We all have one and they are all different. It’s that internal place in each one of us that tells us and decides what is right, what is wrong, what is good and what is bad. It’s created in us by the time and place we are born, our environment, our teachers, our parents, our education, all of our experiences and situations, ultimately, it’s who we are at our deepest level. It’s our core. It’s our conscience. It’s our soul.
This moral adjuster that guides and forms us through life decides who we will become, how we treat others, and how, when, and if, we will cheat, steal, lie, con, and more, in other words if we will do actual sin…and when we do, if we will have a conscience about doing so.
Some have moral adjusters that consider it okay to cheat, but would not kill. Some would steal, but would not cheat. Others deem it okay to lie under certain circumstances, but not others. Some think that if they attend church regularly all is well even if they bring the person that they are cheating on with another to church with them.
Some moral adjusters decide that if no one knows or catches them in their indiscretions then it’s okay. If they got away with it then it doesn’t count or matter. Justification is one powerful tool of the moral adjuster. I have known some who attend church regularly, but in their lives commit adultery and lie and cheat in their business practices, but they seem to think that their image of being a church goer makes everything just fine. That is how their particular moral adjuster justifies their behaviors. The moral adjuster is internal but is reflected externally in every action that we make.
Our individual moral adjuster has the ability and can make all things relative to circumstances and needs. That what’s right for one can be wrong for another. Some moral adjusters allow for ‘live as I tell you to, not as I do’.
Some can make good, evil and evil become good. It becomes just a matter of degree, need, want, goals, agenda, and circumstance… justification.
As Bill Clinton stated, “It depends what your definition of ‘is’ .. is… “
Those without conscience… with a corrupted moral adjuster or those who don’t listen to their moral adjuster or whom are even without a moral adjuster can be truly monsters of destruction to others.
No moral adjuster is ‘perfect’, or right all the time, except, of course, Jesus Christ, to which some moral adjusters do aspire to…
We were given guidelines to follow to have a ‘good’ life and to create a ‘good’ society…
The Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:2-17 NKJV)
1 “I am the Lord your God,
who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall
have no other gods before Me.
2 “You shall not make for yourself a carved
image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the
earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down
to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the
iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generations of
those who hate Me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep
My Commandments.
3 “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain,
for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in
vain.
4 “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor
and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God.
In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male
servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is
within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the
sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord
blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.
5 “Honor your father and your
mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God is
giving you.
6 “You shall not murder.
7 “You shall not commit
adultery.
8 “You shall not steal.
9 “You shall not bear false witness
against your neighbor.
10 “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you
shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his female
servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your
neighbor’s.”
1 “I am the Lord your God,
who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall
have no other gods before Me.
2 “You shall not make for yourself a carved
image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the
earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down
to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the
iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generations of
those who hate Me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep
My Commandments.
3 “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain,
for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in
vain.
4 “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor
and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God.
In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male
servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is
within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the
sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord
blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.
5 “Honor your father and your
mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God is
giving you.
6 “You shall not murder.
7 “You shall not commit
adultery.
8 “You shall not steal.
9 “You shall not bear false witness
against your neighbor.
10 “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you
shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his female
servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your
neighbor’s.”
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The entire world is essentially a virtual war zone….explosions killing people indiscriminately on a daily basis…I never seen the likes of it except for maybe the London blitz of WWII but I wasn’t there ))
It’s gonna get worse before Father ends all this evil.
So True !!! Be Strong And Tough !! Great Posts I’ve Enjoyed Many !!!
Great article Ayn. Great picture too. I have one slightly “very unscientific” comment. I just don’t believe there are true psychopaths. Granted, their conscience can be seared, cold and have no regrets about their evil deeds, but I truly believe they know right from wrong. As long as someone will listen to them, they will continue to say “I did nothing wrong”. Just a very amateurish opinion. 🙂
While fully agreeing to your words Wisdom !! ” Our individual moral adjuster has the ability and can make all things relative to circumstances and needs. That what’s right for one can be wrong for another. Some moral adjusters allow for ‘live as I tell you to, not as I do’. my experience is that Truth is not optional. TUVM.