”Don’t Turn Off the Light!”
By Pastor Ron Buxton
The young man should have listened to his conscience, and not have left his apartment that day. His conscience had been shouting “NO!” However, his foolish resolve would not be changed. And that foolish resolve–to violate his conscience–would make him a source of public ridicule later.
It all went down in Virginia Beach, and the following account is a true story. The location was Jefferson State Bank, and the 19 year old robber was named Charles Robertson. Like I said above, Robertson should have listened to his conscience. I’ll now explain why.
He approached the bank teller with a pistol in one hand, and a threatening note in the other. Without saying a word, he promptly slid that note towards the teller. She gasped, and then quietly filled a bag with money. At this point, Robertson’s heart raced. He knew that the cops were coming!
And flee, he did…except…that he had forgotten something inside the bank: his note. Fearing that his hand-writing would give him away, Robertson ran back inside. The note was still on the counter. Grabbing that piece of paper, he fled out of the bank again towards his getaway car…except…there was another problem!
He had forgotten the car keys inside the bank! Now–he could hear the sirens of the police cars! No chance to go back the third time! Instead, he ran through several alley ways to get back to his apartment. Safe at last! Or, so he thought….except…his roommate asked for the keys to his car that Robertson had just borrowed! And so, Robertson told him that the car had been stolen! Wrong answer! The cops were quickly called to report the stolen car. And when they arrived, Robertson—now totally exasperated—just turned himself in! He should have just listened to his conscience!
Human conscience is not explainable by a materialistic and secular worldview. Frankly, if all that we are can be described as being a “molecular machine”—or as some kind of a “moist robot”—that begs the question: Why do we all have some kind of “internal umpire” that tells us right from wrong? And how can mere chemicals—that have gone through a random process of unguided evolution—produce such a phenomena universally agreed upon? This presents a great problem to those who reject the concept of God.
I submit to you that all of mankind is without excuse. What I just mentioned about the human conscience is clearly explained in Romans chapter two, verses 14 and 15. Thus, this “internal umpire” (which the Bible also refers to as a “light” in many passages like John 1:3-5) is a self-evident truth.
Atheism does nothing to restrain our darker impulses. Sadly, as our society continues to distance itself away from God–it will grow even darker. Folks—don’t turn off the “Light”! Jesus declared: “I am the Light of the world. Whoever follows Me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life!” (John 8:12)
