Moral Law Is Written Upon The Heart--This Cannot Be Denied

I will bless the LORD

who has given me counsel;

My heart also instructs me

in the night seasons. 

I have set the LORD 

always before me; 

Because He is at my right hand

I shall not be moved.

Therefore my heart is glad,

and my glory rejoices;

My flesh also will

rest in hope.

Psalm 16:7-9

     The headline to this blog may cause a person who wishes to object to the statement that this moral law written on the heart cannot be denied; to object. Oh! A person can deny that fact, but not with impunity. Avoid the moral law and there will be interposed upon you that which you wish not to happen. Lie, cheat, steal, murder, etc.; do any of these things and see whether or not there will be a price to pay, We all know the answer: there will be a price to pay. There is no glory or rejoicing when the moral law, a law that is imbued in our constitution is rejected. Truth is truth! Yet, there are different kinds of necessary truths.  There are laws so unthinkable that are absolutely true such as every effect must have a cause, and that a part of a given thing is less than the whole.  These propositions are such that the opposite cannot have any meaning. Take a man who says that something is nothing. He expresses no thought for he denies what he has affirmed, he says nothing.

     Truths that concern material or external things have a power of themselves that is different from the power that constrains the mind. Can you deny that you have a body? Can you rationally deny that you have a will? There is equality in both propositions but they are of different kinds and affect the mind differently. 

     Therefore, to further this discussion of the necessary truths we find that there are truths which cannot be denied without doing harm to the laws of our nature. If we do choose to deny those truths we have done nothing more than forced that denial and that denial can only be temporary. Why? Because the laws of our nature will sooner or later assert themselves and constrain the opposite belief. Let us use an example to demonstrate this fact. A pendulum when at rest hangs perpendicular to the floor but by means of extraneous force for a time it will swing away from that perpendicular position, but as soon as the extraneous force is removed it once again hangs perpendicular to the floor. It is the nature within the pendulum that causes it to return to its natural position. Using the illustration from the beginning of this blog that a person can deny the fact of necessary truth but only as long as there are extraneous force(s) that cause that belief but as soon as that external force is removed the mind reverts  to its original state. If a man has an injury that causes his hand to become senseless and lose the sense of touch does not mean in any sense that the hand is not a great sensor of touch, a sensory organ. Therefore, a man may possibly become so degraded in his moral nature by vice or by a false philosophy as to have its testimony for the existence of God effectively silenced. This does not remove and eliminate and prove the opposite of what the actual testimony is; beside this insensibility cannot last. Why? Because whatever rouses the moral nature in man, such as, suffering, or the approach of death, will banish that unbelief in a moment. During war many men move from skepticism to faith. We often refer to that as "foxhole conversion" a conversion that is so instantaneous, in a moment of time that there was nothing of a process to bring that individual to have that instant "foxhole conversion." There is then a twofold issue for as the man has a supposed irreconcilable skepticism there is present within him a state of consciousness that is opposite, that exists, a state that is not founded on a process of the mind. We can find this fact in all classes of men, therefore it cannot be said to affect just the simple for it affects all in the same manner. 

     Simple put, Scripture and experience contains moral law, this we know without be educated to that fact. It is written on our hears indelibly; we all are familiar with indelible ink: it is permanent. The moral law is constituted in our nature and implies that there be a lawgiver. If there be a lawgiver then that lawgiver must be necessity be not only the one from which the law emanates, but is the enforcer of that law. This being true man cannot, as moral creatures, deny the existence of a Being on whom they are dependent and responsible to for their character and their conduct. From this fact or sense then man, it must be admitted, has the knowledge of God innate and intuitive. Men do not need to be taught that there is a God, further they do not need to be taught that there is sin. 

     But, men are ignorant of their own nature and to the extent that sin has corrupted that nature, the pendulum has swung from perpendicular to an unnatural angle. Men are unaware of its existence naturally and allow other external forces to reign in their minds and deforming their character and conduct. This is true until they are enlightened by the Word of God and by being enabled by the Spirit of God. Therefore, it must be stated that men need to be educated and given instruction so that they may have adequate knowledge of the nature of God and their relations to Him. 

          "For 'whoever calls on the name of he LORD shall be saved.' How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?....So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God" (Romans 10:13-14;16). We are the preachers, not just the pastor, we have been commanded by our Savior to make disciples. Therefore it is our responsibility to be the ambassadors who carry the message of reconciliation: (2 Corinthians 5:17-21).

Awake, Christ will give you light.

Richard L. Crumb