On Truth and Falsity

                       The Dogmatism of the Skeptics

The skeptics use their own forms of logic and reason to reach conclusions that they believe to be true. When they do this, they contradict their own doctrine that everyone should suspend judgment as to what could be true or false. The skeptics make judgments. One cannot make judgments without some idea of what is true and false. They judge that human intellect happens to be incapable of reaching any conclusion as to what is real or unreal. Their dogmatic truth happens to be that human intellect and reasoning powers are pretty much useless, except for their own.

They also judge that any conclusion to which the dogmatists may reach by inquiry can only be impossible. They apply an impossible infinity test to any conclusions that the dogmatists logically come to. In order to judge anything as being impossible, one must have a true idea of the possible. Their dogmatic truth happens to be that the logic and reason of the dogmatists can only be impossible, but their own logical judgment that no one can ever tell the difference between truth and falsity has to be absolutely possible. The skeptics thus conclude that the possible is true and and the impossible is false. One wonders why the skeptics do not suspend judgment as to the truth and falsity of that belief.

The skeptics further conclude that the dogmatists cannot know the difference between truth and falsity because they all disagree with each other. But the skeptics ignore the fact that each dogmatist uses his own form of logic and reason to make inquiries as to what could be true or false. The dogmatists use systems of speculation and opinion that can be investigated to determine if any of their conclusions could be true or false. The dogmatists get most of their ideas wrong, but they still have the right to formulate systems of speculation and opinion by the use of their logic and reason. If the possible is true, as the skeptics admit, then it is quite possible that the dogmatist could get some of their ideas right. The ancient dogmatic philosophers got most of their conclusions wrong, but just the fact that they tried to advance human knowledge contributed to the advancement of civilization. Many scientists postulate theories that upon investigation later prove to be false but they should be commended for trying to discover the truth. Even false speculations prove to be useful for the discovery of truth because they all can be usefully discarded and put out of reality. The skeptics actually dogmatically assert that their own form of logic and reason should be the only one considered to be true, and all other forms of reason and logic should be considered absurd. A logical judgment that something is absurd means that one must consider the opposite forms of logic to be true.

The truth that the skeptics actually reach for themselves is that human logic and reason, except for their own, is pretty much useless, and that humans are really not much better than animals, and therefore, humans should adopt the amoral lifestyle of the animals. Human civilizations are pretty much based on philosophy, and so humans can thank God that the philosophy of the skeptics was never adopted by any and all civilizations because if it had been, then all human progress would have come to an abrupt halt.

On Truth and Falsity

                             Reality Cannot Be False


The skeptics admit that their bodies hunger for food and thirst for water so that they can stay alive. pb. OP p.92. Food and water are appearances, but they happen to be necessary to keep humans alive. The skeptics assert that all appearances could be false, but falsity always happens to be completely useless and equal to nothing unless humans add other ideas to false systems in order to make them useful. All this means that food and water cannot possibly be false or unreal because these have proven to be useful systems that keep humans alive. Since the systems of food and water can only be real, then all of the elements of food and water must also be real. When one reads a dictionary in any language, one finds that all of the words have meaning, even if they mean nothing, and therefore denote sense objects and thought objects that happen to be useful in the formulation of beneficial systems or false systems. That can only mean, by the use of inductive reasoning, that all sense objects and all thought objects experienced by consciousness must be true and real.

Some may counter with the argument that all appearances could be but an illusion, even if useful. They contend that human consciousness could exist in a kind of dream state. But a dream state of consciousness happens to be quite different from an awake state. Dreams often make little sense, and any type of thought object can unexpectedly appear in the dream state. That seldom happens in the awake state. When humans encounter systems that make little sense in the awake state, they often instigate investigations of those systems to find out why. Humans seldom do that in the dream state. Fantastic events can happen in the dream state. They seldom happen in the awake state.

In addition, if consciousness produces appearances that are all mere illusions, one would still undeniably have to admit that consciousness produces them. Even if consciousness produces only false appearances, consciousness can nevertheless use those appearances to formulate beneficial or false systems. But since all illusions have proven to be useless and false except when humans can add ideas to them to make them useful, then such a consciousness could never produce beneficial systems. Even false systems have proven to be beneficial because they can be usefully discarded and put out of reality. All of this means that a consciousness that produces only falsity could never produce any beneficial systems. If consciousness produced only false sense objects and thought objects that it could nevertheless use to formulate beneficial and false systems, and all falsity became useless within those systems, and no means could be found to discover that all appearances were false, then that illusory reality would be indistinguishable from reality itself. Consciousness is a basic, irreducible system that produces the full spectrum of reality. Consciousness has to be a true system. If consciousness were a false system, it would be useless and would produce nothing at all. In other words, consciousness has to exist in order for reality to exist. If consciousness did not exist, only an absolute nothingness would non-exist. That fact can only mean that an Infinite Consciousness must exist in order to create an eternal reality. Genesis 1:1 (KJB).

On Truth and Falsity

                 The Skeptics Cannot Avoid Reality

The skeptics admit they they can use their minds to establish a system that allows them to use their idea of nothing to exclude from their systems all judgments as to whether or not any of their appearances are real or not real. They do not mean that their idea of nothing can negate appearances; they only mean that their idea of nothing gives them the ability to consider all their appearances as being equal to nothing as far as their suspension of judgment is concerned. pb. OP ps. 74-75.

But when the skeptic asserts that he can use his mind that possesses the idea of nothing that he can use to make his suspension of judgment about the reality or unreality of his appearances, he has actually established a system that works to produce a result. He admits that his mind, by its use of his idea of nothing, can formulate a system that actually produces a result, even if that result is false. In other words, he admits that his mind and his idea of nothing can be used to formulate a system that produces a result which means that his mind and his idea of nothing have to be real because if they were not real, they would be useless. Even in the skeptical philosophy, the skeptic cannot avoid the fact that the powers of human reason can formulate systems by the use of its sense objects and thought objects that produce results even if those results are false. The usefulness of the mind and all of its sense objects and thought objects can only be real.

The skeptics also claim that for every argument that the dogmatists make for the reality of appearances, the skeptic can devise an equal argument that appearances cannot be real. pb. OP ps. 75-79. But the skeptics ignore the fact that the dogmatists attempt to formulate appearances into systems that benefit their fellow humans, even it only by an increase in knowledge. The dogmatists can also formulate systems that prove to be useless and false, but in either case, the dogmatists formulate systems that really and undeniably produces results. Because the dogmatists can formulate systems that produce real results, whether true or false, then the elements of those systems; that is, the appearances, must themselves prove to be useful, and therefore, true and real. Otherwise, the appearances themselves would be useless, and no systems of any kind could be formed from them.

One of the mistakes the skeptics make is that they can easily formulate systems that can demonstrate that appearances could be untrue when they ignore the usefulness of systems of appearances. Appearances, considered by themselves, could be true or false if they are not used in any way. Sextus Empiricus was a physician, but apparently, he ignored the fact that when he mixed the elements of his medicines together and gave a medicine to a patient and that patient recovered from his sickness, then that fact had to mean that his system of medicine helped his patient to really recover, and therefore, every element of his medicine had to be true and real.

The skeptics also assert that if any system of appearances should prove to be useless or simply a matter of speculation or opinion, then that fact would also prove that the elements of those systems could also be useless and untrue. But they ignore the fact that the ability of the mind to use its appearances to formulate any system, whether true or false or speculative, proves that the mind and all of its appearances have to be true and real. If the mind and all of its appearances actually existed in a state between truth and falsity, then even if appearances existed at all, they could only exist in a state of complete chaos and uselessness.

On Truth and Falsity

                          How Consciousness Works

While the skeptics contend that no one can tell the difference between truth and falsity in appearances, they do admit that humans have appearances. Since appearances cannot be denied, the question arises as to what do appearances appear? Appearances are moving pictures in the world, but how did they get there? The only possible answer is that consciousness produces them. This fact can only mean that consciousness has to be the active agent capable of producing pictures in the world. Consciousness can produce its appearances even if they all are false. Consciousness can really produce pictures that cannot be denied, and that can only mean that consciousness has to be real. The empiricists assert that humans can only learn from experience. Consciousness also holds the power to produce abstract pictures within consciousness. If consciousness happens to be the only power capable of producing pictures of sense objects and pictures of thought objects, then consciousness has experienced them all.

Human consciousness also possesses intelligence. By its use of intelligence, consciousness can make sense of its moving pictures whether of those in the world or those abstracted from the world which reside as ideas in consciousness. Intelligence holds the power to form its sense objects and thought objects into words and those words into systems, such as sentences, so that intelligence can communicate with other humans and can formulate systems that benefit one's fellow humans. Intelligence could abstract ideas from sense appearances and form a system called a "wheel," and then turn that "wheel" into a sense object that benefits human transportation. Intelligence could abstract ideas from pieces of rare medals and turn those ideas into a system of "numbers" in money that would benefit human commerce. Since consciousness possesses the undeniable ability to use its intelligence to form beneficial systems, then those systems would also have to be real. But how could they be real if formed from sense objects and thought objects that could be false, assuming that falsity means whatever is useless? When the skeptics asserted that no one can tell the difference between truth and falsity in appearances, did not they mean that the true would be useful and the false would be useless? If human intelligence can form useful systems from all of its sense objects and thought objects, then all of its appearances and ideas would have to be real since they all are useful.

But human intelligence can also form systems that are useless or even harmful, such as lies. This means that intelligence can form the idea of falsity. But where does falsity appear to consciousness? When intelligence examines all of its false systems, it finds that all false systems comprise those same useful sense objects and thought objects that have proven to be useful in  the formation of useful systems. That fact can only mean that falsity always resides in the false combinations of true and real objects and ideas and never in the objects and ideas themselves. But that also means that falsity never directly appears to consciousness. So how did human intelligence ever get the idea that a system could be false? Humans noticed that some systems meant nothing or were even harmful to humans. For those reasons, humans called those systems false. But in order to realize this fact, humans used the true and real idea of nothing to make those determinations. Human intelligence had to realize that false systems mean nothing because they all are either useless or harmful to humans. But this knowledge of falsity also proves to be useful to human reality because false systems can be usefully discarded.

Even so, many systems in human knowledge happen to be systems of speculation or opinion which humans must investigate to discover whether they are true or false. But these systems also always comprise true and real objects and ideas. When humans discover that one of these systems is true and real, then that benefits as an increase in human knowledge. When humans discover that one of these systems is false, then that system can be usefully discarded. But some humans use false systems that harm others because of their own evil systems in their minds, or because they believe that through the use of harmful systems they can somehow, someday come to better systems.

The falsity that never directly appears to consciousness has to be the same as unreality. So how did consciousness ever obtain the indirect concept of unreality if it can only experience the true and the real? Consciousness obtained that indirect concept by the use of the real and useful idea of nothing. But how could consciousness use the idea of nothing since it too never directly appears to consciousness? The only possible answer has to be that both the indirect concept of unreality and the inexperienced idea of nothing had to have been given to human consciousness by an Infinite Consciousness because without those two concepts, humans would never be able to know reality because in order to know reality, humans must know how to recognize the true and real and eliminate the false.

On Truth and Falsity

                               How Reality Works

Certain truths which become known through intuition to be true, have to be true simply because they cannot be false. These are called a priori truths. The skeptics would argue that a priori truths cannot be true unless they are tested to infinity. "The shortest distance between two points is a straight line" happens to be a system considered to be an a priori truth. But the skeptics would contend that in order to prove that this system is true, one would have to gather an infinite number of examples of this system and compare them to know for certain that this system is true.

But if this infinite test has already been made because all a priori truths reside in an Infinite Mind, then one can be certain that this system can only be an a priori truth. Psalm 147:5 (KJB). Even so, God would never inform humans that a priori truths must be real because He has put them to an infinite test. If God did that, He would also have to prove that an Infinite Mind exists. God does not desire to prove His existence because to do so would mean He would have to abrogate the free will He has given to humans. Humans would be compelled to believe in Him, and that fact would leave the value of His great Love unproven. In this fallen world, God desires that every human freely choose to believe in Him and love Him because that happens to be the only way that God's great Love can be proven to be true and real for every human. Only freely chosen love can be real love. Only through the freely chosen love of all humans for God can He overpower and purge all evil from His creations. John 12:47; II Peter 3:9-13. God proved His infinite Love for humanity when He sacrificed Himself to save all of humanity, but that proof can only become real for humanity when all humans come to a time when they freely choose to believe in His great Love and sacrifice for them. God cannot purge all evil from His creation until that happens. John 12:31-32; Luke 3:6 (KJB).

God created humans to possess consciousness, self-consciousness, intelligence, a conscience, free will, and goodness. Genesis 1:27; Genesis 1:31 (KJB). Humans can be conscious of their stream of consciousness which constitutes all of their sense objects and thought objects. This is also self-consciousness. Humans also possess intelligence which means they can manipulate their sense objects and thought objects to create useful systems that benefit themselves and the rest of humanity. This desire and ability to create good systems constitutes the goodness that God puts into every human He creates. But because of their fallen nature, humans can also use these same sense objects and thought objects to invent false systems of "excessive pleasure" and "excessive pride" called sin and evil which prove to be harmful to themselves and others. But God also gave humans a conscience that tells them that those false systems are harmful and wrong, especially when a person deliberately commits a cruel and evil act. "Pleasure" is a perfectly good sense object, and "pride" is a perfectly good thought object when used in creative systems, but they can be misused. Sin and evil happen to be a misuse of God's good sense objects and thought objects for the invention of false systems. Humans also possess free will by means of which they can freely choose to create good and useful systems or sinful and evil systems. But God has proven that His infinite Love for humanity can only be real when He sacrificed Himself to save humanity from the eternal, negative effects of sin and evil. God desires that all humans freely choose to return to faith in His infinite Love that can never fail. I Corinthians 13:8 (KJB). God can never lose anything He has ever created. Ecclesiastes 3:14 (KJB). For these reasons, God knows exactly how to cause every human to freely choose to reject all sin and evil and return to faith in His great Love which will forever prove that His infinite Love can never fail. Only then will God be able to purge all sin and evil from His entire creation and recreate it all to be righteous. II Peter 3:9-13; Revelation 21:5 (KJB).

How then does God inform humans that all of their sense objects and thought objects can only be true and real? Since God cannot inform humans that He has put them all to an infinite test, then He must inform them through intuitive knowledge of a priori truths. God lets humans know that a priori truths must be true and real simply because it is impossible that they can be false. All mathematical knowledge and all formal logic fits into this category. But for the sake of free will, God also allowed humans to have some doubt as to whether or not all other sense objects and thought objects could be true and real. This fact allowed the skeptics to form their doubtful systems of philosophy. But humans should realize that all of the basic, irreducible elements of their consciousness must be true and real simply because they cannot be false. The basic and irreducible idea of a "circle" constitutes the complete spectrum of all sizes of circles. The basic and irreducible idea of "hard" constitutes the full spectrum of all sense objects that possess some hardness. The basic and irreducible idea of "justice" constitutes the full spectrum of all systems that claim to be just and fair. The same can only be true of all the basic, irreducible ideas that God has given to human knowledge. When human consciousness blends all of the complete spectrums of all the basic and irreducible ideas together, that constitutes the true and real nature of reality.

On Truth and Falsity

                               The Reality of Causation

The skeptics believe that if any person desires to get their philosophy right, then those persons should adopt the skeptics philosophy that no one can discern the difference between truth and falsity in their appearances. This means that the skeptics believe that all appearances could be but mere illusions. But if the skeptics would examine their sense objects and thought objects more closely, they would observe that illusions, by themselves, always prove to be useless. Humans can add or subtract other ideas to systems of illusion to make them useful but, by themselves, illusions are always useless or even harmful. On the other hand, humans possess the mental power to use sense objects and thought objects to create systems that prove to be beneficial to their fellow humans. Humans can also use these same sense objects and thought objects to invent false systems, such as lies, that always prove to be useless or even harmful to their fellow humans. One would think that since humans possess the ability to formulate sense objects, such as machines, and thought objects, such as abstract mathematical formulas, into useful and beneficial systems, then both the objects used and the beneficial systems created would both be true and real. One would also think that since illusions always prove to be useless or harmful, then all basic sense objects and thought objects and their useful systems would have to be true and real. One would also think that since humans can also formulate false systems with the use of real and true sense objects, such as machines that do not work, and real and true thought objects, such as lies, then that fact would prove to humans that falsity never appears in reality, but only occurs as the result of false systems comprised of true and real objects. Falsity never directly appears to the human mind. Humans always use the true and real idea of nothing to indirectly indicate the non-appearance of falsity which, in turn, indicates that false systems should be usefully discarded. This fact means that every sense object and every thought object that humans can experience has proven to be useful in some way, and therefore, true and real.

The skeptics attack the idea of causation as being a proof that appearances can be true and real. The dogmatists used the idea of cause and effect to try to prove that appearances can be real. But the skeptics counter the dogmatists' arguments with the contention that causes are never directly observed, that the dogmatists disagree with each other about what causation could be, and since one cause would need another cause to explain it and still another cause to explain that cause reaching toward infinity, then no one can know that causes can be true and real. pb. OP ps.68-70. The skeptic, David Hume, adopted the idea that causes are never directly observed with his theory of association. Hume opined that one never observes one thing causing another. One can only observe two or more events happening repeatedly at the same time, but which may not happen the same way in the future. Just because the sun comes up every morning does not mean that it will come up tomorrow morning. Hume believed that inductive reasoning can fail. But inductive reasoning never fails if a particular system that repeats itself never changes. If the sun does not come up in the morning that will happen because the system of gravity that holds the earth in orbit around the sun became weaker and the earth flew off into space, or the sun exploded, or some other drastic change occurred in the repeated system. Inductive reasoning, within an unchanged system, never fails, but changes within an inductive system can cause it to seem to fail. If a scientist obtains a different result from an experiment that always produces the same result, he will immediately investigate to find out what changed in his system that produced the different result.

In addition, causes can be indirectly observed. Hume contended that if a person pushes a book across a table to a friend, that person never observes the cause of the motion. That person only observes his fingers in contact with the book with both in motion across the table. But one knows by experience that a book lying on a table will always remain that way until its system changes. In other words, sense objects have inertia. When one applies one's fingers to push the book, one feels the pressure of the weight of the book against one's fingers. In this way, one establishes a system where one experiences the weight of the book by a needed pressure on one's fingers which has to be the same as the force needed to move the book across the table. One can therefore establish a valid logical system that pressure means force which, in turn, causes the movement of a book with the use of the fingers. One can also logically assume that force can cause motion in any sense object even though one never directly observes the force or the cause itself.

If both force and cause are true and real elements of reality, then how did they become real? The skeptics argue that one can never know that they are real because one cause needs to be proven to be real by another cause and still another toward infinity, and this infinite test happens to be impossible for humans to do. But all sense objects and thought objects could have already been proven to be true and real by an infinite test applied by an Infinite Consciousness. But admittedly, that infinite test of reality would require faith and not direct knowledge.

On Truth and Falsity

                                 A Proof of Reality

The skeptics base some of their arguments on the fallacy of circular reasoning. Circular reasoning means that a person assumes something to be true, and then they try to prove that truth by the same assumption. The skeptics argue that sense objects cannot prove that thought objects are real, and thought objects cannot prove that sense objects are real because both themselves have not been proven to be real. They contend that in order to be true and real both sense objects and thought objects must be tested to infinity to prove that they are true and real. Since that test happens to be impossible for humans to do, then every person should suspend all judgment as to the truth of reality itself. pb. OP ps.63-67. Circular reasoning is always false because it happens to be always useless. But in the broad sense, circular reasoning can be valid because all that humans discover to be true can only be described in terms of that which is already known. When scientists discovered atoms to be real, they could only describe them in mathematical and geometric terms already known.

The skeptics contend that one must suspend all judgment as to what is true and real because all of reality could be just an illusion. But reality cannot be an illusion because all illusions prove themselves to be useless except when humans attach real ideas to them in order to make them useful. Fiction writers and magicians regularly attach the idea of "entertainment" to their illusions in order to create useful systems. The police regularly lie to criminals holding hostages because the police attach the idea of "rescue" to that illusion in order to make it into a useful system in their attempt to rescue the hostages from possible harm. All sense objects and all thought objects prove themselves to be true and real because humans can use them all to invent useful systems that benefit humanity. Reality is always creative. Illusions are usually useless. All useful systems always comprise true and real sense objects and/or thought objects, but illusions also always comprise true and real sense objects and/or thought objects.

Humans observe sense objects and thought objects in a stream of consciousness. But intelligence happens because humans can be conscious of their stream of consciousness and can therefore manipulate their objects in order to invent systems that prove to be useful and real or useless and false. But since no one can say anything of which one is not conscious, then one must realize that in order to be conscious of one's stream of consciousness then one needs a consciousness of one's consciousness of one's stream of consciousness. But this process requires still another consciousness which proceeds toward infinity. This procession of consciousness toward infinity could be called the spirit of the human being. The skeptics applied the infinity test for the establishment of reality to the sense and thought objects, but the infinity test that establishes reality should be applied to human consciousness. However, human consciousness happens to be far to weak and limited to be able to carry this process to infinity.

In order for time and space to exist, at least limited consciousness must exist, which being always in the present divides the universe into the past, present, and future. If a consciousless universe existed prior to the advent of human consciousness, then that universe could only perpetually be a singularity, completely devoid of space and time. Consciousness has to exist in order for space and time to exist. This fact can only mean that an Infinite Consciousness has to exist who expanded a singularity to create a universe with space and time. This Infinite Consciousness would have to possess an Infinite Existence and an Infinite Presence. This Infinite Consciousness created humans in His image which means He gave humans intelligence, a conscience, and a direct connection of the limited spirit of humans to His Infinite Consciousness. Genesis 1:27 (KJB). This can only mean that God calibrated human consciousness to be conscious of the reality of all of its sense objects and thought objects.

On Truth and Falsity

                       On Systems of Morals and Ethics

The skeptics contend, even to this day, that because different ethnic groups and races practice different systems of morals and customs, then all customs and morals must be equal, and therefore, no one can judge the truth about what is good and what is evil. They ridicule the dogmatists for even attempting to speculate about what could be good morals and what could be bad morals. Because they believe that goodness and evil are equal to each other, and therefore, do not exist, they ridiculed Democritus for his theory of atoms as also being something that they thought cannot exist. But Democritus only sought to enlarge human knowledge about hidden things which would also have the effect of helping humans to discover the truth about hidden morals. Democritus had the last laugh on the skeptics when science discovered that atoms do exist. The difference between good and bad morals can also be hidden within human consciousness. But the good dogmatists attempt to discover and reveal the truth that good morals and bad morals actually exists. pb. OP ps.59-63.

The Bible (KJB) informs that when God created humans He gave them a conscience in their consciousness so that when evil came into their existence, they would be able to discover the difference between good morals acts and evil acts. Genesis 1:27; Genesis 2:17 (KJB). But evil proved to have such a powerful influence on the human conscience that many people began to practice immoral acts as if no difference existed between good and evil. Romans 19-32 (KJB). But God also exerted His influence in human history to keep alive among some people the knowledge of Him and His goodness that He puts into humans when He creates them. At the time of the worldwide flood, God had only one man, Noah, and his family who retained their knowledge that a decided difference exists between good systems and evil systems.

The entire history of the human race demonstrates that God has used His influence on the goodness that He puts into the inner beings of every human to cause certain humans to search the consciousness of humanity to try to discover the difference between good and evil. God gave Israel His prophets for that purpose. God caused the influence of His written Word and Christianity on Western civilization that elevated it to a much higher degree of the knowledge of the difference between good and evil. Many leaders and groups of people have practiced very cruel and evil acts, but among the general population, the knowledge of the difference between good and evil has been much better than that among the other peoples of the world. Western civilization has caused progress in the entire world toward better systems of morality over immorality. Such evils as slavery, human sacrifice, and ignorance have been eliminated from much of the world through the influence of Western civilization. Western civilization has established many good systems such as hospitals, better systems of education, and better systems of justice. Sadly though, war has not been eliminated from Western civilization. Western civilization has even progressed to the establishment of free societies where every individual has equal value and can be free in his conscience to think and express whatever he believes, and can do whatever he pleases as long as he obeys the law. But within the last 200 years, certain atheistic philosophers have influenced the world to return to such evil systems as cruelty, tyranny, and control of the human mind.

Even before God called the Apostle Paul to bring the gospel to Western civilization, God had raised up certain dogmatic philosophers to search the human conscience to try to find the difference between goodness and evil. Acts 16:6-11 (KJB). The ancient Greeks and Romans had a natural inclination toward systems of curiosity and wonder as the Apostle Paul discovered when he visited Athens. Acts 17:18-34 (KJB). Socrates, by his use of his dialectical method, sought to elicit truth and eliminate falsity from the human conscience. By the use of his method, Socrates arrived at the conclusion that certain persons had a talent for being virtuous whereas most people did not. In other words, Socrates realized that certain persons were better at listening to their conscience which told them the difference between morality and immorality. Many of the ancient philosophers seemed to have that same talent. Western civilization seemed to already be able to make some progress toward better societies even before Christianity arrived.

The skeptics unwittingly admitted that the Greek and Roman civilizations had attained a higher degree of moral conscience when they wrote that they had proscribed such evils as incest, adultery, and human sacrifice that was openly practiced by other ethnic groups. Perhaps, because of their higher moral standards, God sent His gospel to Western civilization because those people were far more likely to receive its faith and its excellent moral standards than other peoples of the world. The fact that God has used Western civilization to progress the world toward better systems of morality provides evidence that a difference between moral systems and immoral systems actually exists.