The Big Lie. People are falling for it, everywhere. They don’t think they are; they think they have avoided it. Still, more are falling for it every day.
What is this lie?
Science can answer every question; there is no need for God.
If you believe science has the answer for everything, you are vitally mistaken.
Science can answer many questions, solve many problems. Scientists questions, using logic, seeking proof of a hypothesis. Results must be described in physical, measurable, and objective terms. Try to describe wind. Or measure love. Not possible. You can measure their effects, but you cannot directly measure them.
Scientists investigate nearly everything, and often find a nearly correct answer. Even scientists admit they never “know” the full answer. Each experiment, each investigation may bring them closer to a complete knowledge, but another scientist may ask the question in another way, investigate differently, hypothesize something new, and turn every “known truth” on its head. Consider the flat earth belief.
All scientific results are temporary truths, temporary until someone learns something more or better.
Contrast the variability of science with the constancy of God, who is “the same yesterday, today, and forever.”[1] His laws continue to be constant, whether the laws of gravity or the laws of chastity. God’s laws were introduced to Adam and Eve in the garden, and continue to have purpose for all men and women.
Unlike Jonathan Edwards’ view of “sinners in the hands of an angry god”[2] the One True God gave commandments that his children “might have joy.”[3] We are his children, and God loves us.
The belief in secular humanism and situational ethics leads people away from firm standards toward the insecurity of science and the “it’s all good” attitude, contributing to the slippery slope of no standards, no right or wrong, no sense of propriety. Children have no trouble disrespecting parents and others, students cheat, and adults murder the unborn in the name of choice. People cause others pain and grief because it feels good to them, never considering the effects on another human.
Because people choose the disobedient path, they believe the corollary of the Big Lie, God does not love us, or he would not let bad things happen to good people. No one wants a child to have cancer, a husband to be in an industrial accident, family to be killed by a drunk driver. God could prevent these deaths, but in many cases he chooses not to do so, for those left behind learn much more about themselves and others when compelled to struggle in a different manner.
God loves His children, and all who live on this earth are His children. We all have received the gift of choice, and the corresponding consequences that follow.
God allows bad people to hurt others, allowing the choice of action that was the greatest gift from the beginning of time. All actions have consequences, and someone must feel those consequences. If the consequences were taken away, or one was forced to not hurt another, the right of choice of actions—good or bad—would be lost, and God will not deny us the gift of choice.
What do you think? Is this the Big Lie, or would you suggest another?
[1] Hebrews 13:8
[2] “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”. Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758). Enfield, Connecticut July 8, 1741
[3] 2 Nephi 2:25