Culture huh?

In one of the most illuminating and bizarre exchanges recently online, the following observation was made by a man to defend the insane and absurd notion that ‘there is no God.’

‘Culture creates conscience.’ Worth repeating: ‘Culture creates conscience.’ Let this idea sink into your being, and muse upon the filthy implications.

If an Eskimo stole a seal, and was asked by a fellow iglooian: ‘Did you steal my seal?’ and he said ‘no,’ he knows darn well he is lying, and he will be troubled by his conscience; no need to be chastised by a polar bear, he knows he done did wrong, as culture is ancillary to the crime.

If an Asian customer in a Japanese McDonald’s stole a muffin, he does not need to be reminded by the manager that he done did wrong. His conscience will accuse him, as culture is ancillary to the crime.

If an Argentinian child of two stole her brothers juice box, holding it behind her back, when her mother asked: ‘did you take the juice box?’ and she says ‘no,’ with her mouth dripping with purple grape, she knows darn well she is lying, and her conscience accuses her, as culture yet again, is ancillary to the crime.

When an Australian poacher shot a koala bear, and was approached by the warden, and denied vehemently that he shot the bear, he knows darn right well that he is lying, and his conscience convicts him. No summons necessary for his very condemnation.

Now then, was ‘culture’ responsible for the revelation to the miscreants? Was the ‘environment’ necessary to indict these criminals? Did Japan, Argentina, or Australia create the environment where the conscience would run loose, or was it simply that the upbringing and geography played no part in the mischief proved by the conscience?

‘Culture creates conscience huh?’ In the twilight zone maybe, but not in the reality of a human and living creature known as man. While the conscience may be equipped to handle any culture, it is by sole birth, and not nurture, that water flows downhill. Conscience finds its way.

The conscience is something unique to man, an imprint compliments of the Designer, that man may live quite differently than a jackal or hyena, circling, snickering, and devouring the feast of the newly departed, and THAT without sharing.  The ravenous animals lose no sleep when they do not share the evening meal; they do not ‘love thy neighbor,’ and they are not troubled when one steals the meat from his brothers table. The conscience is excused.

Yet some would say man is no different from an animal. Hmmm.

Two babies born ten thousand miles apart having no clue where they are, will cheat, lie, and steal before they learn to talk or tie their shoes. And they KNOW they did wrong, thanks be to God for the conscience. Culture creates conscience huh? Not in a thousand lifetimes. A man may as well try to improve upon the wetness of water, than to convince someone that conscience is an acquired taste.

No, the chicken came first, then the egg. Period. The first man was not grown like a Brussel sprout, or like a crop of 9 month old gourds, waiting to be picked by a farmer, no, the Creator is infinitely wiser than the created, yet gracious enough to implant the seed of God in the conscience that man may know and have no excuse that: there is a God.

The human conscience is one of THE greatest proofs of a Creator. Even your conscience knows this, hey wait…scripture says that also.