Up to this point, we have considered two important questions and arguments regarding the universe: Why is there something rather than nothing? and Why does something that exists work so incredibly well? These are the Cause Argument (Creation has a Creator) and the Design Argument (Design Points to a Designer). Within this universe that works so well exist good and evil.
Who determines right and wrong? Another way of considering the revelation of God is known as the Morality Argument. This idea is also simple: Morality points to a Moral Lawgiver. Right and wrong do not come from human opinion. Murder, theft, lying, and abuse are not right or wrong only because society says they are. They point to an absolute moral standard that defines them as wrong, and that standard points to a moral Lawgiver.
I presented a series of scenarios to a group of young men recently, and asked after each: Is this wrong? Boys from an array of difficult backgrounds, cultures and circumstances understood right and wrong. A boy cheats on a test and gets an A…wrong. A bigger boy picks on a smaller boy because he knows the smaller boy cannot stop him…wrong. Someone steals $100 from an elderly woman’s purse…wrong. A group of boys embarrass a young woman by posting a humiliating video online…wrong. But why are these wrong? This is our Moral Argument.
Two types of truth help us understand right and wrong. Objective truth is true regardless of differing opinions. There’s a standard. 2+2 = 4 is an objective truth because the meaning of numbers is the standard that says so. Subjective truth is based on someone’s opinions, feelings, or preferences. Sun Drop is the best soft drink ever made. My opinion says this is true, but there is no standard out there to make this true for everyone. It may be false for you. Alabama is the best college football program of all time…A regulation basketball goal is 10 feet tall…Chick-fil-A has the best chicken sandwich…Nashville is the capital of Tennessee…Torturing an innocent child for fun is wrong. That last one changed the tune of the game, didn’t it? Something that is right or wrong must have a standard beyond our opinions. And if there is a moral law that says something is right or wrong for all men of all time, then that law must have been established by a Moral Lawgiver.
The same idea is true regarding how judging is presented in Scripture. Judging according to appearances? Wrong. Picking at the speck in someone else’s eye while ignoring the beam in my own? Wrong. Recognizing something as right or wrong according to the standard the Moral Lawgiver has already given? That’s called righteous judgment (John 7:24).
Who decides if something is wrong? Me? Society? God? My opinion is not sufficient to determine right or wrong. What if I decide it is okay to steal from an elderly woman’s purse? My opinion is not enough to make that right. Even a majority vote within a society is insufficient to determine absolute right and wrong. About 75 years ago a society decided it was right to torture and kill over 3 million people due to their race. Was that right? No. A society can legally approve something and it still be objectively wrong. God exists and is the Moral Lawgiver. That feeling of I ought to or I ought not to was placed in us by the Moral Lawgiver because we are created in His own image (Gen. 1:27).
Creation points to the Creator, design points to the Designer, and morality points to the Lawgiver. But God has not left us to learn about Him only from the world around us. He has spoken. Long ago, at many times and in many ways God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world (Heb. 1:1-2). He has spoken directly to men, through prophets, and now, through His Son. Well how does the Son speak to us? Through Scripture breathed out by inspiration of the Holy Spirit (2 Tim. 3:16-17). The Bible is not simply telling us that God exists. It reveals to us how to live. It is the absolute standard of right and wrong, full of everything we need for teaching, reproof, correction, and training in righteousness.
If there were no absolute standard from God, all we would be left with would be: what I think, what you think, what our culture thinks, what our government thinks, and what is popular right now. That would be chaos. What is so incorrect about those things being the standard? They change! Man’s opinions and rules change frequently over time. We need a standard that does not change.
Take an archery target as an illustration of the morality standard. If morality is based on human opinions, then the target is always moving. That is difficult to hit. And even if we do, it then moves, making our previous shot in vain. The Bible is an absolute standard, a morality target that does not move. And everyone can aim for the same target.
Take the measuring tape and level as an illustration. Last week I needed to put three new fence posts in the ground. I used the measuring tape to measure how tall the good posts were standing above the ground. And then I measured how deep my hole was. Those two measurements told me exactly where to make the cut on my new 8-foot post. And once the post was in the ground, I used the level to make sure I had it positioned correctly. The measuring tape and level do not change. They are the standard. The Bible is the spiritual measuring tape and level; the standard that does not change. Creation points us to a Creator. Design points us to a Designer. Morality points us to a Moral Lawgiver, and Scripture gives us the unchanging standard. But God has not only revealed Himself through the world or even through the words He has given. He has revealed Himself in a Person. That leads to one final question: What does God look like? The answer is Jesus.
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