Isaiah's Logical Reasoning Rings True After Thousands of Years

At first glance, a few words offered by the prophet Isaiah don't seem to carry very much philosophical weight, even though he challenges his readers to reason:

 “Come now, and let us reason together.” (Isaiah 1.18).
 
The few words that he penned on the subject of moral reason, however, have far-reaching implications and underscore some serious challenges that atheist philosophers struggle with to this day, and have yet to overcome. When Isaiah stated, “Though your sins be as scarlet,” he was stating a premise that can be explained within a completely logical context in accordance with a logical worldview. By contrast, no secular atheists to date have been able to adequately offer a logical and reliable basis for human ethics and human morality that will not ultimately lead to a very cold and very brutal society. The fact is, the world is quickly becoming a more brutal and corrupt place. I'd offer that the human condition and human society today are worsening mainly due to the rejection of basic Christian principles and ethics that had been prominent for approximately 2000 years. A number of points outline how post-Christian society is becoming more and more twisted. Contrary to a popular myth, the crime rate is increasing today when undocumented government crimes and widespread white collar crimes are taken into account. Let's consider the wisdom of Isaiah in contrast to alternative secular positions. 

In terms of secular ethics, atheist Sam Harris took pains to write a lengthy book offering that "human flourishing" formed a rational basis for objective secular moral codes. However, not only were a large number of theists able to lay waste to his theory, even fellow atheist apologists ripped into it and pointed out obvious logical problems with his theory. One of those critics of Harris, PZ Myers, has offered his own proposition that secular "objective moral tools" exist, though we have yet to see specifically what these are and how they supposedly work.
 
And then there is Peter Singer of Princeton University, who has offered that secular consequentialism and preference utilitarianism provide a rational basis for secular moral codes and can morally justify such things as infanticide and bestiality. WL Craig has aptly pointed out that moral consequentialism is unreliable because no human being can adequately anticipate the near or far-term consequences of human actions (whether extremely controversial or not). Matthew Flannagan has outlined why the implications of Singer's positions can be used to underscore the superiority of theist moral arguments. 

If God does not exist, then only open-ended relativist and subjective moral codes are actually possible, that are quite dangerous towards any humane and caring civilization. If God does exist however, not only is there an objective basis for assessing moral codes, there is also the possibility of a much higher standard of ethics and a much more caring sense of humanity. The secular ethicist, Peter Singer refers to God's existence as "religious mumbo jumbo", but I'm quite certain that Singer would lose a debate with the most successful debater of our time, theist William Lane Craig, who basically defeats all his atheist opponents. Singer's theories are dehumanizing in that they place humans and animals on an equal platform regarding equal rights.

If objective morality does in fact exist, as based ultimately on God's unchanging, holy and good nature, then every kind of sin can be understood as extreme and offensive in comparison to God's good character and holy nature. So Isaiah was and is still right to point out that the sins of each and every one of us are as a scarlet stain that cannot be washed away.

By the same token that all of our sins are extreme in comparison to God's nature, God has the ability to atone for all of our sins in an extreme manner and provide total purity and righteousness through Christ. Isaiah foretold the coming of Christ in a number of different quotes. And in this passage Isaiah foretells the full propitiation and full atonement offered by Christ that makes us morally “white as snow” before God the Father.

What popular atheists today cannot explain or account for, but try to anyway, Isaiah outlined thousands of years ago in a logically cohesive summary.

Why Christ is the Only Logical Solution for the Human Condition

1. If God does not exist, then there is no objective basis for human morality.

2. Some prominent secular atheists continue to believe that objective morality exists, even though they cannot logically account for it.
3. Other prominent secular atheists offer up a counter-intuitive subjective ethic that is dehumanizing.

4. If God does exist, then objective morality is logically framed based on God's eternal good nature.

5. If God does exist, then the ethical bar is raised and the high moral standard allows for greater peace and civility in society.

6. If God does exist, then only a total atonement for sin would allow our close communion with God.

7. Christ is the only figure in history that has offered total atonement for sin as a remedy for the human condition and complete wholeness.

8. Due to 1-6, only Christ can be considered as the logical answer to the human condition.
9. Therefore, Christ should be considered as the logical answer to the human condition.

  

Why People Need God

1. We are all flawed, broken and inclined towards offending God and other people.
2. We all ultimately need forgiveness, moral reconciliation and wholeness.
3. Only God can offer the forgiveness, moral reconciliation and wholeness that we need.
4. Therefore, all people ultimately need God.

New age religions cannot offer an adequate solution for the human condition. An abstract divine force cannot provide forgiveness, atonement or complete wholeness. God has incorporated the elements of free will, sin, grace, forgiveness and redemption into an amazing tapestry of historic and eternal proportions in which God's grace is framed as the central feature. There is a true reason for the "joy unspeakable" outlined in scripture.

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