Morality - God Given or Derived from Man?

(Intro - 5 minutes)

- Have Alex come up to the stage and have him slap you. If he punches, make sure to duck.

- Ask him so questions on why he resisted

- Have Howard come up to the stage and have him slap him

- Ask him on what made it weird

This is a tiny example of what I will be talking about today. If Alex had slapped me, would have it been wrong? Yes and no, yes because there are rules against it, but maybe no since I asked him.

Let’s think of more examples

Imagine, for no reason, Alex punched me in the face?

Imagine, I cheated on Ms. Woll?

Imagine, a child is abused by his father?

Imagine, a woman is taken advantage of without her consent?

Now remember what you learned in history about World War II when Hitler decided to make the word “a better place” by killing millions of jews.

Are these things objectively wrong or just our opinions? Is morality just opinions that we grew up with in our culture and derived from humans? Or is there something universal that most humans agree upon. Most of us would all agree that the examples I mentioned are wrong.

1. Ask yourself, why?

As human beings, we should all be on a quest for truth. We have a lot of similar DNA compared to animals but we are drastically different. We have thoughts, language with words, and rationale. We have a conscious, a conscious that cannot be found in our brains. Search for these answers, don’t press pause or not care. Because if what I am saying is true, let this strength your faith and walk with Jesus. But if what I am saying is false, why waste my time on a lie.

So ask yourself, why?

Why are these things wrong? Why do we call things evil if in reality it comes down to opinions?

Why is it if I cheated on Ms. Woll, wrong?

Why is it a child is abused by his father, wrong?

Why is it when Hitler decided to kill millions of jews, wrong?

For those that know what Scripture states and believes in Jesus, you will be able to find why it is wrong because we see God has deemed humans to have value and to be more than just animals. We see so many verses time and time again such as:

Matthew 22:39 (ESV)

39 You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

Ephesians 5:33 ESV

33 However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.

Exodus 20:13 ESV

13 “You shall not murder.

A huge principle for our “why” is love. Not the world’s definition of love, but the love of Jesus Christ. Love that is filled with truth, humility, gentleness, kindness. A love that is Jesus and God. That is our why.

If you’re not a believer in scripture, your reason for why could relate to a variety of reasons regarding not causing suffering cause as humans we try to abstain it, for survival purposes, but in reality we all agree we have rights as human beings. Christian or not.

In the constitution, the nation agreed on what our basic human rights are that the government cannot impose upon us. The right to vote regardless of race and gender, freedom of speech, abolition of slavery.

Rights is imbedded into our beings, but why?

2. Objective or Opinion?

My argument is this, without God, there is no objective right and wrong, only our opinion.

Without a higher standard, one who is above us, we can’t officially, objectively state that the holocaust was wrong.

For instance, we all agree that slavery is wrong but society deemed it right for hundreds of years. During the times slavery was legal, was it right? No! But why. Because there is this universal objective truth planted within you that you know.

Romans 2:15 ESV

15 They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them

Proverbs 20:27 (GNT)

27 The Lord gave us mind and conscience; we cannot hide from ourselves.

Genesis 1:27 ESV

27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

Image meaning likeness. God is just and God is good. He has implanted a conscience in you.

Now us as humans have a tendency to mess up and do several wrong things. We have distorted this image but we still are created in this image nonetheless. There is a reason for why you believe things are right and wrong and there is a reason for why universally we believe several things to be objectively right and wrong. However, without God, there is no objective right and wrong, but with God, a standard outside our own human standard, there is objective right and wrong.

This argument here is one of the main reasons for why C.S Lewis became a follower of Jesus from atheism. C.S Lewis did not believe in God and during World War II stated that the world is evil, the world is cruel. However, that line of reasoning directly pointed him to God. In his book mere Christianity, C.S lewis states this:

“My argument against God was that the universe seemed so cruel and unjust. But how had I got this idea of just and unjust? A man does not call a line crooked unless he has some idea of a straight line. What was I comparing this universe with when I called it unjust?”

This idea of justice, knowing what is right and wrong, was planted within you.

3. The So What, why does this matter to me?