributes about this Creator, or God as I like to call Him, what would we find? Let us first start with the Rule of Right and Wrong, or Law of Human Nature, which is a real, pre-existing phenomenon inside each of us. One could argue that right behaviors, or morality as I like to call it, are simply learned behaviors passed on to children from parents. This is true in one sense, but morality is pre-existing in the same way mathematics is, humans have only discovered it. For example, when a teacher teaches mathematics to a child in a school room, the rules by which addition and subtraction operate would be no different than a man on a remote island would find if he were to discover mathematics simultaneously on his own. We each find this Rule of Right Behavior pressing on us, making us feel responsible and uncomfortable when we do wrong. This gives us our first clue into the Mind of God.
Human beings all over the earth have this curious idea they ought to behave in a certain way, and cannot rid themselves of it. We all know the Law of Nature, a basic Law that we did not invent, and yet still do not obey it fully (hence the need for a Savior, but more on that later). This Law is over and above our basic instincts, and acts as a governing force between the two, silently but insistently urging Right Behavior. These basic facts are foundational to all future clear thinking about ourselves and the world we live in.
Now, since we acknowledge this sense of morality as originating from the Designer of the universe (where else would anything pre-existent come from since there cannot be an infinite regress of causes, thus, there had to be an original cause), we realize this Creator has purposes and appears to prefer one thing to another. We can deduce that this controlling power behind the universe, the great Designer, created a vast and beautiful universe partly for reasons we do not know, but yet still intends to show us details about His purposes inside us as an influence or a command trying to get us to behave in a certain way. Certainly this ought to arouse our suspicions?
Relax, I am not yet within a thousand miles of the God of Christian theology… but let us sum up what we have learned so far: there is a Something which is directing the universe, and which appears in us as a moral law urging us to do right and making us feel responsible and uncomfortable when we do wrong, and it is similar to a mind in the sense that it has purposes.
The next subject matter I shall delve into will be the discussion of the rigidness of this moral law, which is hard as nails, and doesn’t seem to care whether or not it is convenient or easy to obey. (More on this later, so stay tuned)
(many of the thoughts listed in this chapter are representative of my personal summation of ideas from the great book Mere Christianity, by C.S. Lewis… read it if you haven’t already)
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