- Off The Grid News - https://www.offthegridnews.com -

Guilt in a godless society: Taxation and social obedience

Guilt exists because humans know the difference between right and wrong. Those who have no sense of guilt are labeled “sociopaths” in our society, because they are able to murder, maim, abuse, kidnap, steal and lie without any feelings of remorse or repentance. How do we inherently know the difference between right and wrong, and why do we feel guilt? The founding fathers of America had no doubts about these questions. They created legislative and judicial systems that follow biblical law — God’s explanation of right and wrong — in order to build, maintain and protect a great and free society.

It is impossible to refute the fact that the social/moral standards we abide by in the United States are based on the Bible, specifically the The Ten Commandments of the Old Testament, which include:

We use these standards to punish people who are “guilty” of crimes against society. All over America, our government buildings and monuments are etched with the Ten Commandments given to Moses by God. The Supreme Court building, the highest court in the land, holds numerous images of Moses holding the Ten Commandments. The Supreme Court courtroom entrance doors contain the Ten Commandments engraved on the lower portions of each door. The Ten Commandments are also engraved over the chair of the Chief Justice. All of these references are visible today because the founding fathers looked to the righteous laws of God as the foundation of a successful society. A very small minority of Americans are now fighting to erase any reference to God and to the laws that helped create our great and free nation. They would prefer to throw a blanket of guilt over our illustrious history and over all Americans. What good does it to do to invoke guilt without understanding why we feel it and when feeling it is justified?

Guilt and Christianity = Individual Responsibility

Christians believe that the ability to discern right from wrong comes directly from God. Guilt and true forgiveness (God’s, not the world’s) can only be settled through a relationship with God, which means following His rules, accepting His love through Jesus Christ, and offering true repentance. All of us are guilty of wrongdoing, because it is a part of our human nature since we, as humans at the beginning of time, decided we wanted to be our own gods. Our Creator loved us enough to give us free will, and we chose our love of self over God’s unending love for us. We separated ourselves from God. He has never separated Himself from us, proving that with the ultimate sacrifice — the death of his only son, Jesus Christ. In other words, God came to earth and let us kill him to prove that no matter what we do, if we believe in the reality of His sacrifice of love and ask forgiveness for our wrongdoing, we will redeem our relationship with our Creator and live with Him in all eternity. We cannot save ourselves. Only God can save us.

Each human being is responsible for his or her own moral standing in this life and in eternity. If you love God, you will obey his laws and confess your shortcomings — that is to say your “sins” (great or small) — with honesty, sincerity and repentance. You will move forward with the knowledge that you will be forgiven in this life and for all eternity if you strive to do the right things, not repeat the wrong things. You will — and should — encounter punishment for the wrong actions you take within the confines of moral and social laws on this earth, because:

Most importantly, you — and you alone — are responsible for the actions you take after you have paid the price for wrongdoing and have asked for forgiveness. If you start a wrong cycle all over again, then you must start your journey back to payment and forgiveness.

Guilt and Socialism = All Pay for Some

Socialists, on the other hand, who do not believe in God or adhere to any higher power above themselves, must turn to their own version of penance for any true relief of guilt: “Taxation.” Although our nation’s judicial system was built on the most logical and universally accepted standard of right and wrong, socialists would rather have you believe they can force people to be “good” and we can live in a redeemed society without the premise of God-inspired rules if we’ll just pay the monetary price. Sadly, in a socialist society, Godless people angrily and readily state that it is their fellow citizens who are guilty. Blame and guilt are shifted away from the individual, away from his or her relationship with God and the world (because there is no God), and onto the masses.

A thief robs a bank: “He had a bad childhood.” Society must pay.

A man goes on a rampage and kills his co-workers: “He was bullied.” Society must pay.

A politician is caught it a lie: “It’s just politics.” Society must pay.

As we continue to excuse the guilty, who refuse responsibility, and remove God and God-given standards of living from our society, sociopaths are fast becoming the leaders and heroes of our age in all areas: business, sports, entertainment, politics.

Even if we decide to throw out the notion that guilt is attached to the relationship between man and God, guilt will never disappear, because God will never disappear. Socialists cannot rid the world of guilt even as they try to rid themselves of God. They are on a futile mission to force all of society to look elsewhere for redemption.

Today, in the name of standing for “the greater good,” socialists have taken it upon themselves to turn personal guilt into guilt for the masses. Unlike Christianity, where the individual is responsible for his or her own wrongdoing, many socialists believe that guilt and the cause (imagined or otherwise) should be collective — shared by all. They feel it is their duty to purge the collective conscience by forcing everyone to pay — with money — for the real or imagined wrongdoing of individuals in the past, present and future. After all, if there is no God who wants a forgiving relationship with each and every person on earth, how can wrong be righted in the world? Today, socialists are applying a forced-penance ideology to all issues in American society:

Socialists wish to engage the guilt of all people to “pay” for whatever they deem wrong in society. They blame those who disagree with their philosophies for the ills of the world, and they do so with religious zeal.

Healthy debate and human respect have gone by the wayside, and they have been replaced with blame and name calling. The sad reality is that in trying to alleviate individual guilt, socialists use collective guilt as a means to an end. Taxation — their payment for social sins — results in the loss of freedom and leads to a one-world-order philosophy. But forced, collective guilt will only lead to more anger, more disillusionment, less prosperity, less peace and less personal happiness for all Americans.

Former U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Dr. Louis W. Sullivan talked about the state of American society in a lecture at Yale University in 1990. He pleaded for a revitalization of the “culture of character” and a return to “self-discipline, integrity, taking responsibility for one’s acts, respect for others, perseverance, moderation, and a commitment to serve others and the broader community.”

Americans who understand and honor the founding principles that made America great know the difference between right and wrong. We don’t need to be taxed into social obedience. We cannot be a successful nation of free people who love and serve others if we cannot be responsible individuals, who love and serve others. We must be allowed to give without being forced to give (which is not giving at all). We must be allowed to live without guilt served on a silver platter by government.

The Ten Cannots

Presbyterian Minister William J. H. Boetcker understood the consequences of socialism and the issue of misplaced guilt in 1916, when he explained in simple terms what guilt cannot do; it cannot replace logic, which comes from understanding the laws established by a loving and forgiving God. Understanding the origin of guilt is the only way to create true brotherhood of man.