Babies & Morality...What Are The Real Implications Of Current Findings?

Anderson Cooper's 360 on CNN has recently taken off on this presentation that 60 Minutes did a couple of years ago when they examined studies on the foundation of human morality at Yale University's Baby Lab. This reintroduction of this material has gotten all kinds of attention and commentary and thoughts are all over the board on this one. 

Question: 

This is somewhat of a trick question, but, is it even possible to be moral or to distinguish good form evil without God?

Enter the Baby Lab of Yale University

The Baby Lab sets forth scientific information, not spiritual information nor information that is designed to support one dogma or another. The scientists clearly believe in evolution and the evolutionary path, but their findings can be interpreted in a different sense as well. Here's the vid:

As I stated, this is a trick because we can never be or have never been truly "without God". God is present even in the life of an atheist to the extent that the presence of God cannot be removed from his creation or the earth as we know it. At the root of the question however, is does one need God, in the sense of saving faith, to be moral or to distinguish good from evil? 

My answer to this complex question has always been NO. One can be good, moral and distinguish evil from good ONLY because God has built the ability to distinguish good and evil in us as people, so that we are without an excuse for the path that we have chosen at the end of the day. 

Now, there is a perversion of this called "human morality". This is the type of morality that humans establish to prove that they are "better" than God and have higher values. While these attempts arguably fail miserably (because it's like a child crawling in the lap of his mother to slap her in her face and tell how how to take care of babies) We can say that men without God have established their own twisted and perverted sense of what is right and wrong, supposedly rooting that in what they call "rational thought". 

In the world of so called "rational thought" the concept of God and the boundaries that come with religion in general, restrict truth and make discovering truth more difficult. See, according to them, in this world, we should allow everything to go...live and let let...do as thou wilt...y'u-know, all those satanistic values that Anthon LaVey perpetuated...no restrictions, no boundaries, but whatever one's will is, that's what one should do....ie hedonism...Well that's well and good until someone does what they wish that isn't in accord with your wishes...

Bottom Line

Whether God is acknowledged or not God has communicated certain attributes to man and mankind. Moral and freewill choice being a couple of them, that we can exercise whether we accept HIS reign in our lives or not. In other words, the gift of life and choice between right and wrong does not simply go away because we choose evil. Although we are powerless to "save ourselves" we are able to make a choice freely based on how we are created. 

The Materialist Conundrum: 

If God does not exist and we are merely material or products of natural processes it is impossible to know or distinguish good from evil. Why? It is really rather simple...It goes something like this: 

If we are truly and only products of the material realm, by what process can we ever arrive at morality? Material, rocks, dirt, trees and anything else known as material matter makes no moral assumptions and has no moral values other than the values ascribed to them by human agency for whatever reason that might be. There is no moral position of a rock or material even if acted upon by chemicals and water over time...Morals are not what is called inherent in material mater. So the whole process of evolution, if one believes in evolution, cannot get out of the gate...on top of this, the moral question of materialism becomes a futile effort. 

Morals exist in humans and unlike that of apes and rats (atheists go so low on the chain of life to make comparisons when they hear things like this) Human values do not only promote the species, they fulfill life and cause life to be and become what it is. Interestingly, humans, undertake moral values and questions, on the shoulders of God, not in spite of God. God is the principle that provides the distinguishing factors of truth and the ability to distinguish between good and evil. There is no materialistic mechanism for this in any sense.

Ultimately Speaking... 

Under a truly materialistic paradigm, good and evil receive the same reward. They are merely built in premises that a person is bound and destined to follow fatalistically. Like the Matrix, all individuals are simply acting out their program. Atheist Alex Krauss says, "all physics are deterministic". This means that nothing acts randomly, not even thoughts. In the deepest sense, there is no choice or freewill under materialism. The mind is set from birth. This, by design, excludes any intervention of God to any degree in life's equation. However, it also strips one of any ultimate culpability for their actions in any sense. Duties are only to self or a close group or community, never to any ultimate authority. 

If there is no God, in the most deep sense, all actions are justifiably equal. The raper and robber are as good as the hero and the law abiding citizen.

Thank God that materialism is FALSE! 

The Sin Nature:

Having worked with children in a child daycare for 16 years as a profession, I can readily and easily see the sin nature at work in children at a very young age. What we find the doctors revealing is that a "sin nature" exists. They call it being selfish. The "us vs. them" mentality that these researchers reveal by the behaviors of certain children are the byproduct of sin in our hearts. Any bigotry and racism as outlined are as a result of the fall and our human values after the fall.

This is why man need a savior. Babies can't distinguish these things. However just as God distinguishes them, and men observe the actions, God knows what exists. Form a very early age, we can see that children identify what is right and what is wrong. What they do with that is their freewill even at that age. Interesting. 

Certainly these things will continue to be talked about for generations, and rightfully so.

Blessed!

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A Real "Game-Changer"???...Lord Help Us All!

Titus 1:10-16 ~ 10- For there are many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers, specially they of the circumcision: 11- Whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole houses, teaching things which they ought not, for filthy lucre's sake. 12- One of themselves, even a prophet of their own, said, The Cretians are alway liars, evil beasts, slow bellies. 13- This witness is true. Wherefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith; 14- Not giving heed to Jewish fables, and commandments of men, that turn from the truth. 15- Unto the pure all things are pure: but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure; but even their mind and conscience is defiled. 16 -They profess that they know God; but in works they deny him, being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate.

In this world we shall have tribulation!

That statement is no more apparent than when we look at what is perpetrating and passing itself off to be the modern "church".  I suppose it has always been like this. Early on Judaizers were trying to convert believers back into Jewish ritualism for salvation (Acts 15). Later gnostics such as Hymenaeus and Philetus who left the faith, tried to reinvent the teachings of Jesus and the Apostles claiming that either the resurrection had passed or that there was no physical or bodily resurrection because, according to them, the physical body was too evil to resurrect. (2 Tim. 2:18) False teachings were so prevalent until Apostle John warned that we should not "believe every spirit" but "try the spirit" whether it was of God. (1 John 4:1). 

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The "Business" Of Church

Matthew 21:12-13 ~ 12- And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves, 13-And said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves.

Although there is a healthy debate even among Christians as to whether the "church" as we know it today was ever supposed to be the "church" as we have become used to seeing it, or even whether Jesus came to establish a religion at all, one thing is for sure, whatever the church and religious practice associated with the church once was, it is hard pressed to continue to be that and as a result has lost it's luster in a ever increasing mine-field of church and even secular "alternatives".

In short, the rise of relative moral values, increasing secularism, and the desire for social relevance are among some of the more pervasive issues that the church faces. That doesn't even begin to touch on the ever increasing moral failures of some of the leaders and adherents of the church. All of these things have made the church, the modern physical church, a very difficult landscape for the average person to navigate.

Church, The Business

Then add the "business" of church to the mix. There has always been a business aspect to serving God through the corporate entity called the church. Even within the first church people sold what they had that the needs of the corporate group might be met (Acts 4). Under the Levitical system, sacrifices and offerings cost and had value. In Jesus time, ministry under the Temple System had become big business. Scripture records that Jesus drove out the "moneychanges" at least twice during his ministry (Matt. 21:12-13, John 2:14-15) and reprimanded temple leaders for their excesses. I believe, and have further taught, that Jesus did this at least annually as a symbol of his office and in expectation of what the religious Jew would have understood as the special authority associated with the Messiah who was expected to appear in every generation. By the time of Jesus, to say that the Temple and the people were being abused would have been an understatement. What was being done was not in accordance with what God had commanded and not in line with what he expected from those who would serve HIM. The poor were to be ministered to, not taken advantage of. The very fact that the nickname of the Temple at that time was "Herrod's Temple" indicates that money and evil associations had began to rule the day even in what should have been the most sacred of places.  

Show Me The Money!

From the historical position of Catholic "indulgences" to modern mega church "sacrificial gifts", to $50 million dollar plus places of worship, not to mention $250,000 monthly TV programming budgets. As we already know, on any given Sunday at mini-mega local churches offerings of the faithful can exceed $20,000. Big business exists within and surrounding the modern church. Much of the raised funds are delivered to folk

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Hunt For Terrorists...Were Their Actions A "Test Run"?

The Dunamis Word unites with the rest of the country and even the world in prayer for all of the victims of the Boston Marathon bombing. May the grace of the Lord and continued strength be upon all. 

The Hunt Is On!

One thing that President Obama can't be criticized for is the fact that when he says, "we will find you and bring you to justice", you can count on it! Yesterday, the FBI released the following video of the suspected Boston Marathon bombers (as they have become known)

Overnight, suspect 1(the one in front) was allegedly killed in a firefight with police that included handheld grenades and an extreme shoot out with certain "unknown" police.  Boston.com reported the following of the eventst:

"The suspect is Dzhokhar A. Tsarnaev, 19, a government official told the Globe. The Associated Press reported this morning that the suspects came from the Russian region near Chechnya, which has been plagued by an Islamic insurgency.The Globe has also learned that the dead suspect is Tsarnaev’s brother. 

An MIT police officer was killed and an MBTA Transit Police officer, Richard H. Donahue Jr., was wounded. Ten police officers were being evaluated at St. Elizabeth’s Medical Center in Brighton early this morning, according to a source, who said the officers said they were hurt from grenades being thrown from the window of a car during a car chase. The source did not have information about where the officers were from or the nature of their injuries"

So it seems that the terrorists responsible for this activity are cornered and will be brought to justice either by the government or God himself.

Could There Be 3 Or More?

In cases such as this, rarely are things confined to one or two individuals. Although his 26 year old brother is dead, the 19 year old remains on the run (see below for additional info) Usually there is a network of persons and people who have provided input and assistance. I believe that a possible 3rd person is right before our eyes in the video as well. It appears to be a woman with a yellow jacket, with a backpack across both her shoulders, holding a cell phone and following the 2 alleged suspects from somewhat of a greater distance. Do you see her in all the frames of the video? I do. There even could possibly be 4 persons outlined. Until now, I have heard no one mention how 3 individuals following one another in such close company, who primarily have the same equipment, may all be suspect in this case. The focus has been on 2 men, who were initially thought to be Black or of Saudi Arabian descent. 

City On Lockdown, Guns Drawn & Helicopters

Although the President has already made a visit to the city, some say way too prematurely (a sentiment to which I agree) officials in Boston have already told their residents to stay in their homes and that the city is basically closed for business. According to current reports, the younger of the two murderers is trapped in Watertown, MA and may have planted bombs and be ready to fight to the death. The police have responded as swiftly as they could. Yet, terror fills the streets of not only this city, but countless cities all over the country. Could this be a signal to others to step up their efforts? Or could it be a diversion? have you heard of North Korea since this began?  

Test Run?

Since the actions of these individuals evidently passed the ramped up efforts of the Dept. Of Homeland Security and every other agency placed in charge of American overall domestic security and safety, I began to wonder is this was some sort of a "test run" for the new terrorists. 

In a test run of domestic terror, I would believe that criminals such as this would simply test to see how far they can go and what they could get away with and to what point would their actions be stopped. In this case, creating the incident is one thing, watching how officials respond is another.  

What We Have Seen In This Case? 

We have seen a President far to eager to come into a hot crime scene to personally encourage victims. This is a problem. Not one criminal had been apprehended when he arrived and nobody knew who was responsible for these events. What if there was a second "sleeper cell" ready to make a play and attempt to kill the President and officials?  As stated, we have seen a Homeland Security Dept. that had no idea that a threat was eminent. So this establishes a pattern for other to follow. How did they do it? What devices and systems did they use to bypass all efforts to intercept terrorist activity? We have seen the public deliver misinformation initially claiming that the suspects were Black men or dark skinned Arabs. We have seen local police deliver conflicting and in some cases wrong information. We have seen a time frame of piecing together evidence so extended until any potential criminal could have long been gone from the scene and region IF they didn't want to get caught or reach more havoc. 

There is suspicion that these individuals also laid low in small town USA. On the same day in Quincy, IL. there was a raid on a home in which pipe bombs were being manufactured and this was reportedly after someone had set a bomb off in an open area of town. Could terrorists be testing the method of delivery of their terror and a way to byass authority to deliver their evil directly to the public?

The Trust & Rising Faith Of The Saints

Ps. 91:5 ~  Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day;

Terrorists are enemies of righteousness and even more enemies of God. They are spineless cowards that must hide behind threats and destructive actions, living a fake and pretend life to be successful. They are inspired of the devil himself. It is evil men that have allowed themselves to be used in this manner. Plain and simple. 

Of a certainty, these are the times and days in which our soul is being tried. These are perilous times. However, as believers, our trust must remain in the Lord. He and he only he is our keeper and is a very present help even in the face of terror and terrorism. God and trust in HIM is the antidote to all fear. Yes, we may walk "the valley of the shadow of death"  but HE is with us with a rod and a staff that comforts us.(Ps. 23). 

Saints and believers around the country can unite with those in Boston in an even greater way. Unite in prayer, because in spite of what the critic thinks, prayer changes things. God yet responds to believing prayer and petition. Survivors must be comforted and encouraged that this life is not the end of things. That there will be an ultimate justice and ultimate price that every terrorist will pay to a just and upright God. In God's eyes, ever life is important and every one means something. If there is no God, then everything is all meaningless. but because HE lives, we can all face tomorrow. 

Criminals will get caught, Boston will heal and we will get better in the name of the Lord and with the help of Christ. I know that to be truth!   

Blessed!

CBS Boston
Terrorist Caught. Update 4/20/13:

Boston Police Dept.        ✔ @Boston_Police

CAPTURED!!! The hunt is over. The search is done. The terror is over. And justice has won. Suspect in custody.

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The Difference Between Happiness & Joy

Because many have given themselves to the pursuit of life's more substantive issues, and in many cases accepted what is considered to be healthy spiritual, moral and philosophical standards of life's issues, it is interesting when philosophical standards and encouragements that do not point to or reinforce objective biblical standards are presented. Worldly philosophical standards often stick out in the crowd. 

Ie: For those of us in Christ, values that are less than Christ centered (worldly values systems) are not  appealing as they lack Christ and biblically centered encouragements.

At least that is my opinion of Essence's March 2011 article "The Happiness Quest". Now, to be clear, Essence is not a Christian publication, neither is it a Christian manual or guide to living for Jesus. So a condemnation of Essence is not the point of my article. However, Essence does deliver advice and certain information designed from a secular and in some cases an Eastern religious perspective, geared toward making one happy. The aim is to provide information that will offer individual self improvement or satisfaction as it pertains to the current condition of life. Personally, when I gather information that is aimed at my quality of life, I seek to align that information up with and compare it to information found within the biblically centered Christian worldview that I espouse. After all, if something is declaring that it will better life, then as Christians we should examine it in light of the truth found or contained within scripture. 

So when I saw the cover, I thought to look and see what essence says makes one joyful and could potentially change your life. I found many things...I'll focus on the "Joy" list of "25 Life-Changing secrets to Getting Happy" on the front cover:

Can Essence's List Of 25 Bring One Happiness?

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