God and His Law: Reveal Guilt and Shame

Justice–if we only knew what it was (Socrates).

The LORD is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love (Psalms 103:8).

 We all, at times, feel the emotional state of guilt and shame. This guilt and shame we feel when we break a moral law, at least tacitly, assume God and His fixed just law (Romans 1:18-27). In principle, an immutable moral obligation can only be justified by appealing to the immutable, sovereign, omnipotent, and good Lawgiver (an ontic foundation: what is). Man feels shame and guilt when he disobeys inasmuch as he has done this to a personal loving God. We know (epistemic: what we know) this through our conscience and God’s Word.  Accordingly, it appears obvious, prima facie, that anti-theism is not just to be rejected as a foundation for moral law, but it is unbearable. But one doesn’t have to rest on the unendurable; submit to the moral Lordship of God and conform to His Word. This is veracious since God is the self-existent, holy, and sovereign One who is the foundation of moral law and ethical principles.

Be perfect as your Heavenly Father is perfect (Jesus, Matthew 5:48)

Part of the magnificence of the Christian faith is the truth of God’s moral law, and its culminating expression and fulfillment in the Gospel. Jesus Christ died on the cross for His children and rose from the dead on the third day. Those, who trust in Jesus, have all their guilt and shame washed away. Yes, God’s law presses guilt on our soul, but God is a good and merciful God. Through the cross of Christ, He forgives our sins and gives us forensic (legal) and perfect righteousness in Jesus by grace alone. Christianity is the worldview that can account for guilt and shame, and is the only worldview that can forensically eliminate them. Christianity is the foundation for objective moral values and duties. And it provides the spiritual remedy for falling short of one’s duties through the vicarious atonement of Jesus Christ.

for more on Ontology and how to use it in Apologetics see my Ebook: Ontology: Studies in Christian Thought and Apologetic Applications HERE