I’m not sure why but I was thinking about the nature of human kindness today and the whole point of it. Frankly without God I cannot understand why people in general are kind to one another. It seems that most of the world these days shares my sentiments based on what I’ve seen in the news so far.

 

The humanists who hav abandoned God have philosophised that kindness and "doing unto others…" is simply good sense. They claim that it is the only way to ensure self-preservation. We must be kind to the ones around us so that they will be kind to us. This is rationalizing of course…the humanist need to understand why our morality exists if there is no God.

 

The humanist argument however however is deeply flawed because it only works in a society where all are equal in terms of power. No one has more power then the other – this is one of the foundational thoughts of Marxism and Communism both of which were born out of the enlightenment (which ironically was made possible by the reformation). For a world (universe) without God to work no one can have more power then the other because it is power that leads to corruption and abuse. Theoretically this seems to work – practically speaking it does not. First in order to establish a new order of absolute equality the people must gather together and revolt which in itself is an exercise of extreme power. Then the people must establish a government that exercises power on behalf of the people. This governemnt recognizes that when people gather together they gain power through association and so it limits and restricts the citizen’s ability to gather by eliinating churches and other organizations.

 

Such a state rapidly realizes that althouh equality may be mandated within its political boundaries it has no authority over other countries. This is worrisome because a power imbalance may arise on the world stage threatening everything said country has worked for. Therefore the only solution is to maintain a posture of threat and strength or else seek to conquer the world. Another ironic exercise of power in a system that claims to want to eradicate such things.

 

Outside such a state and without a loving God to show an absolute love as a guideline for us the only thing that maintains peace is law. Law enforced by a state empowered by average people who do not want to have to worry about being murdered in their sleep or having their things stolen. Without God there is no innate reason for people to be kind to one-another. Rather we would seek power over one-another as our way of survival (it is happening everywhere).

 

God teaches that we are loved. We are created beings bearing the Creator’s image and this creator has said we should love the image bearers as much as we love ourselves and because God loves them too.

 

I think when we fail to love one-another as Christ followers (something we do far too often) it is primarily because we have long moments where we forget that God is there. Our nature is broken and driven by fear. We in the west do not fully understand this becuase we live in comfort and with a broader sense of safety because power levels are relatively equal. Those outside of the west understand what it is like to live in a situation where one’s power determines one’s survival.

 

More on this later…most of this is a muddled mess because I am tired. I will edit and clarify in time.