Did God Create Morality?
God’s Light Within Us All
Deep within man there is a consciousness of God and an idea of what is required of him by God. John wrote, “That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world” (John 1:9). By this he implied the light of God shines within every person. Paul recognized this phenomenon among heathen, “which skew the work of the law writ. ten in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another” (Rom. 2:15). The conscience of man dwells in the heart, acting as a moral regulator regarding right or wrong.
As missionaries travel to foreign cultures, they are often accused of westernizing primitive peoples. Actually the most primitive tribes are highly civilized in their own way. They have a social structure we usually do not acknowledge since it differs from our own. Their society has usually determined certain acts as socially acceptable and others worthy of punishment. This is the moral code upon which society makes laws.
Even among primitive tribes that appear amoral, missionaries have found traces of moral absolutes reflected in their laws (Rom. 2:1). These are all evidences of “the works of the law written in their hearts” (Rom. 2:15), so that they have some sense of what God requires of them.
The idea implied in the word “conscience” is “a knowing with oneself.” Since memory and thinking operate as a function of the heart, it is the apparent location for the conscience. The heart/personality is the place where God communicates to the individual. However, it is possible for man continually to reject the message of his conscience and render it inoperative (1 Tim. 4:2). An incapacitated consciousness of God is called a seared conscience.
