“God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind” (2 Timothy 1:7).
Reason is the process by which thinking people arrive at conclusions. It is a legitimate and necessary process that is neither right nor wrong in itself. The outcome of reason for good or evil is determined by preconceptions and the spirit that controls a person. Two Bible illustrations show right and wrong conclusions. The Pharisee in Luke 7:39 reasoned about Jesus, “This man, if he were a prophet, would have known who and what manner of woman this is that toucheth him: for she is a sinner.” The critical Pharisee had the preconception that you snub immoral people. Thus he “misread” Jesus and concluded He was but a man. Jesus, however, demonstrated truth with righteous motives. When the Pharisees questioned His authority to forgive sins, Jesus said, “What reason ye in your hearts? Whether is easier, to say, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Rise up and walk?” (Luke 5:22, 23). Jesus then healed the man and he took up his bed and went to his house (verses 24, 25). In uniting the spiritual with the physical, Jesus gave the essential ingredient for successful living in His world.
Jesus’ words, “Take heed that ye be not deceived,” shows that we need to be discerning. “Try the spirits whether they are of God” (1 John 4:1). We agree. Deceivers and brazen blasphemy abound today. Multitudes of voices are calling, “Listen to me, I’m right.” In the midst of all this, God’s great salvation invitation remains, “Come now, and let us reason together, saith the lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow” (Isaiah 1:18)
Human Rationale
The word science comes from the Latin word scientia which means “knowledge.” It deals with the broad field of facts and their relationships in our physical universe. Experiments and observations are devised to test what is true. The World Book Encyclopedia goes on to say that in the humanities (religion, philosophy, and the arts), “there is no test that tells whether a philosophical system is ‘right.'” This denies the standard of righteousness in the Word of God, which is the only infallible rule for the Christian’s faith and practice.
Secularists draw a hard line between science (knowledge) and religion, saying the first is fact and the second is superstition to satisfy an emotional need. Divorcing spiritual truth from the physical world is an attempt by man to make the use of things amoral—neither right nor wrong. This is a formula for chaos, fear, and death. Left to himself, every man’s rule of what is right favors his own faults, lusts, self-will, or crimes (see Judges 21:25).
Human reasoning has produced numerous religions with gods like themselves (see Romans 1:23). These religions are not according to God’s standard of righteousness at all. They try to gain power for themselves. None dare challenge their rationality. They and their prophets can deceive, be immoral, have numerous wives, kill and plunder, mercilessly kill and oppress innocent men, women, and children. They imagine they are right because they believe their god is (by definition of the word god) always right. What our God does is always right. God abides by a perfect standard of righteousness. Their god and religion are not open to question. However, their power to work their will only shows they are the strongest, not that they are right. The same is true of the evolutionary “faith.” Fear of a powerful majority keeps people in line with what is politically correct even when the consequences are conflict, bondage, suicide, and murder.
God Abides in Righteousness
To understand the conflict between today’s major religions, we need to understand the nature of their gods. The true Jehovah God subjects himself to a moral standard of righteousness. Thus there are some things He cannot do. God cannot lie (see Titus 1:2). God “cannot be tempted with evil neither tempteth he any man” (James 1:13). He can’t be unjust (see Romans 3:26) nor do anything that violates righteousness. God is holy and right because He is righteous. Unlike other gods, evil is not made good just because He does it.
God’s moral standard is according to purity, justice, mercy, faithfulness, equality, and truth. His conformity to righteousness is the whole reason for the need of a special plan to take people who have sinned to heaven. A sovereign, uninhibited by a standard of righteousness, could arbitrarily save some and damn others. But God devised a plan of deliverance or salvation by which Jesus’ sacrificial death made a way for our sins to be forgiven. God can now forgive sins and still “be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus” (Romans 3:21-26).
In the Christian faith, we see God stepping into human experience to make a people like Himself. The true Creator is proved by His goodness toward mankind. “Thou wilt have a desire to the work of thine hands” (Job 14:15). “The good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep” (John 10:11). Those who perpetrate fear, suffering, and death to extract conformity are enemies of God (Matthew 13:27, 28). Since there are only two opposing supernatural powers, we know Satan is the source of all deception and wickedness. He does not have a vested interest in the welfare of God’s creation.
Christianity is a voluntary choice. “Whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely” (Revelation 22:17). Therefore it is the champion of sound thinking in the world. The Christian has “renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness” (2 Corinthians 4:2). Righteousness is the rule for those who become children of God. Truth is not what we make it. Truth is what it is! To find truth we must leave our own pride and righteousness (Romans 10:3) and humbly pursue the righ-teous standard of God. God’s righteous reason is so much higher than our ways (Isaiah 55:7-9). Any credibility gap that we have must be submitted to the final revelation of Jesus Christ.
The Conflict of Righteous Reason
The conflict with right reasoning is seen in America by a battle that is heating up for the minds and hearts of the next generation. Secularists are continually dismayed at the polls showing a majority belief in God despite two generations of evolutionary teaching. Yet their influence has opened an explosion of the occult such as the Harry Potter series. Those who have faith that the complex biologic diversity of our world self-organized from inorganic elements will spend millions to brainwash young children with their belief. So-called scientific organizations spend taxpayers’ money to propagate their unscientific doctrine.
Christian ethics has been the foundation of civil societies throughout history, but there has always been a conflict between what is false and what is right (Gen. 3:15).
We live in a time when there is a battle for the media’s ear. Those who have their cause presented favorably are seen as right. Selected facts, half-truths, and outright lies are being said to get things accepted. This is the sure result of rejecting God’s righteous standard of absolutes. People are then conditioned to follow the majority. Do as you are told. Don’t think “outside the box.” In this environment, the believer in absolute truth becomes an obstacle. Finally society turns against the people of God for making right and wrong and good and bad out of issues and people.
In the midst of this propaganda God is still appealing to man’s conscience with truth. By the still small voice within He speaks, “This is the way, walk ye in it” (Isaiah 30:21).
-by Elvin Stauffer