'Heavens Above & the Moral Law Within'
Some time ago I was asked to give a talk on the question – 'Why am I a Christian?' After considering the question from several sides, I came to the conclusion that I'm a Christian because, by God's grace, I believe. I've responded by faith to the call of the gospel. Christian commitment is essentially a matter of faith. Given this understanding, does Christian faith exclude the intellect and reason? Are we required to operate solely from the heart? Or is biblical faith reasonable and logically supportable? I think it is!
The French existentialist, Jean-Paul Sartre, once said, “God does not exist, I cannot deny, That my whole being cries out for God I cannot forget.” This is the statement of a deeply conflicted man. Intellectually, he rejected the idea that an infinite personal God exists; yet, intuitively, he cried out for God. He found his atheism hard to live with! This happens to many who've concluded that there's no adequate evidence to indicate that God exists. And yet, when we reject the God of the Bible it's difficult to answer the big questions in life, questions related to existence, meaning, knowing, the nature of man, death, and morality.
The primary question is, “Does God exist?” A 'yes' response to the question is foundational to the biblical view of things. In fact, the Bible opens with this affirmation - “In the beginning God...(Gen.1:1).” The whole biblical story rests on the notion that God exists, and this is taken by faith; but it's not an unreasonable faith. Even the atheistic evolutionist holds to certain assumptions by faith. They assume that matter (at least, energy) always existed, and that time plus chance can produce order out of chaos. This is an extreme statement of faith! Theists and atheists start at the same place, with a faith statement: God does exist, or God does not exist. The question that has shaped my thoughts in this article is – 'Is there reasonable evidence apart from the witness of Scripture that supports the notion that God is?'
In his work, Critique of Practical Reason, the German philosopher Immanuel Kant wrote - “Two things fill the mind with...admiration and awe....the starry heavens above and the moral law within.” [1] Kant underscores two strong indicators of God's existence: the moral imagination of man; and the orderly universe. Unless these can be explained away, they point directly to a moral Creator, the God of the Bible.
The Moral Law Within
The question of moral behavior is applied only to humans. It's expected that we are capable of making moral judgments and can distinguish between right and wrong. We're held accountable for our moral actions, an expectation that would never be applied to animals. For example, if a bull killed a man, the bull would never stand trial and be convicted of murder. But a man would!
What we see active in man is a strong sense of moral oughtness. We make decisions not only on the basis of what we can do, but also on the basis of what we ought to do. C.S. Lewis illustrates this in his book Mere Christianity. He proposes a situation in which a man falls into a swift moving river and calls for help. Those who witness the situation of the drowning man experience conflicting impulses: the desire to jump into the river and save the man, and also a strong urge to avoid danger and not jump into the water. Lewis then makes this very perceptive observation - “But you will find inside you...a third thing which tells you that you 'ought' to follow the impulse to help, and suppress the impulse to run away...If two instincts are in conflict, and there is nothing in a creature's mind except those two instincts, obviously the stronger of the two must win. But at those moments when we are most conscious of the moral law, it usually seems to be telling us to side with the weaker of the two impulses.” [2] Where does this moral urging come from? If we're strictly the product of materialistic evolutionary chance, nothing more than complex biological machines, why do we possess moral sensibilities? The Bible speaks to this question. The Apostle Paul says that the reason why Gentiles, who have never been exposed to the Law of God, strive to keep the Law is because the 'requirements of the law are written on their hearts,....(Rom.2:14,15).' We still bear the mark of God's moral nature on our personality and character. This is Kant's 'moral law within'.
The Starry Heavens Above
Along with these inherent moral impulses, Kant points to the 'starry heavens above' as another witness to the existence of God. We live in an orderly and stable universe, one that displays predictability and design. How do we account for this? Where did it come from? The 13th century Catholic theologian, Thomas Aquinas, made two sensible assumptions: “Nothing comes from nothing,” and “Design demands a designer.” There has to be some kind of self-existent 'necessary being' that's the creative force behind the universe, and there are only two reasonable options – God or matter (in the form of energy). Whatever the creative source, we have a universe marked by order and design rather than chaos. Which creative option seems most likely, divine design or evolutionary chance?
There are only four possible explanations for the existence of the universe: it's an illusion and exists only in the subjective consciousness of man, it has no cause but spontaneously arose out of nothing, it has no point of origin but has always existed, or it was created. The first three of these options ignore the principles and notions of logic that come into play when we discuss cosmology. They violate the principle of sufficient reason that calls for a logical reason for everything that exists. In other words, existence requires an explanation. Also, they deny the notion of contingent being, which requires that what exists be dependent on something else for its existence. Everything in the cosmos is contingent. This, then, forces us to consider the idea of necessary being, something that's self-existent and eternal. Something that's non-contingent....what would that be?
The notion that the universe is an illusion isn't an adequate explanation for its existence. We'd have to deny all the evidence to the contrary that our five senses provide us with. To assume that the universe spontaneously arose out of nothing is irrational. It makes no sense at all! Logic says there has to be some kind of causality. A self-existent universe, with no point of origin, defies the very nature of matter. The second law of thermodynamics tells us that matter is ceasing to exist. This being the case, matter isn't eternal and must have a point of beginning. The only reasonable explanation for the existence of the universe is that it was created. It does have a point of beginning and that beginning is the result of a creative act of God.
Not only does the very existence of the cosmos call for explanation, its orderliness demands it as well. The universe appears to be held together by a delicate balance of order; yet, the atheistic evolutionist would have us believe that this order came out of chaos. It's unthinkable that cosmos came out of chaos! It's irrational to think that everything is the result of self-existent matter, energy, time, and chance. Question: how long would it take a pile of rocks to self-generate the phrase – 'Welcome to Canada'? It wouldn't happen!
What the Bible Says
Here's the biblical explanation - “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth...(Gen.1:1)”....”...in these last days he (God) has spoken to us by his Son,...through whom ...he created the world (Heb.1:2)”...”For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible,....all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together (Col.1:16,17).”
From these two witnesses, the moral instincts of man and the orderly universe, we find that the biblical message is reasonable. It provides sufficient answers to explain both of these observable realities. Our biblical faith doesn't require that we become non-thinkers and take a blind leap of faith; rather, there is substantial evidence to support its truthfulness!
Footnotes:
Immanuel Kant, Critique of Practical Reason, (goodreads.com/quotes/21053).
C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, (MacMillan Publishing Co., 1978, New York, N.Y. 10022) p.22.