Below are a couple of paragraphs I wrote some time ago about the dilemma of man in general after the fall and without the Revelation of GOD.
The Dilemma of Mankind
Man is a self-conscious or rational being. He is aware of his existence. He is able to interact and communicate with other men. He recognizes something within himself that distinguishes him from other creatures. That something is his personhood. He is able to discern and perhaps contemplate that which he may call ‘good’, in a moral sense, in the world about him. He is also able to discern that which is less good even ‘evil’ in his world. [It must be recognized that there is a wide disparity between what might be termed ‘good’ and ‘evil’ among different cultural groups.]
It is a fact of history, it is a proven by man's own observations; death is the inevitable conclusion of all life, whether plant, animal, or mankind. Therefore, throughout time mankind has been faced with the inescapable knowledge of his own death. Insofar as man knows he is the only living being with the ability to reason about the past, the present, and the future, and to contemplate his own death. It is likely that rational mankind has throughout time pondered the question, why do all living things die? What is the cause and origin of Death? Where does man go to find the answer?
Faced with the inevitability of death mankind is then faced with a dilemma. If death is inevitable is the end of man’s existence as a person inevitable? Just as rational man has wrestled with the certainty of death he has likely wondered about the possibility of life after death. Philosophy has no answers. Science can only say that the ravages of disease and age take their toll on the natural ability of living cells to replicate themselves; death is the inevitable outcome of life. Is there an answer to man’s dilemma? Is the short time that man lives the sum total of his existence, other than the memories or offspring they leave behind?
If death is a mystery the possibility of existence after death is more so. Mankind in general must either accept that his existence as a person will end in death or he must speculate on the continuation of existence after death.
Man’s Response to His Dilemma
Unable to resolve the dilemma in which he finds himself mankind throughout history has, at least historically and by necessity, looked outside or beyond himself and speculated on the existence of supernatural, or in the least super human, beings for an answer to his dilemma. However, it must be conceded 1] that not all men are rational and 2] even the mind of rational man is corrupted by his nature.
What began as speculation, in time, developed into religion and subsequently worship. That man has turned to religion of some form or other is certainly verified by history. Historically man’s religion and worship has taken many forms. His gods are as varied as his imagination; ranging from the super humans of the Greco-Roman culture, to the grotesque forms of the Middle East, to nature itself. The worship of nature or the gods contained therein is perhaps the most common form of worship varying from animism among the more primitive peoples to the pantheism, often including a belief in reincarnation, of the Far East.
Modern man is not markedly different from ancient man, though his gods may be. He is certainly more elegant in defining his theology or lack thereof. Science and technology are popular modern gods. Evolution, a pseudo science, is also a popular god of the day though in reality many pagan religions espoused some primitive form of evolution. Humanism, the idea that man is sufficient unto himself and therefore claiming to be atheistic, is another currently popular god, very closely related to the gods of evolution, science, and technology. Environmentalism, a modern form of pantheism, is the god of many and appears to be rapidly gaining new adherents. Some, thinking themselves more learned or sophisticated, fall back to the position of agnosticism or ‘know nothing’. Strangely some of those who perceive themselves to be most learned and sophisticated have aligned themselves with the most unlearned and embraced the god of atheism. Yet modern man with all the advances that have been made in science, in medicine, in the quality of life, is still faced with the same dilemma that man has historically faced, the inevitability of death and the unknown that lies beyond.
raying:
