Chapter 21

It is a great advance in knowledge to become aware of one’s own ignorance. No one among us who is intelligent declares all that is presently known as anything in comparison to what remains to be discovered. Let us then continue our voyage of discovery into the meaning of the universe and our place in it.

We humans are troubled, so to speak, with the inspiration of a sort of behavior we know we ought to practice, which is what I term the Law of Human Nature (or rule of fair play, or decency, or morality, or Law of Nature). Without listing an endless litany of examples, here are but a few: “hey, I gave you some you some of my candy so give me a bit of yours,” or “hey, you took my seat, that’s uncouth,” or “hey, the other team isn’t following the rules of fair play.” I could go on ad nauseam, but you get my drift. Each of us appeals to a higher standard of conduct we expect the other person to know about and this is a cross-cultural phenomenon throughout all recorded history. To what standard, if not the Law of Human Nature, could we be appealing? Where did this come from? Humans are the only beings that have this rigid system of governance that reminds us what we ought to do.

In self-discovery, comfort is the one thing you cannot get by seeking it first. If you seek truth, you may find comfort in the end; but if you seek no more than comfort, you will discover neither truth nor comfort, only malleable and dangerously impressionable wishful thinking. The primary premise I hope to eventually convey throughout this entire philosophical work is that the greatest achievement of wishful thinking the world has yet known is belief one can operate independently of God (I base this premise on John 15:5, which states “… apart from Me you can do nothing”).

The Great Designer of the universe instilled a sense of awe in His highest creatures, with a capability and eagerness to discover all that that there is available to us. Rather than fight against God, His purposes, or the beautiful Human Nature He placed within us, let us discover its purpose and usefulness to our wellbeing. You discover more about God from the Moral Law He placed within us than you do by discovering the vastness of the universe through a telescope, in the same sense that you discover more information about the way an engine works by the engineer speaking with you rather than just driving the car making up the rules as you go along.

We can thus fairly deduce that this great Creator of the Universe is intensely interested in right conduct – in fair play, unselfishness, tolerance, courage, good faith, honesty, truthfulness, kindness, reliability, compassion, and so forth. The Moral Law prompts us to do the right thing and is not lenient or soft about how painful, dangerous, difficult, or challenging it might be to us as persons. None of us obeys the Moral Law completely and yet we want off the hook, so to speak, or we may come up with a thousand excuses why we cannot do it and need forgiveness (or a free pass).

God is love, absolute goodness, absolute power, and in every way immeasurably superior to us. God is the only comfort, and then in one sense also the supreme terror: the thing we most need and the thing we most want to hide from. Romans 11: 22 says, “Consider therefore the kindness and sternness of God: sternness to those who fell, but kindness to you, provided that you continue in His kindness…” (NIV) God is either the great shelter or the great danger, depending on how you react to Him.

You will now start noticing a great deal of scriptural reference in my philosophical viewpoints. There are a great many reasons why I choose the Holy Bible as the supreme source of information about this great Creator God. In the next chapter, we will examine what makes the Bible special.