God has instilled in man a sense of shame.

 

206. God has instilled in man a sense of shame as a defense against doing what is wrongful: God has instilled, in man, a sense of shame, or some would call it a conscience, to help man determine what’s right from what is wrong. All men possess this property, but on some their hearts have become so callus that they do not sense these things any more so the sense of shame no longer function as a deterrent against what is right actions from what is wrong actions, allowing people to steal, kill, fornicate, etc…, and these people don’t feel the wrongness of their actions that are buried so deep in their corruption filled hearts that these feelings just don’t make a difference any more. This is of course something that is found in all of God’s religions but its function as a deterrent is not so widely expressed.  Judaism: Sirach 4:20 “Observe the opportunity, and beware of evil; and be not ashamed when it concerneth thy soul. For there is a shame that bringeth sin; and there is a shame which is glory and grace.” “but the unjust knoweth no shame.” (Deuterocanonical Apocrypha, and Zephaniah)  Christianity: “For our rejoicing is this, the testimony of our conscience, that in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God.” “He that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit.” “The testimony of our conscience,” “for we trust we have a good conscience, in all things willing to live honestly.” 4:16 “Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf.” (and) “Purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God.” (Romans, 2 Corinthians, Hebrews, 1 Peter)

 ISLAM: Letter 45. “Am I created simply to keep on thinking about my food? Am I like that uncontrolled beast which roams about and does nothing but eats its fill and does not know the purpose of life for which it is created? Have I no religion, no conscience and no fear of Allah (God)? Am I left absolutely free without any check or control to do as I like? Am I at liberty to go astray, to wander away from the true path of religion and to roam about in the wilderness of greed and avarice, without conscience or sense of shame to keep me in check?” “Woe be to the man who with misplaced confidence, steps on the slippery ground presented by you as a firm foothold, he will certainly slip; woe be to the man who thinks of riding the waves of false hopes and expectations raised by you, he will surely sink.” “Whoever tries not to be entrapped by your temptations and snared by your allurements will find the straight path to safety and salvation. Whoever tries to spurn you does not care for the consequences of his action though he may find himself in adverse circumstances and difficulties. To him this world, its pleasures and the life surrounded by the pleasures or by woes and afflictions, is like a day which will soon pass away.”

(Islam, Ali b. Abi Taalib, Letters from Nahjul Balaagh)

Islam: 6 “And the earth and Him Who spread it, And a soul and Him Who perfected it And inspired it (with conscience of) what is wrong for it and (what is) right for it. He is indeed successful who causeth it to grow.”

(The Qur’an (Pickthall tr), Sura 91 – The Sun)

 ZOROASTRIANISM: “Rectitude, conscience and Godliness are features that distinguish mankind from the animal-world, human beings from nature. Ethics leads to religion, for Mazda (God) is the source of rectitude (moral ethics). If man had not been made what he is, if he had not been provided with conscience, he would not have made distinction between the right and the wrong: there would not have been any course of duty for him, just as there is none for the beasts.” (ZOROASTER, Hymns of Atharvan)

 Zoroastrianism: “Conscience enables one to repel the seductions of pleasure. It is the power of Mazda that manifests itself through conscience (a sense of shame). The voice of conscience is the voice of God.” (ZOROASTER, Hymns of Atharvan p. 138)

 Zoroastrianism: Denkard. Zoroaster, “In the human body there dwell spiritual faculties that impart good sense for the guidance of the soul, (a conscience, a sense of shame) and convey to man virtue through moral perception, contentment through obedience, and in his habits (i.e. an habitual use of) words of truth through intuitive wisdom.”

 HINDUISM: “To mortal men distributed, those natures spring from Me! Intellect, skill, enlightenment, endurance, self-control, Truthfulness, equability, and grief or joy of soul, And birth and death, and fearfulness, and fearlessness, and shame, and honour, and sweet harmlessness, and peace which is the same Whatever befalls, and mirth, and tears, and piety and thrift, And wish to give, and will to help, all cometh of My gift!”

(Hindu, Bhagavad Gita (Edwin Arnold tr) chapter 10)

 BUDDHISM: “Life is easy enough for the shameless, the crow-hero type of man, offensive, swaggering, impudent and depraved. But it is hard for the man of conscience, always striving after purity, alert, reserved, pure of behaviour and discerning. Rarely is found in this world Anyone who is restrained by shame and wide-awake As a thoroughbred horse avoids the whip.”

(Buddhist, Dhammapada – Sayings of the Buddha 1 and 3 (tr. J. Richards))

 Buddhism: “Life seems easy for one who is shameless, who is a crowing hero, a mischief-maker, an insulting, impudent, and corrupt person. But life seems difficult for one who is modest, who always looks for what is pure, who is detached, quiet, clear, and intelligent. Whoever destroys life, whoever speaks falsely, whoever in this world takes what is not given to them, whoever goes to another person’s spouse, and whoever gives oneself to drinking intoxicating liquors, even in this world they dig up their own roots. Know this, human, that the unrestrained are in a bad way.”

(Buddhist, Dhammapada – Sayings of the Buddha 2 (tr. J. Richards))

 BABI RELIGION: “The abject circumstances of his death reminded both his friends and his opponents of the punishment which must necessarily await those whom neither the fear of God nor the voice of conscience (sense of shame) can deter from behaving with such perfidious cruelty towards their fellow men.”

The Bab: (Shoghi Effendi, The Dawn-Breakers, p. 321)

BAHA’I FAITH: “The first word which the Abha Pen hath revealed and inscribed on the first leaf of Paradise is this: ‘Verily I say: The fear of God hath ever been a sure defense and a safe stronghold for all the peoples of the world. It is the chief cause of the protection of mankind, and the supreme instrument for its preservation. Indeed, there existeth in man a faculty which deterreth him from, and guardeth him against, whatever is unworthy and unseemly, and which is known as his sense of shame. This, however, is confined to but a few; all have not possessed, and do not possess, it. It is incumbent upon the kings and the spiritual leaders of the world to lay fast hold on religion, inasmuch as through it the fear of God is instilled in all else but Him.”

(Bahá’í Faith, Baha’u’llah, Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, p. 27)