“without
God, everything is permissible” – Fyodor Dostoevsky, The
Brothers Karamazov
Many
people claim that right and wrong is determined by what feels right
at the time (hedonism), what is best to ensure survival (naturalism),
or even that right and wrong are different for each person at any
given time (relativism). In our world, to claim that an unchanging
objective moral code exists is considered, at best, simplistic and
close-minded, and at worst, ignorant and prejudiced. Still, however,
I maintain the latter belief that an unchanging moral code does,
indeed, exist.
I believe that this ethical code is neither relative nor
naturalistic, but both absolute and eternal. When humans determine
right and wrong by factoring pleasure, survival, and comfort, if
follows that the system only functions to serve our own purposes.
When we consider a standard code of morality whose creation is
removed from the corrupt nature of man, and comes instead from a
supernatural source, we receive a moral law that serves human kind on
a higher level, rather than a carnal pleasure-seeking one. I believe
that this absolute moral code comes from God himself and manifests
itself in three ways. The first being common sense, the second being
natural law, and the third being special revelation.
Common sense is the one area of determining “right and wrong”
that is nearly universally agreed upon. These universal ethics
include the knowledge that wearing two left shoes is not okay,
sitting on a open fire is not good, and it is not acceptable to chew
your hand off just for fun. Certainly these values could be argued
from a humanistic perspective, but from a biblical worldview these
understood, undebated ethics provide an underlying basis for arguing
that the humans being was created intelligent within a world of
specific, understood, and undeniable order.
Natural Law is possibly the most abstract and difficult to defend
area of morality. Within the sphere of Christian belief, natural law
can be defined as an intrinsic knowledge within each human being as
to what is good and what is bad. These ethics would include things
like “It is not good to have sex promiscuously” or “It
is not acceptable to kill people for entertainment.” Many will
deny natural law simply by pointing out the evidence that many live
without acknowledging or obeying this law, thus, it must be false.
But As J. Budziszewski wrote in a 2001 article for Boundless
magazine, “God has written a law on the hearts of all. Everyone
has a conscience, and although the outer ring of our conscience may
be influenced by culture, the inner core is universal and unchanging”
In other words, although culture may tell us it’s okay to be
promiscuous, that life is so hopeless that death is almost
preferable, and that it’s okay to earn money at all costs,
there will always be a part of each human that longs for true love,
presses on towards hope, and realizes that money can’t buy
happiness.
Special revelation takes us beyond the realm of natural law. While
natural law concerns itself primarily with civic responsibilities and
community living, special revelation, shown in the bible both through
direct, narrative accounts and through the revelation of God’s
character, teaches us not only how to live in relationship to a
government or a community, but to live in relationship with our
Creator. Through biblical revelation we learn how we can (1) know
about him and (2) know how to live in a way that we may know him
personally. Special revelation calls us to a notch above natural
revelation. Though many non-Christians sense there is something
special about life and that abortion is wrong, someone who has
received God’s special revelation, has seen the care with which
he created it and the value he places in it should know, undoubtedly,
that abortion is wrong. Through natural revelation we are taught how
to be people who do not break the standard morality (i.e. not “bad”
people) but it is through special revelation that we live up to a
higher standard- God’s standard (and become “good”
people). Natural revelation is a rough-hewn sketch of morality; it is
through God’s revealed knowledge alone that our moral ideas are
carried into flawless completeness. It is my opinion that more world
religions have a decent view of world ethics because they have,
intrinsically, knowledge of natural law. This is manifest in
statements such as the Islamic directive to not hurt someone who
hurts you. Through special revelation- and Christ’s command to
show mercy to those who hurt us, as we would desire to be shown mercy
ourselves, we are prompted to move beyond this “acceptable”
standard to actually be “good”.
It is through these three specific areas that the ideals of “right”
and “wrong” can be objectively defined. Common sense
ethics and natural revelation can, for the most part, help a person
lead a fairly ethical life, but without special revelation, they
cannot be “good” and without the power that comes from
understanding special revelation and higher truth, it is, biblically,
impossible to truly obey this natural law in a world where it is so
easily corrupted. Even Frederick Nietzsche, renowned for announcing
the proverbial death of God, warned modern thinkers of what would
come it they continued to move away from God and his specially
revealed morality. Following in the footsteps of many intelligent
theologians- and indeed, many non-believers, I maintain the idea that
without God, and special revelation, man cannot be morally good.
