Does God Exist – unfinished business?

In the summary of the article ‘Does God Exist’ I wrote:

So, we learn that there is a Creator and that he created us as the pinnacle of this Creation and then entered into a relationship with Abraham and his descendents through Isaac and Jacob; and then sent a prophet who would demonstrate perfectly how we should live and tell us of the great future that awaits us. What then should our response be?

It’s really very simple, we are to repent (that is to turn back to God) and seek forgiveness; turn to our Father in Heaven; to love Him and to love our neighbour (all those created in His image) – Gal 5:14; Lev 19:18; Deut 6:4; the 10 Words.

I did not though, fully address all the questions I started with. These included; ‘What happens when we die’ and the unspoken question regarding ‘moral laws’ and their evidence for their impact.

Let me then try to briefly address these two issues.

Firstly, regarding life after death or ‘life after life’ as theologian Tom Wright likes to put it. Is there more life after this one, and what does it involve?

Having discussed and hopefully agreed that the Bible is an authoritative declaration from the Creator of the Universe, we can study it and learn that a future life; a resurrected life in a world where the God of Israel is fully in charge; a world where true peace will prevail, is a very common theme and prophecy of scripture.

So significant in fact, that the first recorded words in public ministry of both John the Baptist and Yeshua were ‘Repent, for the Kingdom of God is near’.

Their Jewish listeners understood very well that the Kingdom of God was a future time when God would truly rule the world and Israel and His peace would be over all the land. This was also the mission statement of Yeshua and can be seen in his statement in Luke 4:43 “but he said to them, I must preach the good news of the Kingdom of God to the other towns as well; for this was why I was sent.”

 

The Kingdom of God is also referred to as the Coming Age and ‘eternal life’. While it may well involve two distinct time periods, namely the Millennial Kingdom and the New Creation, it is a time of unimaginable joy. I have written fairly extensively on this time both in an article and series of lectures ‘The Kingdom of God’ on my website[1] and spoken at some conferences as well. For example, see ‘Its Life Jim, but not as we know it’[2].

As for the impact of our breaking God’s Moral Laws, this is a much more subjective issue and one which there is a great diversity of opinions on, because in many ways, it is based on personal experiences.

Is there a deeper layer of cause and effect at work here though. Is there a deeper and more powerful consequence to ‘breaking’ (or attempting to break[3]) any of the 10 Words?

Many may argue no, especially at the personal or individual level, as such consequences if any, are not easily discernable, or at least are easily avoided.

I suspect that there are two ways in which we could discern these consequences of moral failure. One is to look through history at all the nations, people groups and societies that have existed and then died out, and study the evidence as to why they died out. Without being an historian, I suspect that the evidence is very strong that when immorality and decadence became the norm in societies from Sodom to the Roman Empire, to the British Empire (whose decline appears to have begun around 1922 and matched the time when the British Empire betrayed its own, and turned it’s back on Israel.

Well known Christian apologists such as C.S. Lewis, and the late Prof. Norm Geisler have written extensively and positively on the subject of the Moral Code.

Such apologists point out some compelling evidence from daily living. For example, even persons who might argue that rape is not an absolute evil would most likely feel sick at the thought of a loved one being raped.

Western society has been founded and successfully built on what is often called the Judeo-Christian ethic. In reality, this has meant that the constitutions and regulations governing Western democracies have enshrined many of the 10 Words (10 Commandments) into their Laws.

We see this in the penalties enacted for murder, for perjury (dishonesty in court), for theft and so on. Thus, at the National, State and legal level, there are many serious consequences that may befall those who fail to abide by the laws of the land.

While the consequences for someone convicted of doing something against the laws of the land are instituted by human beings; we can find evidence that these national or community created laws are in the main part only successful where they match the moral laws and principles outlined in the Bible.

As a converse, we see that generally countries which base their laws on other ‘holy books’ such as the Koran, have historically been a lot less prosperous and permanent, and in fact, have often been places or lands of desolation and despair.

We also see the converse argument in the impact of Social Darwinism. This approach to the ordering of a human society has been used by a number of dictators such as Hitler with disastrous results. Some excellent books and articles have been written in the last few years on how Nazism followed the philosophy of Social Darwinism. See ‘From Darwin to Hitler: Evolutionary Ethics, Eugenics and Racism in Germany’ by Richard Weikart for example.

So while we may find support via the clear negative consequences of societies which reject the 10 Words; what evidence is there that societies and particularly, individuals who try hard to obey the 10 Words, fare much better. We might also ask how this is measured? Is it measured by greater prosperity; greater happiness; longer live, or what?

This may illustrate that this is not a simple question, However, some statistics can still reveal a very powerful connection.

For example, the sanctity of the institution of marriage is enshrined in both the 10 Words and the whole of the Bible. For example, a great many academic studies conducted on marriage and the family have strongly affirmed that  a society where marriage is honoured and protected is a society in which both the family and the individual benefits.

These studies and surveys have shown “that the decline in marriage in the USA and Australia, since the 1960s has been accompanied by a rise in a number of serious social problems. Children born out of wedlock or whose parents divorce are much more likely to experience poverty, abuse, and behavioral and emotional problems, have lower academic achievement, and use drugs more often. Single mothers are much more likely to be victims of domestic violence.

With the rise in these problems comes high program costs to deal with the effects of the breakdown of marriage. For children whose parents remain married, however, the benefits are real. Adolescents from these families have been found to have better health and are less likely to be depressed, are less likely to repeat a grade in school, and have fewer developmental problems[4],[5].

Some of the more significant benefits, both for society and the individual are that marriage:

·       Lengthens life spans of men and women;

·       Civilizes men;

·       Protects women;

·       Protects mothers from violent crime;

·       Lowers welfare costs to society;

·       Encourages an adequate replacement birth rate.

The last benefit helps explain why immoral societies, which have not revered and protected the institution of marriage have often died out.

Another immoral and unbiblical activity is drug abuse. Some scriptures that speak out against excessive use of alcohol and other drugs are Ephesians 5:18, Deut. 21:20-21, Amos 6:1, 1 Cor.6:9-10, Gal. 5:19-20, Proverbs 20:1, Isaiah 5:11, Habakkuk 2:15-16[6].

The negative consequences of drug abuse are easily discernable in today’s world. Violent street gangs, family violence, the spread of AIDS, and babies born with cocaine dependency all testify to the pervasive and negative influence of drugs.

I will briefly touch on one other significant area of moral consequences. In 2008, John McTernnan published a book  ‘As America Has Done to Israel’ about the Blessings and the Cursings that have befallen the USA as a result of her positive and negative interactions with the Jewish people and the Nation of Israel.

Two scriptures that foretell a blessing on those nations and peoples who support Israel and a similar but opposite consequence to those who fail in their duty to support Israel or who actively work to delegitimize and demonize Israel, are Genesis 12:1-3 and Obadiah 1:15.

Genesis 12:1-3

Now the LORD said to Abram, Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you.

And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.

I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonours you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.

Obadiah 1:15

For the day of the LORD is near upon all the nations. As you have done, it shall be done to you; your deeds shall return on your own head.

Just a few of the more recent negative consequences are summarized below. I highly recommend reading the book for further elucidation.

Date	Speech	By	Disaster Date	What
Sept 19 ‘38	USA fails to act against Hitler – instead involved in appeasement	Pres Roosevelt	Sept 18-22 1938	Great Hurricane
Oct 31 ‘91	‘territorial compromise’	Pres. Bush (Madrid)	Oct 31	Perfect Storm
24 Aug 92	Palestinian self-rule of territories	Sec. of State @ Madrid Peace Conference	24 Aug 92	Hurricane Andrew
Sept 1st 93	Oslo Accord	Clinton	Sept 1 93	Hurricane Emily
Jan 16th  94	‘give up Golan Heights’	Clinton to Assad in Geneva	Jan 17th	LA Earthquake
March 1 97	Arafat received warmly…	Clinton	Same day	Worst tornados in history
Jan 21 98	Clinton presses Netanyahu to give up land		Jan 22	Clinton’s sex scandal surfaces
Sept 28 98	Arafat addresses UN			Hurricane Georges hits Gulf Coast
May 4 ‘99	Clinton to Arafat	‘determine their own future in their own land’		Most powerful tornadoes ever to hit US
Aug 9 2001	Suicide bomber in Jerusalem kills 19 and injures over 100	Bush is speaking publicly to condemn the terrorist goes on to demand Israel withdraw to pre-67 war borders and negotiate with the very people who sent the suicide bombere	Sept 11, 2001	The Twin Towers plane crashes
Sept 20 2004	Bush @ UN	Israel should impose settlement freeze and end the daily humiliation of the Palestinian people		Hurricane Jeanne changes course 1`80 degrees and hits US
Aug 22 2005	As a result of considerable US pressure – Gush Katif evac of 21 settlements		Aug 25th 2005	Hurricane Katrina
Mon 16th July 2007	Bush	Shocking speech against Israel and for division of land (at this time there was no talk of a recession or unimaginable debt	Friday 20th July	Subprime mortgage debt implosion hits
Oct 14 2007	Rice	Annapolis Conference	Oct 19th	California Bush fires
Apr 15th 2010	Hilary Clinton	Called Israeli plans insulting –called Israel to address humanitarian needs in Gaza	Apr 20 2010	Gulf Oil Spill

I have touched briefly on both the coming Kingdom of God and the discernable consequences of moral actions by both individuals and nations. I have also recommended some articles and books for further reading on this important topic. If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to ask.

Paul Herring

March 25^th 2011

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[1] www.circumcisedheart.info

[2] See http://www.charismacomputers.com.au/OneGod/meetings.html - Meeting 5; Saturday 11^th August 2007 at Faith Christian Church

[3] Cecil B. De Mille, the famous Director of the movie ‘The Ten Commandments’ stated "It is impossible for us to break the law; we can only break ourselves against the law."

[4] See http://www.summit.org/resources/truth-and-consequences/martin-luther-king-and-natural-law/ - accessed March 25^th 2011

[5] For statistical details, see Patrick F. Fagan et al., “The Positive Effects of Marriage: A Book of Charts,” The Heritage Foundation, http://www.heritage.org/research/features/marriage/index.cfm. Another good site is http://www.allaboutlove.org/natural-marriage.htm

[6] Both the TaNaK and the  New Testament condemn sorcery and witchcraft. The word translated "sorcery" comes from the Greek word from which we get the English words "pharmacy" and "pharmaceutical." In ancient time, drugs were prepared by a witch or shaman.