Growing up my parents gave me a solid foundation of right and wrong through both their examples and corrections. Yet, though my parents gave me a clear sense of what was right, I still developed my own approach. And that approach was to reject it. A lot of the things that my parents tried to instill in me, I pushed away for my own desire. And looking back, I can see how desire trumped doing right.
Yet, when I came to know Jesus as my Savior, my desire was no longer an option. My life was his, my thoughts were his, my actions, and motives were his. These things that moved me to do as I pleased were now his to control. And so, over the course of many years, which is still happening today, Jesus has moved me away from what I used to believe was right and wrong and into what he says is right and wrong. Which, funny enough, was established for me through my parents.
And it’s this idea of right and wrong that brings us to our final week in our 3 Questions that Every Christian should be able to answer series. In our first week we answered the question, “Is Jesus a historical person?” We answered this by answering three of the four arguments that those who believe Jesus was a myth put forward. We answered how Jesus is not a collection of ancient religious stories by comparing one of those stories and Jesus’ resurrection account. We then answered that Jesus was mentioned several times by influential Roman people, even though he was an out of the way Jewish person. And finally we answered how Jesus’ Jewishness fits the archeological timeframe he lived in, even though we do not have a stone that says, “Jesus was here.”
Then last week we covered the last of the four arguments, which we combined with the greater question of, “Is the Bible reliable.” Focusing on the New Testament, we saw how the overwhelming amount of manuscripts we have, in comparison with other ancient documents, gives us an assurance that the Bible has not only been persevered throughout the centuries, but that it is an accurate recorded account by the eyewitnesses of Jesus.
This brings us to our final week where we will be looking at, what I would say, is the most pivotal question of our day that a Christians needs to be able to answer. That question is, “Can we have morality without God?"
What I mean by this isn’t, can people do “good” things? We can see that no matter your background, you can be lawful and even caring to other people. Jesus, in Matthew 5 states, “46 If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? 47 And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that (46-47)?” So we’re not talking about the end actions of a person, rather, what we’re seeking to answer is, without God does humanity have a basis on which to derive a moral standing? In other words, where does our sense of right and wrong come from?
No matter what a person’s worldview or view on spiritual matters is, I am not suggesting that a person cannot do good towards others in a human sense of goodness. Rather, is there a basis, apart from the eternal standard of God that humanity can stand on for its reason for doing good.
See the Bible is very clear that the standard of goodness comes from God. In Genesis 1, it is through God’s Word that all things are created and when they are brought into existence, God repeatedly calls them good. Why? Because they come from the desire of God, a good being.
In Exodus 34:6-7, as God himself passes by Moses, this prophet of God has to shout out,“The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, 7 maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation.” Moses’ encounter with a glimpse of who God is, points to God’s purity in morality and how there is a standard by which all people are judged.
In Psalm 25:8, the Psalmist proclaims the, “Good and upright is the Lord; therefore he instructs sinners in his ways.” This shows the difference between God’s eternal standard of goodness and a deficiency in humanity called sin, which are those things we do that outside of God’s moral standard. Here we also see that God doesn’t just expect us to meet that standard without notice. No, he gives it to us that we might know and obey.
This should not surprise the Christian. It should not surprise us that it is from God that humanity derives our morality. Because if you have accepted Jesus as your Savior, you, at some point in your life, have come to realize that you stood in opposition to God. That you were in need of a Savior because you sinned and were separated from God because of that sin. And that your sin entitled you to eternal separation from God first in hell, then in the lake of fire. Yet, Jesus took the punishment of that sin, that breaking of the moral standard of God. He took it upon himself on the cross, and now you live in the freedom of Jesus. Separated, not from God, but form your sin, and now your on your way to be with him and his people for eternity. I am right with you. I was a sinner who broke the standard of God, and I was saved by the grace of God for his good pleasure.
Yet, for those who are not believers, God isn’t seen as a moral God. For some, he is even the antecedent of morality. In a debate held in 2011 at the University of Notre Dame, a popular atheist name Sam Harris said this, “Given all this that your God does not accomplish, in the lives of others. Given the misery that is being imposed on some helpless child at this instant. This kind of faith is obscene. To think in this way is to fail to reason honestly, or to care sufficiently about the suffering of other human beings.”
Harris stated earlier that God, “visits suffering on innocent people on a scope and scale that would embarrass the most ambitious psychopath.”
And in his closing statement says, “The true horror of religion is it allows perfectly decent and sane people to believe by the billions what only lunatics can believe on their own (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqaHXKLRKzg).”
Harris points to tsunamis and the death tolls that result from them, for a grand scale of God’s lack of goodness. On the minor scale, Harris points to individual people who suffer for seemingly no reason. And his conclusion is “If there is a less moral framework than the one Dr. Craig is proposing, I haven’t heard of it.”
So, let’s look at this from two perspectives. First, how the world implements a moral standard, and then how then what is God’s moral standard in response. Now, I am not arguing that all Christian endeavors are without blemish and there will be, by God’s justice, a reckoning for all that the Church has done that opposes the standard of God. Yet, what is God’s standard even when his people fail to meet it?
First, let’s cover children. Harris brings them up a lot in his speech, so I think that’s a good place to start.
In the Roman world that Christianity was birthed into, the Greek historian Polybius (approx. 200-118 B.C.) wrote, “In our times the whole of Greece has suffered a shortage of children and hence a general decrease of the population…This evil grew upon us rapidly and overtook us before we were aware of it, the simple reason being that men had fallen prey to inflated ambitions, love of money and indolence, with the result that they were unwilling to marry, or if they did marry, to bring up the children that were born to them; or else they would only rear one or two out of a large number (“The Rise of the Roman Empire”, Book 36, 17)…”
It was a common practice for the ancient world to abandon children when they were unwanted. This has a parallel in our society in both the foster care system and the abortion industry.
So what is God’s standard? We find this out in places like James 1:27, “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world…” In response to the society’s lack of care for all children, Christians began creating orphanages so that these unwanted children could be taken care of. God’s standard is that all children are important to him. Yet, apart from God, children are usually treated as second class citizens in most societies.
Let’s turn our attention to another issue in a different strain. Our personal view of self. In his debate with William Lane Craig, Sam Harris says that Christianity in particular is narcissistic, because Christians say that Jesus died for them. Now if you don’t know, narcissism is an inordinate fascination with oneself and excessive self-love (https://www.dictionary.com/browse/narcissism).
We can see how in the last thirty years or so, the emphasis on self importance has skyrocketed. This is why people say that millennials are so self absorbed. Our society says, “Everyone gets a participation trophy…you can bee anything you want to be.” Self-esteem books are everywhere and what does that lead to? In an article written in Psychology today back in 2014, Peter Gray wrote, “Over the years…questionnaires have been administered to many samples of college students, and analyses that bring all of the data together reveal that the average narcissism score has been steadily increasing and the average empathy score has been steadily decreasing ever since the questionnaires were developed. The changes are highly significant statistically and sufficiently large that approximately 70 percent of students today score higher on narcissism and lower on empathy than did the average student 30 years ago (https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/freedom-learn/201401/why-is-narcissism-increasing-among-young-americans).”
And with the advent of Social Media, this narcissism has only increased.
Yet, God’s standard in this case is found in places such as James 4:10, “Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.” Christians are to seek humility not narcissism. We are to be those who don’t think of ourselves as anything greater than what God says we are. Why, because we are saved by grace, and not for anything that we have done (Ephesians 2:8-10).
Yet as our society moves away from biblical teaching, we are seeing narcissism increasing.
Finally, people say that Christianity has been used to destroy the lives of millions through the centuries. In fact, Harris says that the God of the Bible is psychopathic because of the hurt that groups like the Spanish Inquisition have enacted on people. Yet, what is God’s standard?
Just reading through Jesus’ words in in Matthew 5 anyone can see how high the standard of God is when in comes to being faithful and caring in our relationships. Starting in verse 21 Jesus says, “You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘You shall not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ 22 But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment….27 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ 28 But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart…You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’ 39 But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also. 40 And if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well. 41 If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles. 42 Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you…43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you…”
Anyone can take the Bible and use it to hurt people, but that is not the standard that God has set. Yet, when we look at the alternative from the last century, we can see what happened when humanity, apart from God, is given free rein as applied to government.
Josef Stalin stated, “Gratitude is a sickness suffered by dogs.”
Vladimir Lenin is said to have stated, “Russians are too kind, they lack the ability to apply determined methods of revolutionary terror (attributed, Lenin: Life and Legacy).”
William Provine wrote, “Let me summarize my views on what modern evolutionary biology tells us loud and clear … There are no gods, no purposes, no goal-directed forces of any kind. There is no life after death. When I die, I am absolutely certain that I am going to be dead. That’s the end for me. There is no ultimate foundation for ethics, no ultimate meaning to life, and no free will for humans, either (Origins Research. 1994, p. 9)…”
Provine writes elsewhere, “No inherent moral or ethical laws exist, nor are there any absolute guiding principles for human society. The universe cares nothing for us and we have no ultimate meaning in life (Scientists, Face it! Science and Religion are Incompatible, 1998)…”
So what happens when you have no moral standard by which to point to for all humanity? You get the bloodiest century of all human history.
61,911,000 Murdered in the Soviet Gulag State.
35,236,000 Murdered in the Communist Chinese Ant Hill.
20,946,000 Murdered in the Nazi Genocide State.
10,214,000 Murdered by the Chinese Nationalist Regime.
1,670,000 Murdered in the Vietnamese War State.
About 1,663,000 Murdered in North Korea.
A total of 131,501,000 murdered in the name of Humanistic Morality. A morality that rejects God, and instead makes the human the source of mortality.
On taking in all of this type of information, John Steinrucken wrote a book called Secularisms Ongoing Debt to Christianity. In it he stated, “Those who doubt the effect of religion on morality should seriously ask the question: Just what are the immutable moral laws of secularism? Be prepared to answer, if you are honest, that such laws simply do not exist (2010)!”
When people do good outside of following God, when people say I can be moral without God, they are really stealing God’s moral standard and using it as their own. Because apart from God, we have no moral standard. When humanity is the basis for morality, there is no moral standard to be found.
So the answer to the question is there morality without God is, no, there is no basis for morality without God.
Yet there is a moral standard that comes from the person of God and God is the only person who meets that standard. I have fallen short of God’s perfect standard, and so has everyone else in the world. And we know it. We know we have, because when confronted with God’s standard we see in ourselves the deficiently that’s there.
Yet, we should rejoice in God’s perfect standard as Paul does in Romans 7, “12 So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good.13 Did that which is good, then, become death to me? By no means! Nevertheless, in order that sin might be recognized as sin, it used what is good to bring about my death, so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful. 14 We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. 15 I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. 16 And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. 17 As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. 18 For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. 19 For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. 20 Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. 21 So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22 For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; 23 but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. 24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? 25 Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!”
When we are faced with God’s standard we are confronted with our deficiency in meeting it. Yet here lies the goodness of Jesus, he was not deficient in keeping the standard of God. And by keeping it, he made a way for us to be reconciled with God; having our sin of falling short of God’s standard dealt with at the cross.
It is from God we derive our morals, because when God is taken out of the picture our morals become not based on anything. Yet, though the world might reject God’s standard, we still will be judged. And that judgement will come three-fold: By the standard of God, by our own standard, and by the choice of accepting Jesus or not. And if we haven’t accepted Jesus as our Savior, then the other two standards will condemn us.
So my challenge for you this week is to understand that morality without God is a tornado of destruction. And when a person does good, it’s based on the God whom they may reject. So pray for the people around you. Ask God that you may have this conversation of where does a person’s good acts come from? We need to be praying for people, because at the end, it does’t matter if they accept God’s moral standard or not, they will be judged based on it. We need to pray that people will see their need for Jesus, because they fall short of the moral standard, just like we did. So pray this week for God’s revealing of himself to people who think that they are good enough.
Let us be a praying people, who know that any good in us or in our lives, is from God himself, because without him we are nothing. But praise God that he makes us right. Amen.
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