Did God Create Morality?

God’s Light Within Us All

Deep within man there is a consciousness of God and an idea of what is required of him by God. John wrote, “That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world” (John 1:9). By this he implied the light of God shines within every person. Paul recognized this phenomenon among heathen, “which skew the work of the law writ. ten in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another” (Rom. 2:15). The conscience of man dwells in the heart, acting as a moral regulator regarding right or wrong.

As missionaries travel to foreign cultures, they are often accused of westernizing primitive peoples. Actually the most primitive tribes are highly civilized in their own way. They have a social structure we usually do not acknowledge since it differs from our own. Their society has usually determined certain acts as socially acceptable and others worthy of punishment. This is the moral code upon which society makes laws.

Even among primitive tribes that appear amoral, missionaries have found traces of moral absolutes reflected in their laws (Rom. 2:1). These are all evidences of “the works of the law written in their hearts” (Rom. 2:15), so that they have some sense of what God requires of them.

The idea implied in the word “conscience” is “a knowing with oneself.” Since memory and thinking operate as a function of the heart, it is the apparent location for the conscience. The heart/personality is the place where God communicates to the individual. However, it is possible for man continually to reject the message of his conscience and render it inoperative (1 Tim. 4:2). An incapacitated consciousness of God is called a seared conscience.

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Dr. Elmer Towns is a college and seminary professor, an author of popular and scholarly works (the editor of two encyclopedias), a popular seminar lecturer, and dedicated worker in Sunday school, and has developed over 20 resource packets for leadership education.His personal education includes a B.S. from Northwestern College in Minneapolis, Minnesota, a M.A. from Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, a Th.M. from Dallas Theological Seminary also in Dallas, a MRE from Garrett Theological Seminary in Evanston, Illinois, and a D.Min. from Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California.He is co-founder of Liberty University, with Jerry Falwell, in 1971, and was the only full-time teacher in the first year of Liberty’s existence. Today, the University has over 11,400 students on campus with 39,000 in the Distance Learning Program (now Liberty University Online), and he is the Dean of the School of Religion.Dr. Towns has given theological lectures and taught intensive seminars at over 50 theological seminaries in America and abroad. He holds visiting professorship rank in five seminaries. He has written over 2,000 reference and/or popular articles and received six honorary doctoral degrees. Four doctoral dissertations have analyzed his contribution to religious education and evangelism.

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