This is not a sermon

Let us suppose that in western civilization we had never been exposed to Christian teachings. The modern term for such a state of rationalization is relativism. This means there is no absolute truth only new rules that can be constantly adapted to certain situations. Kind of like the Democrats who never seem to get prosecuted for crimes they've committed though if a Christian, Republican, constitutionalist, or conservative had been caught violating the same offense the Democrats would make sure they were charged to the full extent of the law.

Influence of environment

Yet, this does not come close to how outside influences affect how we see the world, our attitudes about right or wrong, and how we view good and evil! Without Christian influence how would we know that killing is not only evil it is punishable by death orchestrated by government or retribution by God? How would we know that abortion is a crime committed against the unborn? How would we know that violence is a negative force and should be avoided at all costs? How would we know stealing is wrong? How would we know that fornicating with another man's wife is a sin? How would we be able to distinguish between atrocity and humanitarian deeds?

Self righteousness?

It's all about what you are taught and exposed to! What if you were raised in a primitive culture where cannibalism was an accepted way of life? What if you were a Mayan and you regularly attended ritual sacrifices watching people's beating hearts being cut out of their chests and held up as a sacrifice to the Gods? What if you were raised among pirates to believe that human trafficking, raiding civilian shipping, stealing cargo, and viewing keel hauling and walking the plank as amusement? What if you were a goose stepping Nazi and you had the self proclaimed right to beat anyone's face in that didn't agree with your party?

Where did conscience come from?

What if we replaced Christian morality with Darwinian evolution? Survival of the fittest just like the animal kingdom would certainly change the way we operate in our society. Just as animals who exist instinctively, these is no sin, no judgment, no law except for the law of the fittest! In other words life for people would be just like animals with only the strongest, most adaptable, most aggressive, and most powerful would be allowed to survive. Animals kill to eat. They have no mercy. They have no conscience. They live to exist without an expectation of an afterlife or consequence for their actions. As many naturalists have observed an animal like a cougar is the purest form of innocence as it does what it does to survive. It is a predator nothing more, nothing less. So when it kills a human child it has no remorse, no conscience, no sympathy? Mankind is not simply a highly evolved organism! man has a spiritual existence!

Higher intelligence?

You don't see apes writing books, building rockets, or performing brain surgery. Yet, we now know that even Neanderthals buried their dead and mourned for the loss of their family members. They had the notion of an afterlife an awareness that they were spiritual beings! Evidence is their Archaeological records. Any culture that embraces ethics or morality is not simply an animal seeking mere survival. That behavior must be learned from somewhere or someone. Benevolence is not a trait of Darwinian survival of the fittest or natural selection. Such gestures as charity and humanitarian empathy would not exist in a godless culture!

With or without divinity?

Ask yourself why did our founding fathers of the 13 Colonies use the Bible as their guide in structuring the most freedom loving nation in human history? We were created in the image of our creator! Our creator gave us the concept of sympathy, forgiveness, justice, and freedom of choice, but the Christian God makes a strong distinction between evil and good that many other cultures would not recognize. The ten commandments did not arise out of convenience or as survival of the fittest. The ten commandments arose out of creating a civil society where a moral conscience and a clear definition of right and wrong became the underpinnings of a merciful and liberty loving society. In America, the only nation that respected individual rights that were not granted by government, our forefathers proclaimed, but these were rights granted from God! This is one of the defining moments in the history of mankind where people as individuals not just the subjects of an empire to be used as slaves, had the right to pursue happiness and protection from unjust government.

What influenced greatness?

Without the gift of God's wisdom and wrath if unholy acts were committed, America would not have become a beacon for the rest of the world to seek. Of course today we can argue that fact with a Democrat party that has been overtaken by Communists and their inhumane policies, but that has nothing to do with a God that gave a Bible to mankind so that he could govern humanely, treat each other as equals, and live with a civilized purpose that distinguished between right and wrong. Take a look at history and what happens as countries in Europe turned their backs on God and the church as a moral compass. Promiscuity, violence, drugs, infidelity, and war become prominent. The statistics are overwhelmingly clear.

Without hope

Ask yourself why Communist regimes crush churches wherever they rule? Because the state has no chance of surviving unless it replaces God in that culture. God gives people hope, justice, and the promise of an afterlife where a life of travail and meager survival are all the collectivists allow their peasants! God becomes a higher authority than the state. China, North Korea, Cuba, Iran, and other oppressive nation states have huge underground Christian movements as people are willing to risk their lives to seek a God of mercy and forgiveness. These qualities do not exist or can fulfill the needs of those who have no faith, no God, and no moral direction.

Defining element

Clearly, God is present and acknowledged in the US Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. Without that acknowledgement without that ethical directive America would not have been what it gained a reputation for in the world. One Nation Under God, makes a distinctive difference that defines our country and differentiates it from every other country. If America had simply acted as every other nation then we wouldn't have been any better than those who oppress, those who savagely control, those who plunder the weak, or those that seek to expand their empire through force.

The wages of godlessness

Sure you can argue especially today that the American government no longer lives up to the great commission of Christian ethics and humanitarian consideration, but such is the shortcoming of human nature and that is a result of the clash of good and evil. Evil does not manifest itself as simply the failure of human nature but from the negative spiritual influence that is God's adversary and man's enemy. Ask yourself what happened to Sodom and Gomorrah, two cities with out of control lust, perversion, and abomination? The proof of total fiery destruction is clearly demonstrated from their ruins. This is a testament to the consequence of hedonism and sinful conduct. Who used their powers to punish the wicked?

Undisputed truth

Why has America fallen from grace? Why is the land under the assault of lawlessness? Why are our lawmakers now immune from the laws they would punish us over if we did as they do and broke those rules? Where is God now in all this? The acts of man do not represent the holy will of a superior deity. When mankind ignores morality, ignores the Ten Commandments that have been removed from every court in the land, when man fails to regard God instead of himself as the righteous last word in the affairs of man then we have lies, chaos, violence, crime, immorality, and the sudden disregard for human life! Without the guidance of a holy spirit man is doomed to make a hellish existence on earth, and we are seeing exactly that coming forth in the US at the hands of not only the Democrats, ANTIFA, BLM, Communism, and Satan, but in the absence of a forgiving and merciful God that man has chosen to reject!