The Human Choice - 5
Though it is obvious that we humans often behave emotionally and not always intelligently (in fact we may often seem to behave stupidly and not in logical accord with what we claim are our beliefs) nevertheless, intelligence exerts a constant pressure toward rational behaviour and there are, in fact, logical reasons for apparent deviations from the path of logic.
Human behaviour is heavily influenced by our environment; by a confusion of misinformation; by emotional desires and social pressures; we are normally more misinformed than informed - more conditioned to accept social conventions than truths. We also tend to forget that handed down morals (if of long history) are the logical outcome of long experience. Historic experience is not irrelevant to our welfare in today's world.
We have to face such factors in our behaviour as laziness or sloth. Even where we accept the surface logic of a new idea we seldom take even a little trouble to work out the implications. We prefer to leave that to 'authorities'; it is easier to see it as 'their' responsibility. But why should they, more than we, be dedicated to work in our service in preference to their own? If we do not think our life is worth our own effort on our own behalf, how can we expect others to make an effort for us?
D.A.. Norris, in his book Before You Lose It All says: Looking at liberty we find the simplest version in society is that men should have no restraints at all. But this, of course, leads to anarchy and in effect destroys liberty.
In other words: to seek freedom as an absolute is to promote anarchy. The natural result of this is to deliver ultimate power into the hands of a dictatorial elite.
U.S.A. President Jefferson: If a nation expects to be ignorant and free it expects what never was and never will be.
A person conditioned by upbringing and social environment to a certain set of morals (if not otherwise predisposed) is likely to retain much of his behaviour pattern and defend it, even after agreeing to evidence that would logically make the old standard irrelevant.
In short, while we are generally logical in the use of information (and over generations work to bring behaviour into line with accepted belief) our immediate behaviour is quite often deformed by emotion and confusion.
If a creation belief is fixed into a community by education and social pressure, social change will work through to its natural logical conclusion (so far as the reality in which we exist will allow). It follows that, if false beliefs are not to result in huge suffering, corrections to such beliefs must take place while their consequences can still be understood and compared to alternatives.
It is up to us to be aware of our nature and to see that our sloth, pride, selfishness and prejudices do not lead us to accept misleading ideas even if excitingly presented and emotionally pleasing - this, especially, if the beliefs are detrimental to the future of life on earth.
No doubt we would not be so easily led (or misled), by desires and the comfort of conformity, if early education impressed on us that wrong ideas (no matter how emotionally pleasing) must, by logic, lead eventually to distress, conflict and a wilful waste of life's opportunities; that the ultimate communal reward for simple selfishness - is suffering.
In an age when we who live in the advanced nations have such technical advantages for the improvement of life it should be apparent that something is basically wrong when corruption, violence, drug-taking, inhuman behaviour, confusion and social disintegration have become the measure of social progress.
When the number of socially disadvantaged grows rather than declines in a technically progressive society there is something seriously wrong and we should seek the fault in our most basic beliefs. We must look carefully at institutionalised and indoctrinated belief to see where the error lies.
Were present beliefs based on the truth of life then of course we should accept them. No true intelligence would ever want to ignore reality. If materialist teachings are false, as I think can be reasonably proven, all who want to achieve the best result from their living should be grateful to see that to persist with materialist belief is to commit suicide.
What I hope to show in this writing, at least sufficiently to alert a community of interest, is that chance creation is a deliberately false concept and that it is the effect of materialist attitudes based on this concept that are the cause of the great human distress and social injustices of today.
How can we approach this question? What we must look at is the driving force behind our social behaviour.
So let us now go to the debate and examine the evidence behind these opening comments in more detail.
Following exposure of the Satanist theology we go on to find just how delightfully simple the Christian Revelation turns out to be and how simply delightful is its understanding. choice5.htm