How does social conditioning affect the law written on every heart?

This text is from a transcript of a talk by David Gooding, entitled ‘God’s Power for Salvation’ (2005).

It is a very valid, practical question. Paul makes the point in Romans 2 that when pagans do by nature the things that are written in God's revealed law (revealed on Mount Sinai and in what follows), they show that they have a law written on their hearts; meaning that though they do not have the special revelation of the word of God, of the Bible, and the Old Testament in particular, yet there is a law written on their hearts (see Romans 2:14–15).

There are certain things that man qua man—human beings—know, whether they admit it or not. One is that there is a God, a creator. You will find it everywhere through the world. Hindus believe that behind everything is what they call 'The One'. Aristotle, the Greek, believed it. Buddhists believe it. They have some funny notions of what 'the one' is like, that's true to say, but yes, they do believe there is 'the one'. Missionaries from Africa report that many tribes likewise, while they don't worship 'the one', the supreme God, they know of his existence. They worship the demons, ancestors and all sorts of things, but if pressed will confess that they know about 'the one', though they don't worship him. And some of them will say, 'But he went away because he was displeased with us.'

So, yes, there is a knowledge of the Creator, an awareness of the Creator, inbuilt into the human heart. And in addition, people know certain things. They know it is not right to speak lightly of God—to blaspheme him, though they carry on and do it of course, and that's why they think it's funny at times. Laughing and joking can be an expression of your inner awareness that you have transgressed some boundary. That is why blasphemy (increasingly so on BBC Radio 4) is greeted with howls of laughter. It wouldn't be a joke, would it, if it weren't forbidden?

Then we are aware that it is not right to kill innocent life. There isn't a tribe on earth that says it's okay for a man to steal another man's wife without his permission. There is a universal law that it is wrong to tell a lie in order to get somebody else into trouble, or condemned in court. And the man who would do it himself would be highly indignant if he were accused in court and somebody told a lie and got him condemned. He would be very angry about that. They show in their hearts that they know it is wrong to lie, particularly to get somebody else into trouble. 'You shall not bear false witness' (Exodus 20:16). And there are other things like it. There are things written on the heart.

That is not the same as conscience. Conscience is the mechanism that can then warn us if we are about to do one of these forbidden things. And if we do those things, conscience makes us aware that we've done them and gives us what we call 'a guilty conscience.' The law is not written on the conscience; the law is written on the heart. The conscience is the warning system inside us.

Now this question says, 'How does social conditioning affect the law written on every heart?' Well it depends who does the social conditioning, of course. In Israel, there were a lot of further laws brought in from time to time by God to work out the details. There were these basic principles; now, how do they work out in detail? So you shall not take innocent life; yes, but what about this situation? A man builds a house with a flat roof, and somebody goes upstairs, and he falls over the other side. Is it the owner's fault? 'Well, wait a minute,' says the law. 'He should have put a parapet around it, so that people wouldn't fall over easily; and if he doesn't then he's guilty' (see Deuternomy 22:8). This is a particular application.

You shall not harm your neighbour. That is perfectly true. You shan't do anything that would be likely to harm your neighbour. Yes, we see there's a point in that too. Driving a car at excess speed would harm my neighbour because it could be dangerous driving. How would I know when I've reached the point of dangerous driving? Well, the government says, 'We're going to pass law for that.' Now, here is social conditioning for you. 'We'll say beyond 30 mph in a built-up area is the point at which you would be driving dangerously.' In other countries it's a different number, but never mind; this is a law brought in from the basic principle. So, one: 'You shall not harm your neighbour'. Two: 'You shall not do anything that is liable to harm your neighbour.' And three: 'You shall have a regulation to point it out at what point we think it would become liable to harm your neighbour if you weren't careful.'

So social conditioning can be a method of working out the implications in daily, practical life of that deep, written law. But social conditioning can be otherwise. 'You shall not kill your neighbour,' says the Old Testament. 'You shall not kill an innocent man.' In some places they not only kill them, they cook them and eat them. And in their social conditioning it is thought it is right to do it, though I am told they go through all sorts of funny rituals when they do it because deep down in them there is a conscience that this could be wrong. But social conditioning says it's okay to eat your enemy. That is social conditioning going plain straight in denial of the law written upon the heart. And when modern theorists say that all values, all ethics, are socially conditioned and there are no absolute values, they are denying what we all know in our hearts, actually. And if you doubt it, you might want to steal £10,000 from them and see what they say? 'Hey, you, I shall prosecute you!'

'Oh no, you see there are no absolute values. In my social conditioning it's okay to steal from you.'

They don't act it out; they don't live by it.