In 1 Peter 5:8, we are told by the Apostle Peter that the enemy, Satan, is
prowling around like a lion looking for someone to devour. For someone
that has been to church most of his life, I have come to believe the
assumption that Satan’s dealings are easy to spot; however, it is quite the
opposite. Like a lion looking for prey, he is very subtle in his way of
dealing with people. One way that attacks is by persuading people to
believe appealing views that subtly push us away from the Gospel, like
evolutionary ethicists.))According to McQuilkin, our ethical beliefs have
developed through evolution to help us survive and reproduce. Some
evolutionary ethicists emphasize that we think we have duties; however,
there is no real moral obligation behind those beliefs.1
)
)One of the biggest problems with this way of thinking, especially in light
of what our society is facing, is that we can make the worth of human
dignity a part of God. Our culture likes to justify the absence of God based
on the immorality around us. The argument that a loving God would not
allow so much injustice around is constantly thrown around. I love how
McQuilkin defuses this way of thinking. He says, “It makes better sense to
say that value came from value—not that valuelessness produced
value.”2)These are similar words to the one that David coined when he
wrote in Psalm 16:2, “I say to the Lord, “You are my Lord; I have no good
apart from you.” It is the realization that there is no value apart from God.
In contrast, if we were to observe Satan's modus operandi, we would see
how he uses culture to persuade us to believe that dignity or value is
found in things that this world can give to us. We do not see our society
recognizing that the cause of all the problems around us is the absence of
people believing in the Gospel, but rather the absence of a righteous
social system; that we do not have enough people to advocate for
people’s dignity, that dignity is found in fulfilling our pleasure and desires,
that doing what we love regardless of what it is can give us dignity… the
list can go on and on. The matter of fact is that what we truly lack as a
society is a belief in the Gospel. People need to recognize that without
Jesus, there is no dignity. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life.
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)
)1)J Robertson Mcquilkin and Paul Copan,)An Introduction to Biblical
Ethics : Walking in the Way of Wisdom)(Downers Grove, Il: Ivp, An Imprint
Of Intervarsity Press, 2014), 180.
)
2)Ibid., 181.
