Why I Come From A Christian Perspective – Article 6: God and God’s Standard As The Basis For Objective Morality

As you know, I’ve decided to write a series on “Why I Come From A Christian Perspective.”

In this article, I’d like to share the sixth answer that comes to mind:

Christianity provides a solid and clear basis for objective morality: God and His character, or standard.

I know I’ve written about this before but the idea of objective morality -that is, this idea that there are things that are “right” and things that are “wrong” in the world – has been under attack in our world for a while now.

You may hear people say things like “Well, that may be right for you or true for you, but it’s wrong for me.” While we have the freedom to live this way, the question remains: does this actually make sense in reality?

Because if everything – including morality – is relative, then there ultimately is no objective sense in which right and wrong are anything other than mere feelings and opinions.

However, according to the Bible and the Christian worldview, God IS the standard (of rightness or what the Bible calls “righteousness” and holiness and goodness) and is, as some might say, the “Moral Law-Giver.”

Psalm 119:68 says “You are good, and what you do is good; teach me your decrees.”

The psalmist is looking to God as “good” and looking to God as the standard from Whom to learn that which is good.

Psalm 92:15 says “The Lord is upright; he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him.”

Here, the psalmist recognizes that God is a solid source (a “rock”) of goodness and is perfectly flawless.

Psalm 145:17 says “The Lord is righteous in all his ways and faithful in all his acts.”

Again, the psalmist recognizes God is perfectly right, good, and “faithful.”

Therefore, because God is the authority and because I appeal to God as that authority, I can confidently say that there are things that are right and things that are wrong.

Not because I say so but because we have a book that shows that God says so.

If I can’t appeal to a higher authority than myself, my declaration of an action or behavior as “right” or “wrong” is simply a matter of my own subjective opinion or feelings and may or may not necessarily be objective in any sense.

If you disagree, I guess I’d ask..what would your basis for saying things are objectively right and wrong be then? I’m curious to know.

Now, here’s where it gets tricky.

There are some things which most of us intuitively know are wrong (child abuse, molestation, assault, rape, murder, etc.) because I would argue God our Creator gave us a conscience. Most culture and societies over the years would agree that these things are wrong.

And yes, such heinous, evil acts are clearly condemned by God in the Bible.

Then there are some things that may not always so obviously and intuitively wrong unless we have a clear framework for how we understand the world and reality.

Examples of this may include certain bad habits, addictive behaviors, certain lifestyles, or even religious/spiritual views/worldviews (yes, even religions and worldviews can and should be evaluated).

A simple question to ask yourself is this: have you ever felt that something you thought, did, or said was right initially but later realized it was actually the wrong thing to do?

Or maybe you thought something someone thought, said, or did was wrong and later came to realize there was a right aspect to it?

These occasions are where biblical scripture can help guide us vs. simply relying on our feelings which is us ultimately relying on our opinions.

I don’t know about you, but I’d much rather rely on God’s revealed Word vs. my own opinions/feelings alone to determine whether something is right or wrong.

A quick note: I understand I’m not being politicially correct. That’s intentional. I’m not trying to be because I care about truth! And I’m grateful I live in a country where I can have and express my thoughts, opinions, and beliefs freely. If you disagree with me, I’m okay with that and welcome dialogue. Also, I’m willing to acknowledge that I could be wrong about some of my thoughts and conclusions, but ultimately know that my intent is to provoke thinking through these articles/messages on topics I’ve thought deeply about.

So my conclusion for today is this:

The Christian worldview shows that God and His Standard provide a credible, clear, and solid basis for objective morality in a world that desperately needs it. And that’s reason #6 why I come from a Christian perspective.

Let’s thrive together!