Dr. Bob Sullivan – Life Changing Lectures April 22, 2009
Posted by Jacob Morales in General.4 comments
I am so thankful that I had the presence of mind to record just a few of these lectures. To know Dr. Sullivan is to know a man that lived well and although he has passed from this earth he is alive and well in the hearts of those who had the privilege of knowing him. I do not want to take anything away from these moving lectures, other than to say. These are just a few examples of the countless reasons why I am forever changed by a man who refused to allow this world to slip into darkness without a fight.
(A Tribute to Mrs. Darlene Sullivan at 41:05)
(Dr. Sullivan To His Children 41:45)
(For Jim Sullivan 42:30 )
(The Responsibility of a Father, The Love of a husband 47:00)
(“Dumb Little Assholes” 49:15)
(The Case for Objective Moral Truth)
(I’m sorry for the poor quality and my occassional talking or clearing my throat, this was not a professional recording)
A Father’s Greatest Success February 3, 2009
Posted by Jacob Morales in General.2 comments
Throughout the course of my life I have defined and redefined the meaning of the word success. The expanse of human experience yields many perspectives on the often subjective viewpoint of success. It is often defined by the singular point of view stemming from the mind of each individual. Yet I can’t help but believe success is not merely what I think it is; there has to be a truly objective meaning.
For seasons of my life I believed success to be relative to my social status and “place in the world”. I believed that my home ownership gave way to some noticeable badge of honor that would surely yield respect and admiration. However the congratulatory statements and the approval of friends and family meant little in the search to fill the void of the seemingly endless pursuit of meaningful success.
Climbing to the top of food chain in the work environment promised not only untapped potential for six figure earnings, but also a widespread respect from managers and the promise of promotion and longevity. Again I was met with the overwhelming disappointment of the top of the mountain, leaving me only wanting more.
In the past few months I laid to rest that wicked part of me. That part of me that allowed myself to be hooked by the lie of this world that meaning and purpose is found in things, physicality, and worse “worldly success”. I learned a new part of that today on my way to take my two young daughters to school…
My oldest daughter Alyssa is an exceptional diligent student attending her first year of grade school. She excels in all of her studies and enjoys homework. She begs to read the Bible past her bedtime and often recounts stories of how she prays for her friends in class quietly to herself when they are being unruly to her teacher. Both of my daughters are incredible, but something happened today that changes everything.
Alyssa has been ill off and on for many weeks and has had to miss school. She has an incentive program in her class that rewards students for good performance. Students must collect 20 stickers and can only earn 1 per day. Alyssa had been saving her stickers for well over a month and was very excited about her chance to redeem her stickers for use to pick something from the “Treasure Box”. She had earned every single one of those stickers and worked hard to get them, she waited patiently to earn them all. When it came time for her to redeem them she did something that blew me away.
She requested a new bouncy ball from her teacher for the stickers she earned. She placed it in her backpack and went about her day. Later when my wife came to pick up both of my daughters from school Alyssa did something amazing. Without regard for herself, without anyone asking her to, without announcing it to anyone, she handed her little sister that new ball she earned.
Amanda her little sister had lost her other ball and had been sad about it for days before. When I asked Alyssa about it she didn’t hesitate to say how she thought of Amanda first and wanted to get her something to make up for what she had lost.
I no longer need to pursue success; I already have it in my family.
My daughter is a blessing from God and while I have spent so long getting it wrong as a man I know that I must have done at least one thing right when I see her selflessly give without even a thought of herself. Her mom’s compassionate heart and passion for people is alive and well in her, but this isn’t just about a dad bragging about his daughter. This is so much more…
We waste so much time chasing the same monotonous fruitless things in this life and forget that there are people around us who want our love and attention. In this life there is nothing more important for me than to be a great husband, a loving father, and a follower of Christ. When I do those things, everything else is just icing on the cake.
Alyssa when you get older and read this. I want you to know how proud your father is of you. I have never in my life been more amazed by the love of God that burns so bright in you. No matter what happens in your life never let go of God’s love for you. I love you so much.
Love,
Daddy
Change Is Not Good Enough January 27, 2009
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A young family of four finally realizes their piece of the American dream after many years of diligently saving money for their dream home. Since their adulthood the two young parents in their mid twenties have paid their bills on time, worked hard, paid their taxes, and kept a close eye on their credit to ensure a bright financial future. They put their entire life savings down on a beautiful home that is not too big, not too small and gives their two young children a place they can call home.
In 2006 the money they put down is above and beyond the requirement, but is 20% of the value of the loan just to play it safe. With the booming real estate market slowing down they want to ensure they protect their investment.
The home builder has their own mortgage lending company that offers special incentives and rebates for buyers including better mortgage rates and cheaper closing costs. These fledging parents weigh the costs and see it is obvious that using this mortgage company offers the best financial benefit.
A Two Year Interest Rate at 6%, with a verbal “guarantee” to refinance their loan for free before the interest rate changes. Like so many other families at the time, this seems like a bargain and based on the information available it seemed like a good deal.
You might be able to guess how the story ends.
The family is forced to refinance as the crisis begins and the real estate market collapses. The family is forced into a loan that nearly double’s their payment making the payment impossible to maintain. The family is refused a permanent or temporary medication on their loan from the mortgage lender. The family cannot short sale their home with the inventory of homes busting out of the seems. The Family loses their home; the $80,000 investment in the home; their entire life savings.
This is my family. My children. My wife. Me.
I’m not interested in sympathy, handouts, bailouts, or pity. What I am interested in is for the United States of America to wake up. Sometimes bad things happen that are out of our control, that are unforeseen and that hurt a lot. That does not give us a right or a duty to stand with our hands out begging for help.
Now just for a moment imagine, if you will, if I had stepped on the news media begging for the help of my fellow citizens to bail my family out of the mess we were thrown in. Now what if I had been given $200,000 of YOUR current and future tax money. Now imagine I went out and bought myself with ALL of your money stock in Merrill Lynch, or Lehman Brothers. How would you feel about my financial decision then knowing I had basically taken your money and burnt it at my doorstep.
This country is facing a crisis of epic proportions and yet the response I am seeing from our highest elected officials is completely shameful. For the record I am NOT a Republican, but I am a firm believer in Christ and side often with Conservatives on many issues, this does not however blind me to the errors on virtually every side of the political spectrum that were created by our leaders.
Blame aside I want to make it abundantly clear. There is NOT ONE PERSON RESPONISBLE for me losing my home other than ME. That doesn’t mean I caused it, that doesn’t mean I could have completely prevented it, what it does mean is that the buck stops here and that I will NOT wallow in the mire of self pity with my head down and my hands out begging for society to shed a tear for me and hand me a buck or 800 billion for that matter.
I have lost more in my 27 years than most people will lose in their entire lives in terms of the financial investment I made of REAL liquid cash. Do I want the government to help me? The only thing I want from the government is for them to get out of my way and let me start over, learn from my mistakes, and try again.
This country can and will never regain its prominence again if it does not learn from its mistakes. This next bill that President Hussein is pushing is a perfect example of what is wrong with this country. You do not get out of debt by spending money on things that do NOTHING to stimulate the economy. None of that money will end up in my pocket or yours and what is sad so few people can stop watching the main stream media long enough to figure out they are being deceived.
The most significant proof of this the rampant stupidity of this country is the overwhelming blind faith everyone has in President Hussein. If tomorrow I vowed to change to become a better athlete by just changing my workout routine without specific ideas of proven methods to improve myself than I would be labeled a damn fool. President Hussein is doing just that and what’s worse is he is spending our money in his completely idiotic experiment.
This country has done so much good, and yet so much evil. There is quickly coming a time where it will answer for its indiscretions. Frankly I could care less if you find my writing interesting, if you agree with me, or if you dislike my perspectives. Your opinion does not negate the truth. I know there are many like me still left when I say;
CHANGE IS NOT GOOD ENOUGH
Atheism Is An Elaborate Lie November 19, 2008
Posted by Jacob Morales in General.Tags: absolute moral truth, agnostic, atheism, atheist, atheists, liberals, Moral Truth, religion, religions
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It’s the middle of December and fans from the visiting team are sitting huddled around each other as the snow falls heavily on the football stadium. The fans can plainly see that they are vastly outnumbered by the home team’s incredible number of supporters and patrons packing the large stadium. With just a few seconds left in the game the visiting team throws a Hail Mary and the receiver catches the football in the back corner of the end zone.
There is a flag on the play.
The home team and one of the refs don’t think the receiver had both feet inside the end zone when he caught the ball. The visitors know they saw a touchdown, the home team KNOWS they saw a catch out of bounds. The home team’s fans think that the visiting team’s supporters are clearly crazy for their stupidity and are shocked that they could possibly believe that was a touchdown. The home team’s fans are getting violent. They are getting angry. They don’t care if they are objectively right or wrong; they have lost sight of reality and now are ready to pounce on the minority.
Atheism Lies
Doesn’t sound so crazy when we make this striking comparison yet this is increasingly becoming what we see today with the Atheist and Liberal mentality taking hold in modern thinking. The real secret and lie is that most atheists want you to believe that they are these completely passive rationalists who seek only to debate and discuss objective “evidence” for the purpose of enlightenment. Atheism has become a well packaged lie that is backed by a mandate of a people who want to get even with Christians.
However even when you attempt to discuss their ideas for the purpose of logical debate you quickly see what fuels their intentions. Virtually every atheist will agree to what they call “situational truth”. For example, rape is wrong, sacrificial murders of human beings is wrong, genocide is wrong, etc. What they will not concede is how these statements alone imply an objective moral order for fear of what it forces them to do. Question their perception of their own subjective reality. Atheists will quickly label something “evil” (war, bigotry, racism, etc) yet deny the very possibility of a source of their objective morality that governs their “situational” viewpoints.
To put it simple, they agree that breaking the law is wrong; they just refuse to believe the law has an origin. They base their morality on the majority’s viewpoint of what is socially right, but how does that work in the real world (e.g. The Rwandan Genocide, Hitler, Stalin, Darfur, etc.)? If that majority dictates moral truth for that time, then moral truth is subjective both individually and for the group and is completely meaningless.
Angry Atheism
Atheists spend far more time attacking Christianity than they do any other faith. Why is that? It’s obvious; they have an agenda to destroy the very existence of our faith and will do whatever they can do accomplish that goal. Much like their god, Evolution, they slowly want to erode Christianity until it is gone from the earth all together. Christianity and religion is a threat to them and many of them are eager to remove it from the pages of history.
In reference to their “evidence” one thing atheists won’t discuss in great detail is the evolutionary gaps. They have very very few fossils that support the “in between” animals that eventually became humans…not only do they have very few of them but many of them are completely ridden with controversy with respect to their validity (pieced together fossils by those with an agenda).
They refuse to acknowledge that their “evidence” has any weaknesses so they can continue to hide from the real issue…
They hate the idea of God
Let’s assume for the sake of argument that TODAY God stepped out of the clouds and said “SEE IM REAL!” (And HE did with the life, death and resurrection of Christ)
It wouldn’t sway atheists because the real reason they don’t believe in God is their original emotional disdain for a God on many completely subjective issues. Suffering, World Hungry, Pestilence, Disease, War, Crime, etc. Even if we could prove God was real today, they would not change their perspectives because whether they admit it or not they refuse to follow a God for emotional reasons. They are not these super intellectual beings they pretend to be.
The trick so many atheists (and liberals alike) use is to bombard you with their “evidence” and scientific data to confuse you into believing that you are blind, ignorant and foolish. I experienced this first hand in college. In sociology my atheist homosexual teacher asked me to write a paper on our personal viewpoints of homosexuals in society today. I wrote my opinion and received a D+ for my work. I wrote grammatically correct, I did not attack homosexuals; I simply stated my religious opinions. I received an A in my advanced writing class and an A in my legal writing class that same semester. You tell me who is subjective and who isn’t.
She later withdrew me from the class after 2 missed classes the entire semester (we were allowed 4) for going to the dentist. I’ve have seen this type of reverse discrimination happen time and time again.
They won’t tell you, but most atheists believe that Christians are like a cancerous plague in modern society. Their clear hatred and disdain for Christians has seeped over into the media and virtually all outlets of modern entertainment. Their agenda is not merely to prove us wrong; it is to silence us forever. Make no mistake a large majority of atheists and non believers are not just interested in just disproving Christianity; they are interested in eradicating it forever. Don’t believe me? Spend 5 minutes searching the internet and read a few blogs, watch a few videos, listen to a podcast from atheists and liberals. They aren’t just mad; they want to get even…
God's Creation
I look at this flower and see the glory of God in His creation. They look at it and desperately try to explain to us how the protein molecules matched chemically with the carbon and created one helix of the DNA strand that over 189 billion years evolved into a cell that 982 trillion years later became a bean sprout that decided one day it didn’t want to become a bean sprout and now wanted to be a purdy flower and then made all of these extra stamens and designs because it was evolutionarily necessary.
But we are the crazy ones huh?
Atheists suffer from ostrich disease…you can’t reason with someone who has their head stuck in the sand.
I guess like so many others they can’t plainly see that the emperor is completely….
Well…
What Would Jesus Do…Today? November 18, 2008
Posted by Jacob Morales in General.Tags: christianity, christians, church, Moral Truth, religion, religions
2 comments
I realize that this may seem disrespectful to some…let me assure you. It is.
We cannot candycoat the truth anymore. The church has to change if we are to be used again…
We cannot continue doing the same things expecting different results. It’s sad but the very white washed tombs that crucified Christ now occupy many of the churches of America today. This is not my Judgment, but God’s. I pray you see the deeper meaning…
Atheists Have More Faith Than Christians November 9, 2008
Posted by Jacob Morales in General.Tags: absolute moral truth, atheism, atheist, evolution, Moral Truth
128 comments
So I decided to make a video on Atheism…I hope you all like it 
God Loves You – Moral Truth for Everyone October 28, 2008
Posted by Jacob Morales in General.Tags: christianity, God's Love, Moral Truth, Morality
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This is audio of me speaking at Cathedral Christian Center in Glendale, AZ in May of this year. I hope it blesses your heart and your life.
A Life Truly Lived October 23, 2008
Posted by Jacob Morales in General.Tags: christianity, life, Moral Truth, Morality, Philosophy
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In the course of my life I have had the unique privilege of meeting some truly incredible human beings from my trips abroad. Deep in one of the world’s most impoverished nations of Swaziland I met a dynamic young Muslim girl who at the age of 17 had already begun medical school at the state university. In Costa Rica I had lunch with a Hindu gentleman who welcomed us into his home and treated us like family. In Durban, South Africa I enjoyed a lively debate with a Buddhist about the afterlife and hugged him like a brother before leaving his abode. One common theme among each of them was they were all great people in spite of our vast religious differences.
With so many religious and non-religious views and all that exists in between how can I or anyone else even suggest that there is any absolute in moral truth? It is a big question and depending on who you are you may wrestle with the answer for the remainder of your natural life. I will however say that for me and many like me I am persuaded by the evidence I see in things like what I experienced in Pietermaritizburg, South Africa. The following is the story I was told on a street corner in the business district of Pietermaritzburg.
Pietermaritzburg, South Africa
“The long nights were the hardest for us. I would wake up to her crying and walk into her room completely helpless already knowing there was nothing I could possibly do to relieve her pain. I would kneel next to her bed and hold her hand just to show her that I was there and she wasn’t alone. No matter how much she hurt she would always look at me and smile; no matter how many times the doctors would give us bad reports she would smile; no matter how sick she got from the medicine she would smile.
One day a new doctor came to see her to check her blood work and noticed her countenance. The doctor asked her why she was so happy and without missing a beat she replied, “Because Jesus loves me and He is holding me right now”.
The doctor was stunned speechless; she left the room without saying a word.
On the night of her bone marrow transfusion she asked me to pray. Not for her, not that she would be healed, this 7 year old little girl asked me to pray for the doctors; to pray that they too would know Jesus someday. I adore her, she’s my light, she’s my life, she is the reason I have still have faith in God, and her memory will live on in the lives of those she touched around her.”
We all wept bitterly as we hugged the father and thanked him for sharing his incredible story with us. I met James Frank on the corner of a busy street with the intention of talking to him about my faith; what I didn’t know if he would show me a new facet of mine. The story of Ruth Frank has special meaning now as a father, this is however so much more than just a sad story with the intention of proving a point.
Morality is not discovered with the sole intention of proving errors or injustice, but rather to direct us to the beautiful; to life. Without moral truth in our lives the idea of hope, love, and joy are completely devoid of meaning. So then what does it mean to live life; a life truly lived in pursuit of the beautiful and the good?
A man and his wife near their 80’s as they continue to support their families through love and action. This man and wife have raised many children who all now have their own children and have all done well for themselves. They are loved and adored by their family and by everyone around them. Their entire lives have been marked by sacrifice and a deep love for their families. At the age of almost 80 these two great grandparents see a great need, realize what’s at stake, and make a decision.
They are adopting two little children.
Not only do they adopt these two children, but they raise them as their own. They teach them right from wrong; they show them what it means to be responsible God fearing people. They stay up late with them when they are sick, they pick them up when they fall. They do everything they didn’t have to do, but chose to do anyway.
My Grandfather Ernest Zavala and Grandmother Carmen Maestes at the age of 80 years old are example to me and to everyone of what it means to truly live life. At a time where their lives should be free from the constraints of parenting, they willfully chose to respond to a need and changed the course of these children’s lives forever.
My grandparents continue to live a legacy and without regard for their own well being. You will never spend a moment in their presence without seeing their resolute decision to do what is right. There is no debate. For them there was no choice, because to do the right thing was by far the only thing that truly mattered. Those children now are shining examples of what good parents want their children to be. Now you tell me, is there any question that they have helped define what it means to live life?
In life we have the tendency to fill our time with frivolity and focus so closely on what we perceive is important at the time. We are so easily jaded by the injustices that surround us and yet if we watched closely we would see that behind it all is something we continue to miss.
The Beautiful. The Good. The Life we ought to be living.
Life is delicate and tomorrow is not promised to any of us. With all of the negative we continue to be surrounded by isn’t it about time that we stop listening and start doing? Isn’t it time we start living the life we were intended to live? We can make such an incredible difference by doing the little things like making a meal for the homeless, helping tutor the underprivileged, making a difference in the lives of our friends and family.
No one that matters is going to remember you for the work you did at your job. None of the money you earn goes with you when you die. The only thing that really matters is the life you lived and the person you were to those you love. Everything else is just the time in between. So ask yourself, as I do everyday, am I living a life truly lived?
Robert Sullivan Ph.D., a Phoenix College Professor September 24, 2008
Posted by Jacob Morales in General.Tags: atheism, Bob Sullivan, Maricopa Community Colleges, Moral Truth, Phoenix College, religion, Robert Sullivan, Truth
20 comments
It was a thrilling morning as I prepared for my first day of college in the fall of 1999. I was excited but also extremely nervous not only because I didn’t know what to expect but subconsciously I wasn’t quite ready to grow up. The past many months leading up to my new educational journey had been rocky to say the least. I hoped that my newfound path would yield some stability in my tumultuous life. My first class that morning was an introduction to Philosophy class with a man named Bob Sullivan, Ph. D.
I quietly walked into the classroom and took my seat in the back to try and keep a low profile. The teacher up front, who I assumed was the “Bob Sullivan” listed on my class schedule, began writing on the board without saying a word. It struck me as strange because he was using chalk and I hadn’t seen a chalk board since early grade school. Before I could finish reading his words on the board he began,
“What is moral truth?”
The room fell silent as his question resounded. He remained quiet and stared at us as we undoubtedly returned his gaze in confusion.
“WHAT IS MORAL TRUTH?!” He shouted.
The confusion had now turned into shock and fear for almost all of us as a deafening hush settled over the classroom. I say almost all because for me it reverberated into the depths of my soul; I didn’t know it then, but I would soon fall in love with the study of philosophy and the arts. I felt I knew the answer but out of fear I remained quiet.
One brave soul raised his hand and said boldly, “There is no such thing as truth. Truth is whatever you believe it is.”
I can only say that what ensued after his statement was truly remarkable to say the least. I doubt that this young man realized what he was doing when he spoke those words, but it began one of the most incredible, and yet simplistic, feats of human reason I had ever witnessed in my life.
Dr. Sullivan began…
“Ok. Let’s take your statement and go to work on it shall we? SO let’s assume I am a young man and I grew up in a good home. Alright. I had good parents who REALLY loved me and looked after me. Ok. But I have this damn anger problem that I can’t seem to get rid of and it’s a real problem. Fair enough? Ok. Now mom and dad did their best to raise me right but this woman I see walking down the street…well she is just beauuuuutiful.
So because I WANT HER. (Long Pause) I RAPE HER!
Silence for what seems like an eternity
So if truth is whatever I want it to be. WHO THE HELL ARE YOU TO TELL ME IM WRONG?! I FREELY CHOSE TO RAPE! If truth is whatever I believe, then who are you to tell me what I (long pause) OUGHT to do?”
The sound in the classroom was louder than any noise I had ever heard; no one said a thing, no one moved. What was amazing is Dr. Sullivan continued for 40+ minutes with this blatant and provoked attack on the very foundations of modern societies “way of thinking”. From that day forward I had a permanently etched smile on my face in his class as I watched this 70 year old man verbally beat down the very core of modern relativism.
That day marked the first day of my real education. It started something in me that is the single most important reason I am even alive today. That day I walked into that room a drug addict, a hiding Christian struggling with my faith, and even worse I was unsure if what I had held on to for so long was even true. It was not necessarily his direct intention, but every time I heard him lecture it began to solidify my faith and gave me a reason for why I believed in God.
That day signified the first step in a journey that changed the course of my life forever.
I began to write papers in his class feverishly and with great excitement. When my first paper returned from him I read his comments quietly to myself as he handed them back to the class. They read “Very rarely do I get a student of your caliber in my classes. Your understanding of the subject matter is superior. Excellent work. Never let this passion fade from you” Those words were like water to my soul, the seedlings that had been planted in my heart began to take root and dug deep into the very core of who I was becoming.
The man I came to know as Bob was more than a teacher; he was a friend, a fighter, a dad and a husband, and to me the most spiritually significant person I never knew I needed to meet. An Irish Catholic from Chicago became a missionary and priest in South America, and eventually had nearly a dozen sons and daughters. He is to this day the single most influential person I have ever encountered or known in my life.
Robert Sullivan recently passed away last year, but his life will live on. This blog is a legacy to him, to what he taught, to what he stood for, and to a generation of people who refuse to shut up, sit down, and allow the world to fade into moral decay. In the days and months to come I will be writing on some of the topics he taught on including posting his lectures I was able to record. He spoke on family, life, morality, and some of the most important topics our culture is now facing more than ever. Bob Sullivan believed in absolute moral truth, and I intend to show you why it is something we cannot afford to forget or leave in the past.
It is my hope that someday, with this help of his family, there will be a Robert Sullivan Foundation and that many more will share the honor in carrying his torch. Today we honor a man who fought the fight and won. Bob, it was an honor to know you, learn from you, and carry this to many more. You taught me the definition of being a good dad, a loving husband, and a zealot for the truth. The life you lived was an example to everyone around you, you are my hero and I am a better man because of you. We are all going to miss you.
Fighting Moral Decay October 7, 2008
Posted by Jacob Morales in General.Tags: Missions, Moral Decay, Moral Truth, Morality, Philosophy, Teen Mania Ministries
2 comments
I will never forget the day I lost my innocent perception of the world. I was playing at a friends house immersed in my free time from school when breaking news came pouring over the television in the background. There had been a massive auto accident involving many people and a possible fatality. I remember watching it in shock as the images poured over the screen. I became entranced with the reporters commentary seemingly unaware of the world as my 7 year old mind tried to wrestle with the horror I was witnessing.
Just then my schoolmate looked at me and said, “Forget that, let’s go play. That stuff happens every day”.
No doubt the look on my face expressed my profound concern and shock. I wasn’t sure if I had simply been sheltered or just been completely unaware but at that moment I refused to believe the truth. I argued with my friend that there was simply no way that auto accidents happened every day. How could that be? Why wasn’t something being done? It simply did not register in my childish mind how this had become so commonplace and now regarded as unimportant.
He laughed profusely at my ignorance and I quickly retreated my point pretending that I had been joking and certainly not that ignorant of “how things are”.
So many of us would look back to a moment like that and laugh it off and mark it up to childish ignorance. But this didn’t have anything to do with my uninformed childhood perceptions, on the contrary it was a deeper problem that I simply could and still will not accept. From as early as I could remember I simply did not understand abject suffering and more importantly the lack of a resounding answer to it.
The age of information has flooded our minds with the sheer volume of unspeakable human atrocities that run rampant all over the world. Cancer, AIDS, genocide, starvation, crime, and other unspeakable acts will end the lives of millions of innocent lives. How can this be? As I grew up I began to ask the question that any human being with a heart should ask.
Why?
More importantly for someone of faith an even more difficult question. If God is real, and He loves us, then why doesn’t He intervene? Where is God in all of this suffering?
I received my answer in the summer of 1997.
I had traveled over 15,000 miles and found myself in the 3rd world country of eastern South Africa. I went with Teen Mania Ministries, a small Christian NPO out of east Texas, that sends teenagers all over the world doing rescue aid to countries in need. Apartheid had only recently been abolished and the tension between whites and blacks was still very prevalent. Needless to say the conditions that many native Africans lived in were beyond bleak. One particular day we visited a small village in a coastal city that had been severely affected by governmental agencies preventing aid to their region for “political reasons”. We were so desperate to help that we entered their only clinic to do what we could.
I walked in one person; I would walk out someone completely different.
The human mind cannot begin to explain or comprehend what it is like to enter a third world hospital. It embodied the most atrocious living conditions you can possibly imagine. My mind continued to reel in astonishment as I couldn’t escape how this environment was even possible in our “civilized world”. The smell alone was almost too much to handle even without the horrific things my eyes witnessed.
We held babies stricken with leukemia and HIV, visited men and women dying of illnesses the modern world had long since cured. It was extremely difficult not to let it all breed hatred towards the complacency of my own country. As tears streamed down my face, I prayed for them giving everything I had in my pockets in a vain attempt to help ease their pain.
What amazed me the most is that not one of them wore a frown, not one complained, not one of them even showed a hint of their obvious pain and turmoil. They all smiled in joyful delight and marveled at us in amazement just for being there at all. It was ironic that the only sad faces were worn by the only ones who had nothing to be sad about.
As we were leaving I met a man named Robert who had been a paraplegic for 6 years. He had lost his wife, children in a massive automobile accident that almost took his life. He had been lying in a bed alone for years with no hope to ever walk again. With a simple act of kindness, I prayed for him; all I did was pray and tell him that God had sent me just to tell him He loved him. He wept, sobbed, and by the end of that day he sat up for the first time in nearly a decade.
Where was God? Ask Robert I bet he’d tell you.
And to the skeptics, Robert had decided only days before that he was going to chose THAT DAY to end his life. He had told the entire nursing staff long before our arrival he was no longer going to eat and was at the end of his self imposed suicide when we showed up. Was it a mere coincidence that I had traveled half way across the world just in time for someone to hear the only thing that would give him hope? If you believe that, then you have more faith than I do.
I realize this does not satisfy the deep seated anger that many share and direct towards God or “religion” because not every story has a happy ending. Sometimes our loved ones die of cancer, sometimes little kids die in wars, and instead of finding fault or passing blame, maybe out of our darkest hour there is something we need to see that had we not endured that dark place we could have never seen before. The brightest days are always preceded by the darkest nights.
Fighting moral decay isn’t about winning the argument, curing world hunger, or eradicating poverty; while those remain our goals we strive to make a difference one person at a time. The fight is about the impact we make on those around us that we can help, influence, and change for the better.
All those years ago I made the decision to fight, to not allow the depravity of my surroundings control my actions, to not wallow in the pain around me and to pierce the darkness with a single ray of hope. Robert lived for many years after my encounter with him. He spent the remainder of his life upright spreading the hope he had been given by God, and I would do it all over again even if just for Robert.
Thanks to Robert I no longer have the need to ask why.
Moral Truth October 10, 2008
Posted by Jacob Morales in General.Tags: Moral Relativism, Moral Truth, Morality, Rwandan Genocide, Truth
6 comments
“Is there any such thing as objective moral truth?” This question has been asked since man’s beginning and promises a different response depending on who is asked and when. However it seems more and more the resounding answer we hear from our “modern” culture is;
NO! Moral Truth is whatever I want it to be.
This ideology has been furthered by the works of philosophers Friederich Nietzsche and Edward Westermarck who were most famous for their advancements of moral relativism. From a purely rudimentary standpoint it is easy for the mind to comprehend their viewpoints of morality which is why their notions have stood the test of time; they require no effort or intellectual insight. As with any hypothesis or theory it is critical that it be tested to show the produced result. Let’s analyze how moral relativism works in the world of ideas.
A little boy is brought into the world in the late 1800’s in Austria Hungary. From an early age this boy is forced to watch his mother beaten ruthlessly by his own biological father. His mother stays quiet as his father beats him violently into submission for small acts of disobedience. His entire adolescent life is ridden with bruises, scars, and brutality. On more than one occasion this boy is punished so severely he is bedridden from the trauma of his father’s beatings. This innocent child is often abused mercilessly without cause.
Fast forward and this boy enters adulthood and becomes a young man. In Vienna his mind begins to become self aware and is slowly shaped by his surroundings. Now after only 24 years of life he has come to a sharp realization. This young man, Adolf Hitler, came to truly believe that the Jews were the enemy and they needed to be eradicated from the planet. After years of enduring his own nightmare, he turns his example of retribution and justice on to millions of Jews.
Now under the pretense that there is no such thing as a moral absolute, how can anyone say that he is wrong? If there is no such thing as moral truth who are you to say what is good or bad? As you can plainly see no reasonable human can see the Holocaust and the carnage of World War II as anything other than a deep and ugly scar on all of humanity.
The very fabric of moral relativism falls to pieces when applied to such a horrific atrocity, so how is it still so widely accepted? In order to answer that I believe you start by asking another more abstract question. How does one eat an elephant?
…
A young girl is raised in a deeply religious Catholic home. She is taught from an early age that God is watching her and that He does not approve of sin. She loves her parents and wants to make them proud, but she doesn’t see things the same way they do. They are a part of a different generation and don’t understand how “things are” today. She is deeply in love with her boyfriend and plans to marry him after high school. So because she is in love she goes against God’s law and her parents demands and one day she gets the call from the doctor’s office.
She’s pregnant.
Out of fear she hides it from her parents knowing the shame and hurt it would cause them. She manages to hide her pregnancy from her teachers and family and carries the baby to term. She wakes up one morning; she is giving birth and she is terrified. She is so scared of her parents that she refuses to tell them in spite of the fact that she is about to have a baby. She can’t trust her friends and her boyfriend broke up with her 2 months before refusing to father the child. She’s completely alone and doesn’t know what to do.
She gives birth. She prays for forgiveness. She throws her baby in a dumpster.
The acceptance of Moral relativism is a lot like eating an elephant. It is swallowed one willful bite at a time. Slowly we begin to chip away at our foundation in the name of “convenience” and “tolerance” refusing to call things what they are because we are afraid to judge. There is a difference between passing judgment and standing for what is right.
The philosophy of convenience creates a new concept and brands it good simply because it is freely chosen. This is not morality; this is merely exercising every human’s ability to choose.
Returning to the issue at hand, does freely choosing to do something make it good or right? The answer must be no in order for there to be any order in this world. There must be a higher order of objective right and wrong or everything we do in the world of laws, rules and government is only a matter of taste and therefore of no meaningful value. If the world of right and wrong is controlled by popular opinion than what precludes us from an eventual state of anarchy?
…
A Tutsi man in southern Rwanda is watching his family while they prepare to flee the country as the Hutu militia approaches their village. He knows they don’t have much time and helps his wife dress their 5 year old son and pack some food for their journey. It’s too late, the Hutu’s have reached the village and opened fire on a neighboring house. The Rwandan genocide has begun.
The Tutsi man makes the decision.
He pushes his family out the back and grabs a machete. He fights off the Hutus long enough for his family to reach safety, but at the cost of his life. I met his son years later in South Africa; he retold this story with tears in his eyes and great pride as he shared this epic tale of his father’s great sacrifice. Is what that father did anything less than heroic? How can we say that without the existence of an objective moral order?
The path of discovering what is morally right and good is journey and I do not pretend to be the author but merely a harbinger. It is critical however the groundwork be laid in order to establish the reality that there must be objective moral truth or everything we believe is a matter of personal opinion. We as a people simply must depart from the cancerous ideology that truth is a matter of taste. When we chose to remove our own hands from our eyes then and only then will we begin to truly see.
This one’s for you Bob
