Borrowing Truth

Psalm 119:160

Introduction

We live in an increasingly secular society and by secular I mean one that does not openly acknowledge God.

When God is not publicly acknowledged, He will soon not be privately acknowledged either.

One of the consequences of this is that a society built on the acknowledgement of God begins to take for granted the benefits of a society built on that acknowledgement.

They begin to think those benefits come with or without such an acknowledgement.

They ascribe those benefits to other sources like Enlightenment thinking, or democracy, or even racial superiority.

We need to be careful that in our own conversations and interactions with a world that denies God, we don’t allow God to go unacknowledged even in one instance.

Existence

Everything that has a beginning must have a cause.

The universe had a beginning.

The universe must have a cause.

They even use the words of causality without acknowledging the causer.

Nature “does” this or “makes” that.

They will even use the word design on occasion.

The first words of the Bible answer the first question (Gen. 1:1).

The Bible gives a more complete answer to how God got here (Ex. 3:13-14).

We have a logical answer to this question, they have no answer.

Natural Laws

Natural laws can only come from created nature (Gen. 8:22).

Greeks believed math was limited in practicality.

It stayed largely in the theoretical and philosophical realm.

They were fascinated by math but assumed nature would not obey it’s rules as matter was not constant (in their understanding).

The pursuit of higher math was based on a Biblical worldview (Jer. 33:25-26).

“The possibility of an applied mathematics is an expression, in terms of natural science, of the Christian belief that nature is the creation of an omnipotent God.” RG Collingwood Essay on Metaphysics

“Mathematics is the language with which God has written the universe” - Galileo

“God created everything by number, weight, and measure.” - Isaac Newton

Postmodernists are more consistent.

Atheists want the laws to be absolute while denying the absolute foundation of those very laws.

You can deny the creator while still making use of His creation (Matt. 5:45).

Laws Governing Men

Laws should be discovered, not made up (2 Chron. 1:10; Prov. 8:16).

Western laws were built on the foundation of a Biblical worldview.

I don’t mean every law is good and right but that the attempt was to root the system in the divine concept of justice.

For example: Presumption of innocence is a Biblical concept and was not a mere invention of American founders.

There are no legitimate arguments for law without God (Gen. 1:26-27; 9:6).

Even atheists are recognizing the value of a society built on Christian values.

“Yes, I do really. I have to choose my words carefully: If I had to choose between Christianity and Islam, I’d choose Christianity every single time.” “It seems to me to be a fundamentally decent religion, in a way that I think Islam is not,” he commented.” - Richard Dawkins

Historian and podcast host Tom Holland, author of the bestselling book Dominion: How the Christian revolution remade the world (Basic Books) has been reminding secular humanists why their beliefs in human rights, freedom and sacrifice were handed to them by the followers of Jesus, not enlightenment scientists.

Female campaigner Louise Perry, author of The Case Against the Sexual Revolution (Polity), has been pointing out that monogamous Christian marriage has turned out to be the most reliable way of ensuring positive family outcomes.

Conclusion

Too much ground has been ceded by those claiming Christ.

We have truth. All of it. You cannot separate it.

You can find some truth while denying God, but that is like saying you can learn what is in a book while denying the author. It is possible but it is not rational.

Don’t let them get away with borrowing truth without acknowledging where it comes from.

Have you compartmentalized your life. Have you set religious truth over here in the Sunday box and then set practical or pragmatic everyday truth into some other box.

God can tell me how to worship but not how to be an engineer? Oh but He can. He does. Will commit to living by His truth in every aspect of your life?