Does Morality Point to God? Part 2

In the last blog, we looked briefly at the moral law for God's existence. If you didn't read it, check it out.  Now, I’d like to propose 3 reasons why we know the moral law actually exists.

Reason #1: We react like we have one. Think about it. There is something inside of us that tells us when certain things are good or bad.

If you turn on the news and you see that a 2 year old boy was found locked up in a cage covered in cuts and bruises and malnourished, immediately you’d react with sadness, anger, and desire for justice. You didn’t force that reaction. It naturally occurs.

If you hear about a young woman who was walking home from work and she was raped and beaten, you naturally get a knot in your stomach and hope the rapist was caught and justice was served.

You hear about a mass shooting and you say to yourself “That is horrible. Innocent lives taken in cold blood. That’s wrong! This reaction happens naturally.

Here’s the reality, it doesn’t matter who you are, where you live, or when you live. When people see or hear about events like these, the response is the same. Why? Because these are evil and there’s a moral law that’s written on your heart that reminds you of it.

At the end of the day, moral relativists when pushed will show their cards. 

For example, Biola Professor and Philosopher JP Moreland shares a true story of a time when in college where he went into a college dorm and shared the 4 spiritual laws to a student. At the end of this presentation, the student said, “That’s great for you, but I don’t believe there are absolute morals. I have my moral truth and you have yours. None of us can judge each other’s. And shouldn’t force morals onto anyone.”

It was in that moment JP looked around the room and headed for the door, but first grabbed the student’s stereo and ran out of the student’s dorm room and took off down the hallway.

The student couldn’t believe it. He took off running and yelling “hey! Come back here! You stole my stereo. You shouldn’t steal!” JP stopped and turned around and said “Really? Maybe I’m confused about what you said. “You said there are no objective morals. I have my moral truths and you have yours. We cannot judge each other’s, and we shouldn’t force yours onto me. Therefore, if I like your stereo, I can take your stereo. You can’t judge me nor can you force your morals onto me.

The student was in trouble. His cards were exposed. He wasn’t really a moral relativist.

You see people show what they really believe not in what they say, not just how they act, but how they react.  If you watch people long enough those who promote moral relativism will ultimately show they really don’t believe in it.

Reason #1 we know a moral law exists is we react like we have one.

Reason #2: We compare moral differences. Look at these two pictures. One is the famous Mona Lisa. The other...well, isn't.  

 

Which picture is the real Mona Lisa? How do you know? Because there is a real and unchanging painting called the Mona Lisa. (Yes, the one on the left.) We have something unchanging to compare the copies to. 

This is exactly what we do when we compare the two people like Billy Graham versus Hugh Hefner. Or a Mother Theresa compared to Adolph Hitler. We compare their actions to some standard of morality outside of ourselves.

Listen to what C.S. Lewis said this: "The moment you say that one set of moral ideas can be better than another, you are, in fact, measuring them both by a standard, saying that one of them conforms to that standard more nearly than the other. But the standard that measures two things is something different from either. You are, in fact, comparing them both with some Real Morality, admitting that there is such a thing as a real Right, independent of what people thing, and that some people's ideas get nearer to that real Right than others. Or put it this way. If your moral ideas can be truer, and those of the Nazis less true, there must be something — some Real Morality — for them to be true about."

You see, without the moral law, there’s no moral difference between Billy Graham and Hugh Hefner. There’s no moral difference between Mother Theresa and Adolph Hitler. Without the moral law, there’s no moral difference between the father who raises his child in love and the father who beats and rapes his child. There’s no difference between the person who pets their dog and the one who kicks their dog. There’s no difference between the student who encourages other students and the student who bullies students. But as we said before, inside you naturally react positively to one over the other.

Without the moral law concepts such as good or bad, better or worse are meaningless in a moral sense. Reason #2 that we know a moral law exists is because we compare moral differences.

Reason #3: We recognize evil and injustice. One of the leading arguments against God’s existence the presence of evil and injustice in the world. The problem of evil is something Christians need to wrestle with and answer. But we are not the only ones who need to answer it. Every religion – every world view must give a reason for it. But I honestly believe the reality of evil is evidence for God and not against God. Why? Let me explain.

When someone says that something is evil or unjust what are they claiming? They are claiming that there is a standard of good or right or just. They are comparing the evil thing to the good thing. Without some higher positive standard they could not be justified in their response. This is exactly what brought CS Lewis to the point of belief in God.

Like many atheists out there they deny God’s existence because of the evil and injustice in the world. CS Lewis felt justified in his denial of God’s existence until he thought about how he knew the world was unjust. CS Lewis wrote, “My argument against God was that the universes 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 as I comparing this universe with when I called it unjust?”Just like Lewis, we can only recognize injustice when we recognize we have the concept of absolute justice written on our hearts.

So I really do believe the presence of evil is better evidence for God than against Him. To have cancer in a body, what do you have to have first? Healthy tissue or a healthy body. To have a cavity in a tooth, what do you have to have first? A healthy tooth. To have rust what do you need to have first? A pure piece of steel.

The atheist has to steal from God to deny His existence. To have evil, you must have a standard of good. To have a standard of good you have a moral law. To have a moral law you must have a moral law giver. No moral law giver. No law. No law, no right. No right, no wrong. You must have God to have a moral law.

These are just some of the logical conclusions of life without a moral law. And I think if all of us are honest, it’s a frightening world without an objective moral law. 

Without the moral law, there’s no difference between equality and racism; no difference between slavery and freedom. 

Without the moral law, there’s no difference between love and rape. Without a moral law, there’d be no difference between Islamic Jihad and with a medical mission’s trip.

We know this is simply ridiculous. The world has never been this way and thankfully it never will. Why? Because there is an objective moral law and we know it. Reason #3: We recognize evil and injustice.

Does morality point to God? Consider this:

• Premise 1: Every law has a law giver. We know this is self-evident. 
• Premise 2. There is a Moral law. It’s more than reasonable. 
• Conclusion: Therefore, there is a Moral Law Giver.

This law giver to be objective would need to be unchanging, perfect, good, just, and personal. Who does this sound like? It sounds like God.

Exodus 34:6-7 says that the Lord, is “merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty....” The God of the Bible is good and gracious. He overflows with the truth, mercy, forgiveness, and justice.

1 Peter 1:16-17 says that God is holy and judges without partiality. He’s perfect and the perfect judge who never gets the verdict wrong. He is just and will complete justice.

Malachi 3:6 says, “For I am the Lord, I do not change.” This is comforting and encouraging. He doesn’t change.  He always has been and will always be good, just, merciful, gracious, personal, truthful and so on.

Does morality point to God? It would appear the answer is, yes. 

What do you think? Why have you come to this conclusion? Join the conversation.