FAITH WITH JUSTICE

 

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                                      ON SPIRITUAL & MORAL RELATIVITY            ( GOD IN A ROCKET  AND HIS CLOCK)                    Feb 2012

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Prolog:  This writing may sound rather childish and stupid to believer and non-believer alike.

             But I base my discourse here upon Christ's own words, ie,  "Unless you become as one of these children, you will not enter the Kingdom of Heaven".

             I also base it upon His words which said, "I am like the master of a house who has gone away leaving its care in the hands of my servants".

 

The Problem:  There are those in the world who do believe in God, but do not agree upon His Will.  It is rather like a bunch of relatives sitting at the reading of

                      a deceased  relative's will.  Bicker, bicker, bicker. So we have to ask,  "How do you believe in God?".  Jews have one take, Christians have another

                      take, and Muslims have yet still another take on God. And even within a given faith, there can be widely spread differences, particularly

                      with respect to God's will.  Precedence, ie reliance upon past doctrine,  plays a big role in belief systems. Reference to scriptures  can give guidance,

                      but can also be used to convict one of heresy. Many times there will be a very narrow mindedness that advocates some ABSOLUTE IDEA  and

                      condemns another segment within the same faith.  ABSOLUTISM  is one of the most dangerous things in religion that leads to killing and wars.

                      Witness the radical Islamists in their insistence upon the rightness of beheading infidels.  More often than not, absolutism is used to further some

                      selfish gain rather than to promote understanding. And most the time, it is not based upon intelligence,  because it can contradict the hard scientific

                      facts and even yield  inconsistent doctrine.  You cannot fight absolutism with absolutism, because there are never any winners or lasting peace that

                       is achieved.

 

                     Then, there are those in the world who, by virtue of their own observations,  do not acknowledge the existence of a loving God.

                     They look at the geological record and say "There is no way the earth was created in 7 days".

                     Or they have had an innocent child taken from them and ask "How can this be God's will?".

                     Or they see wrong doing and ask "Where is God's  Justice?".

                     They ask "Why do bad things happen to good people".

                     For all of them it is easier to deal with the circumstances and explain things without God. Can we really blame them?

 

                     No matter what your beliefs, there are many questions left unanswered.  And the only way to bring people back to God is to provide REALISTIC and

                     ADEQUATE EXPLANATION FOR OBSERVED INCONSISTENCIES.  Merely explaining and dismissing a senseless event as being God's will  is

                     no longer acceptable in an informed and intelligent world. If there is to be an ongoing belief in God,  then the answers provided  must match

                     reality and scientific fact or evidence.

 

                    The biggest question of all pertains to God's Will and His presence in the universe. We ask:

                           Is God still engaged in the ongoing events of the universe and invoking His will?

                           Or does He only choose to intervene and engage certain events, leaving the other events to chance?

                           Or did he just wind up the clock and set it off in a direction never to be heard from again?

                           Or does God even exist at all? Did everything not just evolve?

                    There are many different beliefs on this topic, and our observations  can lead us in many different directions.

 

The Hypothesis:  Current scientific thought tells us that the "universe" by definition contains everything that exists. There is nothing that can exist outside

                          of the universe. It is a closed system. Now if you are a believer in God who says "No, God exists outside of the universe", then certainly you

                          must see that if God is outside of the universe, then He cannot interact with it and answer prayers. A better stance for you to take is that

                          God is the entire universe, which is less debatable. However, since it is apparent that we are separate from God  having been given our own

                          will and independence from Him, then it is also obvious that God cannot be the entire universe. Therefore,  God must be an entity contained

                          within the universe that he created.

 

                          We choose to view Him as a loving father who has given His children freedom. Like a father, it is easy for his children to escape his sight

                          and do things against His will. It is also easy for his children to encounter random events which he did not intend. We also choose to

                          view Him as having set aside a room in his universal house which we call heaven.

 

 

Possible Realities :  1.  Let's begin with the pure atheist, who certainly believes in scientific fact.

                                  Where we cannot argue the existence of God scientifically, WE CAN ARGUE SCIENTIFICALLY THE CASE FOR HEAVEN. 

                                  More recent developments in science have shown that we are familiar with only 7% of what exists in the universe.

                                  To the atheist we must exclaim "are you to be so arrogant as to claim there is no God in the face of your lack of knowledge?

                                  Furthermore, in attempting to reconcile Relativity with Quantum Mechanics, STRING THEORY (and it's more recent M-THEORY version) have

                                  led us to suspect the existence of PARALLEL UNIVERSES  and MULTIPLE DIMENSIONS with up to 12 dimensions and not just three.

                                  So how can it be argued that there is no heaven?

                                  We believers in Christ remember him as saying "In My Father's house are MANY MANSIONS".

                                  How can the man from 2000 years ago have any knowledge of more than three dimensions?

                                  Finally,  if there is evidence of a heaven, how can you dismiss the likelihood that there is a God. 

                                   So to the self proclaimed atheist we say, "Don't be so hasty in your conclusions".

                             

                             2.  Now let's take up the issue of God's clock and our perspective of it.

                                  Einstein  has proven that time is relative to speed. The faster one moves relative to earth, the SLOWER his clock runs.

                                  So let's put God in a rocket. Let's say He created the earth and firmament as the Bible tell us, but then took off at light speed.

                                  If God is moving significantly faster relative to the earth, then it means that 1 Day on His clock could equal  1 Million years on

                                  our own earthly clock. This is consistent with God being eternal. One day in his life is equivalent to several of our lifetimes.

                                  But wait a minute. If God created the earth , then was not His clock and the earth's clock in sync? True. But if the communication

                                  between God and the writer of Genesis occurred well after the creation, then God could have been speaking in terms of His clock

                                  at the time of the communication, and not the time of his creation. It is entirely within the realm of possibility that there is no difference

                                  between the geological evolutionary time frame  (in earth time) and God having created the world in 7 days ( in His time).  On the other hand,

                                  the Bible tells us that Adam lived  to be several hundred years old. Is it not possible that God could have changed his speed to make

                                   the clock on earth appear to be slower, thereby making it look as if Adam did live several hundred years according to God's clock, but only

                                   a hundred years on Adam's clock.  In this manner, we have resolved what would otherwise appear to be ridiculous time frames given

                                  in the Bible.  So why do Creationists have a problem with evolution? And why do Evolutionists have a problem with creationism?

 

                             3.  Finally, let's take up the issue of God's will and random events.  

                                  Albert Einstein, in not wanting to accept the idea that the Universe could operate on a random basis, remarked that "God does not play dice".

                                  He could not accept the idea of disorderly randomness accounting for the order he saw in the universe. However, as time passed it became

                                  obvious that many things in nature (especially at the sub-atomic level)  could only be explained by Quantum Mechanics which dealt with

                                  randomness, ie, unguided events, uncertainty and probability. Einstein was later forced to recant.

                             

                                  With respect to God's Will, we must ask  "Is it static or is it dynamic?. Does God really interact in the world on a daily basis?

 

                                  We are no Einstein, but we certainly do see a lot of randomness and disorder in our life times.

                                  We see small innocent children dying of some disease. We see draughts and famine.   We see heinous murderers and crimes go unpunished.

                                  Believing in a loving Father, all of this leads us to ask  "Is this God's will?". "Where is God?"

                                  Even Christ experienced it when he said "Father why have you forsaken me?"..

 

                                 To see these things certainly changes one's take on an all omnipotent God as being the sole controller of the universe.

                                 If God, by Himself, were in total control of everything that happened, then, in addition to every good thing that happened,

                                 he would be responsible for every bad thing that ever happened. How many times have we dismissed an illogical and  terrible

                                 happening by saying "It must have been God's will". But under these circumstances it is pretty difficult  to accept such a

                                 God as a kind and loving Father. Is it any wonder that people can turn their backs on God?

 

                                 So we must ask, Is He really in control of everything that happens or is it Lady Luck who is in charge?
                                          A look in the Bible at the very first Book of Genisis, where Caine murders Abel, seems to provide us with
                                          a clue.. After Caine kills Abel, he is walking in the Eden when God asks
, "Where is Abel your brother?"
                                          Caine said, "I do not know. Am I my brother's keeper?"  Then God said, "What have you done? The voice
                                          of your brother's blood is crying to Me from the ground." Very clearly, God did not know what had happened.
                                          Otherwise, He would have known at the very instant that Abel was killed. This is very significant, because what
                                          happened afterwards was even more shocking. Upon finding that Caine had killed Abel, God did not kill Caine.
                                          Instead, He spared Caine, banished him from Eden, and even vowed to kill anyone who tried to kill Caine.
                                          It would stand to reason that if God were an all knowing omnipotent being, then He would have prevented the
                                          the murder of His beloved Abel, or at the very least killed Caine in return. But He did not. The fact of God's question
                                          to Caine shows that He had no clue as to what had happened. And the fact that He spared Caine seems to
                                          bespeak of a being who felt some regretable responsibility in the death of one that He loved. Therefore, it is totally
                                          reasonable to say that God has set things in motion, BUT DOES NOT CONTROL ALL EVENTS.

                                  It is evident that God is not engaged in every happening  in the world as a sole source.  He has given to us what we like to

                                  think of as a " free will" which amounts to independence. We, in turn,  can then be responsible for good and evil, along with God Himself.

                                 This means we can now divert the blame for bad events from God to ourselves in many cases. But what about those events where it's not

                                  our fault? Does the blame not go back to God?    Or is it simply bad luck that's to blame?

                                 The debate over these things has been going on a long time now, leaving us having to choose between

                                 one or the other, with no in-between. But is it all really just black or white, or is there another possibility?

 

                                 How can we resolve these random inconsistencies? All we can do is guess. But here are a few tries.

 

                                 Suppose God really does play dice, so to speak. It would seem pretty objectionable to accept a God who controls our very  existence by

                                 some mechanism so impersonal as rolling dice, since God is suppose to be a loving father.  THERE IS, HOWEVER, A MECHANISM THAT

                                 WOULD NOT BE SO IMPERSONABLE, WHICH AT THE SAME TIME  COULD YIELD A SENSE OF RANDOMNESS.

                                 Is it not possible that His will is influenced by the will(s) of His  heavenly consorts? In other words, His heavenly consorts are His "dice",

                                 giving the appearance of randomness and inconsistency. Suppose that God conferred with those souls on a regular basis, ie, He took a vote.

                                 Would it not then be possible to see random results coming from a presumed to-be loving God?

 

                                 Another possible explanation might be that God controls only at the MACRO LEVEL (not the micro level) and thereby sets the general tone.

                                  But differences in who ever he puts in charge at the MICRO LEVEL would feed up to the macro level and cause inconsistencies

                                 at the macro level. Case in point.. St Peter at the gate. God obviously relies totally on him to make decisions as to who is allowed in and who

                                 is not. So ...Does St Peter always make consistent decisions? 

 

                                 And yet another possibility is that God's clock is so slow and our earthly clock is so fast that we speed right by Him and He misses things.

                                 So  if He has a traffic cop on duty, then He must rely on the traffic cop to make decisions.

 

The Most Probable Reality:     

                                 Somehow, none of these attempts at possible compromise solutions seem to satisfactorily answer the problem of losing an innocent child

                                 to disease. Who of God's consorts would allow such a thing to happen?  In view of this, the most plausible answer is that God (being contained

                                 as a separate entity  within the universe he created)  really did create the world and all other entities within the universe to interact  with each

                                 other independently of His will.  He then took off in His rocket giving us free will and independence to grow on our own,  and wrote back with

                                 written instructions.  So it  would seem that we are in fact on our own to interact more or less randomly with other entities created by God,

                                 but that God  is out of touch and does not generally  intervene in  the events of the world . However, there are some exceptions,  particularly

                                 when Christ was alive here on earth. Christ, in His very words before  going to the cross, acknowledged the possibility of God's

                                 intervention. But Christ had a very special relationship (or communication) with God which all  of the rest  us do not enjoy. But for our part,

                                 we must conclude that, although God may make an occasional trip back to earth,  we are indeed  on our own, faced with the randomness of

                                 Lady Luck and that our prayers are like  post-its on the bulletin board, waiting for God to come back and to read them.

 

                                 This is not to say that the Christian churches should shut down their doors and stop praying. Their job is at least two-fold.

                                 1. Give remembrance of Christ and His sense of community.

                                 2. Keep a vigil for God's return.   

 

So Where Does This Leave Victims:

 

                                 1.  Do not blame God. What happened is NOT NECESSARILY GOD'S WILL.

                                      They laws of cause and effect may or may not involve God's will. Since God  can only be an entity within the universe (ie, the realm

                                      of existence),  then He stands along side other entities in the universe which may interact with or without Him. True, He may have

                                      created those entities, but because He has made them apart from Himself, they can have their own destiny apart from His Will.

                                     To put it in more blunt terms, "Sh_t Just Happens". But it is not God's fault. 

                                 2.  Do not seek revenge, but do seek justice which includes capital punishment.

                                      In fighting your enemy, do not become like your enemy. Do not return evil "FOR" evil.

                                      Return evil "TO" evil.  Ref: Revelations 18-6

                                 3.  To those who say "Forgive and Forget", ignore them as being idiots. Their turn will come.

                                 4.  Keep a constant vigil on the negligent ways of your government, being ready to protest at a moments notice. 

                                 5.  Seek to expel liberal judges and district attorneys who would find excuse for the wanton criminal.

                                 6.  Oppose organizations obstructive to justice. 

                                 7.  Track, if you can, the money flow. Unjust verdicts can be paid for. Witnesses can be scared off.

                                 8.  Attend parole hearings and make your voice known.

                                 9.  Seek the council of other victims in groups like POMC.

   

 

Post Script:

You will notice in this discussion that I have deliberately left out Satan.

Please don't tell me that if I don't believe in Satan then I don’t believe in God.

I am reminded of the movie "The Usual Suspects"  in which the statement was made that "The most clever thing that Satan ever did

was to convince people of his non-existence". That statement in itself tells me that the maker not only believes in  Satan, but that he

believes Satan to be clever. In my view, there is nothing clever about evil. It is the antithesis of intelligence. So no, I don’t believe

in the spiritual bogy man. And I'm not even sorry for leaving him out, even though you may think he does exist. 

If you want to use him to blame for all the bad things that happen and exhonerate God, that's your perogative.

But bear in mind that the story says that God created Satan and allowed him to exist. So who's responsibility is it in the long run any way?

Who opened the door?  I would prefer not to charge God with being responsible for all  the bad things that happen in the world.

I would rather accept the idea that he set the universe free on it's course and it went wrong on it's own, thereby leaving Him BLAMELESS.

 

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                                       CAN THE CHRISTIAN BELIEVE IN CAPITAL PUNISHMENT?

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Many believers in Christ would argue that murder is CATEGORICALLY  and ABSOLUTELY wrong, meaning it is absolutely immoral.

They would say that it is solely up to God to take a human life and that society has no right to play God. They would argue that all have an unconditional right to

life. So let's examine the validity of that argument. To say that it is up to God to take a human life is to say that God interacts with conditions on a daily basis here

on earth.  It implies that every death is at the hand of God, excluding those caused by one's fellow man.  But we have already argued the matter above, concluding

that God does not interact with trivial events here on earth, with the exception of His Son, Jesus Christ. So we reject the idea that either God or our fellow

man are the only forebears of death. Death can occur outside of any person's will.  In addition,  presumably God has made us in His image and with a free will, ie, He

has given us the ability to  make moral decisions. Therefore, it is not necessarily playing God to take another person's life, which is not to say that it is moral.

In addition, to say that we all have an unconditional right to life regardless or our disrespect for the rights of our fellow humans to live is IRRESPONSIBLE,

UNETHICAL,  AND  IMMORAL. There can be no such thing as unconditional morality. Morality is relative and conditional, not absolute and unconditional.

Our argument for the morality of Capital Punishment follows.

 

Suicide is murder with the consent of the victim. It can be argued that Christ committed suicide in giving His life on behalf of believers.

This may sound most objectionable to the Christian.  It is hard to equate Christ giving His life for us to that of  a psycho suicide.

But here is the difference. Christ gave his life (ie, committed suicide)  on our behalf, not for himself. The average suicide can be seen as a selfish act.

So if Christ  committed suicide, how can we say that ALL suicide is immoral without saying Christ committed an immoral act.

And since suicide is murder, how can we say that ALL murder is immoral  without saying Christ committed an immoral act

 

Now one might argue that it was God's will, and not Christ's, that he was murdered. We have already addressed (in the above) the issues of God's willl  and

acknowledged that Christ had a special relationship with God wherein he implied that God could intercede. But the fact that he knew his death could be

imminent and consented to God's will was in effect consenting to his own death.  Let's take another example similar to Christ's consent. Consider four men who

are stranded in a life boat far at sea  with nothing to eat. It is agreed that if three are to live, then one must go and provide nourishment for the other three. They

agree to draw lots, the shortest lot being the loser. So, given their respective consents to have their biological clocks ended. Are they not agreeing to suicide?

Remember, this is murder. So we ask, is it God's will or simply Lady Luck that decides who the loser should  be and the one to die?  Based on our discussion of

God's will above, our answer would be that it is Lady Luck, because God does not intervene in everyday ongoing events. But remembering that Christ encouraged

us to lay our lives down for each other, is this scenario any less moral than Christ dying on the Cross for us?  So it is irrelevant whether it is God's will or

Lady Luck. The point is they have consented to their own death on behalf of another, not for selfish reason.  

 

We cannot say without impunity that ALL murder is "absolutely" immoral, because we cannot say that all suicide is "absolutely" immoral.

What we can say is that suicide is the giving of CONSENT to one's own death. And if we wish to distinguish between moral suicide and immoral suicide,

then we might qualify moral suicide as being that which is done on behalf of others as opposed to immoral suicide which is done selfishly.

Thus the morality of Christ's consent to his own murder (ie, suicide) is justified.

 

Given that CONSENT to suicide is a major factor in determining the morality of murder,  we might ask, "how is consent given?". There are two ways:

1. explicitly by word or writing  or  2. implicitly  through one's own actions, ie IMPLIED CONSENT . It can be further argued that implied consent is IRREVERSIBLE

if the act committed is irreversible. Case in point - If a person  murders another without their consent, then has not the murderer has given his agreement to the

morality of the act, meaning he has given his IRRVERSIBLE IMPLIED CONSENT to have the same done to him. A basic principle of morality must be fairness,

ie, what's good for the goose is good for the gander. That being the case, Capital Punishment can be justified as the taking of a person's life when they have given

their IRREVERSIBLE IMPLIED CONSENT by taking the life of another person without that other person's consent. In Christian terms, this is consistent  with

"As you sow, so shall you reap".

 

Capital Punishment is not the same as an "eye for an eye", because an "eye for an eye" can be unjust.  Consider the murder of your brother by someone from

a different family. An eye for an eye would require you to take the life of the brother of the murderer, not the murderer himself. Capital Punishment holds the

violator responsible, not the effect of the violator.

 

Many would argue that Capital Punishment is nothing more than revenge. But the taking of a person's life based upon their giving of  implied consent through their

own actions is not the equivalent of revenge. Revenge is committed in the absence of implied consent. Furthermore, the timeline of implied consent may

be carried forward indefinitely, meaning one cannot revoke their implied consent in dealing with irreversible acts they have committed.

 

At first, the Christian might view this as conflicting with the teachings of forgiveness. So let's turn to the Bible, specifically Mathew. On the cross, Christ said

"Forgive them, for THEY KNOW NOT WHAT THEY DO". But He did not say forgive  those WHO KNEW DARNED GOOD AND WELL WHAT THEY WERE DOING?

Christ is known to have said "RESIST NOT EVIL". Yet He is also know to have said,  "GET BEHIND ME SATAN".  And he is known to have chased the money

changers out of the temple. So he did in fact resist evil. Obviously, when he was speaking  on turning the other cheek, he was doing so in terms of our self,

BUT NOT WHEN EVIL IS HAPPENING OR HAS HAPPENED TO ANOTHER.  He bid us to lay our lives down for each other. His concern was the escalation of evil,

not the combating of evil. For further Biblical debate on the matter, I would refer the Christian to Revelations 18-6, wherein the Christian is commanded to return evil

TO evil (not evil FOR evil)  and with a double dose.

 

For the clear thinking, unconfused Christian believer, IT MUST BE UNSELFISH LOVE THAT IS THE ULTIMATE LAW.

How can real love stand idly by as innocent children are being slaughtered?  And how can real love dismiss (via forgiveness) those who commit such acts.

Absolute forgiveness of irreversible acts, such as the taking of an innocent person's life without their consent, can be seen as complicity with evil.

There is something disingenuous in always saying "It must be God's will". Somehow it has the soothing  effect of relieving ones self of all responsibility.

If love is to prevail, then it is not sufficient to merely be willing to lay down your life for another person, you must be willing to risk your very soul on

behalf of good and in combating evil. It is just too easy to hide under the moral covers.

 

Aside from the Bible, there are other real life experiences justifying Capital Punishment.

 

Dietrich Bonhoeffer was well known German theologian in the first half of the 20th century. He was a Christian who dubbed Hitler as the Anti-Christ.

Because he participated in several attempts in assassinating Hitler, it is obvious that he was able to reconcile his moral beliefs with doing in Hitler.

He was eventually caught and executed by the German Nazi Gestapo.

 

Captain Bligh (from Mutiny on the Bounty) kept his men alive in a long boat by imposing moral standard with strong punishment on the men.

The men knew that if they killed each other, they too would be killed by virtue of their irreversible implied consent.

We may not like Captain Bligh, but they miraculously survived a long voyage for months without eating each other.

 

The bottom line is, we cannot believe in ABSOLUTE MORAL STATEMENTS. Each case is different with respect to its morality

or immorality.

 

For more on Justice and Morality go to   JUSTICE          

 

                              Pro Capital Punishment Page       

 

                              The National Organization of Parents Of Murdered Children, Inc. For the families and friends of those who have died by violence. (POMC)