Objective Moral Values
Do you believe that there are certain things that are right and certain things that are wrong? This is what we call objective morals. We know that there are certain things that are definitely wrong.
There are quite a few things I can think of that are definitely wrong.
One example of something that is absolutely wrong would be hurting a little child for no good reason. If you harm a child, then you are doing something that is what we would call morally wrong.
Now as Christians we have a God who has set the standard for right and wrong. He has provided us with objective moral values.
Let’s say we take away God for a moment. Can we still have objective moral values? No. At this point, it becomes what we call subjective instead of objective. Subjective is someone’s opinion. Subjective would be what you feel or think about something. “I feel like that is wrong.” Whereas objective is a fact. “This is wrong.” Objective is not a feeling.
If we do not have God telling us what is right and wrong, then saying it is wrong to harm a child is just your opinion.
All humans are on a level playing field. There is no human that is greater than another, who can establish what is morally right and morally wrong. We need to have someone who is greater than us human beings to establish the rules of life. We need someone who is perfect and just to tell us imperfect and unjust humans what the objective moral values are.
What about evolution? Couldn’t evolution cause us all to evolve into what our morals are? In other words, through the process of evolution, couldn’t we have, as a tribe, established what is right and wrong for life?
Two comments on that:
First, if you read our first apologetic spotlight, then you know that if you are a Bible-believing Christian, then the account of creation in Genesis does not fit in line with evolution.
The second comment is if you were speaking to an atheist or someone of another religion, such as a Buddhist, who does believe in evolution, they might ask the question, “Through the process of evolution, couldn’t we have, as a tribe, established what is right and wrong for life?”
I would answer no once again. The evolutionist believes that humans are not special. They believe that we are no greater than the monkey, bird, ant, or germ. We are accidental biproducts of nature, just like every other species on the planet. We see throughout nature that animals kill one another without any sense of remorse in the killing. It is how the natural world survives and operates. For example, if there are two male lions, then one has to be killed because that is how the pack of lions operate.
Again, the evolutionist does not believe we are any better than those lions, therefore they would have to agree that it would be totally okay for two youth leaders to fight to the death since there are two youth leaders in this “pack” at EBC. They would not be able to say that is the wrong thing to do.
However, we know that is absolutely absurd! Humans are special. Humans are greater than lions. Humans have vastly different OBJECTIVE morals than any other species in the world.
Why is that? Because the God of the universe has told us what is right and wrong. He has established objective morals in this world. This is the most logical explanation for objective moral values.
Does this mean that an atheist cannot be a good person? Of course not. I personally know atheists who are great people. The point to objective morality with God as the supreme ruler is there is someone who has established right and wrong, not whether or not someone can be right or wrong.
Categories: Apologetics Spotlights