A Moral Argument For The Bible - Soul Choice Ministries

We have some questions for those who do not call themselves Christians, who may be agnostic, or even atheists.

Have you ever thought about how you obtained morals? If we evolved from the animal kingdom, animals do not have morals or a conscience, nor do they know good from evil. What, then, gives you the right to determine that someone has done wrong and to hold that person accountable when they harm you? Why is a crime considered wrong or evil?

If we are nothing more than a random gathering of cells, how can we explain our sense of right and wrong? Since the universe is indifferent to what we call good and evil and cares about neither, then why do we care about both?

In addition, what standard of right and wrong do you follow? People’s opinions vary greatly.

There was a time when slavery was legal, and many people did not think it was evil or wrong. There are some religions and laws that allow child sacrifice. Yet, to most people, that would be an abhorrence. There are those who believe a certain race is inferior to theirs and even feel justified in their hatred and murder of them. There are those who believe it is right to take from those who worked hard, obtained an education, and earned their money, and give that hard-earned money to those who do not work or contribute to society. In other words, they feel justified in stealing.

Therefore, laws alone cannot determine between good and evil, or right and wrong. Just because a written state or federal law exists does not mean it is right, ethical, or moral.

It is amazing how clear the definition of evil becomes when it is perpetrated against us! Yet, when evil is committed against others, such as Hitler killing the Jews, evil is redefined and becomes nonexistent or justified.

If God does not exist, then shooting innocent people is not wrong. Raping women is okay. Practicing racism daily is just fine. It is not wrong to torture young children. Evil in the world is an argument for the existence of God! There has to be good in order to state that something is evil.

Objective moral law proves God exists. Morals must be objective, factual, measurable, outside of humanity, and not subjective.

Author and speaker Charles Colson said, “If nature is all there is, then there is no transcendent source of moral truth, and we are left to construct morality on our own. Every principle is reduced to a social preference.

“By contrast, the Christian believes in a God who has spoken, who has revealed an absolute and unchanging standard of right and wrong, based ultimately on his own holy character.”

(How Now Shall We Live?, page 21.)

Doctor Norman Geisler said, “Consider the moral dilemma often used by university professors to get their students to believe in relativism: there are five people trying to survive on a life raft designed for only four. If one person is not thrown overboard, then everyone will die. Students labor over the dilemma, come to different conclusions, and then conclude their disagreement proves that their morality must be relative. But the dilemma actually proves the opposite—that morality is absolute. How? Because there would be no dilemma if morality were relative…The very reason we struggle with the dilemma is because we know how valuable life is…If the moral law exists, then so does the Moral Law Giver.”

(I Don’t Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist, page 184.)

William Lane Craig said, “If theism is false, then what is the basis for objective moral duties? On the atheistic view, human beings are just animals, and animals have no moral obligation to one another.

“The ethicist Richard Taylor powerfully illustrates the point. He invites us to imagine human beings living in a state of nature without any customs or laws. Suppose one of them kills another one and takes his goods.

“Taylor reflects: Such actions, though injurious to their victims, are no more unjust or immoral than they would be if done by one animal to another. A hawk that seizes a fish from the sea kills it but does not murder it; and another hawk that seizes the fish from the talons of the first takes it, but does not steal it—for none of these things is forbidden.”

Craig goes on to say, “Why think that if God does not exist, we would have any moral obligations to do anything? Who, or what, imposes these moral duties upon us?” (Reasonable Faith, page 175.)

One of the big differences between man and animal is that God has given every person a conscience to know right from wrong and good from evil. The Bible says that God’s laws are written on man’s heart (Romans 2:14–15; John 8:9). Mankind inherently knows that stealing and lying are wrong and knows what is evil.

Why do we know love is superior to hate?

Is courage superior to fear? Because God said so.

However, man’s conscience is not enough for him to be honest, fair, and just, as he has seared his own conscience because of his sins (1 Timothy 4:2). He refuses to look at the truth of his evil ways. He refuses to acknowledge God because then it would make him accountable for his actions.

Jesus said in John 3:19, “And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.”

I remember a home I sold for a very elderly man who was an atheist. He refused to believe in God, no matter how many examples I shared of God’s supernatural intervention in my life.

In addition, with all the obvious design in nature, the human body, the animal kingdom, plant life, and the order of the universe; the consistency of the rotation of the Earth; the consistent gravitational pull; and the oceans staying in their place and not changing boundaries, there is overwhelming evidence of design. This points to a designer.

Even though this man had experienced what he believed to be God’s hand protecting him throughout his life, as he shared some of his near-death experiences during the war, he refused to believe in the existence of God. He was a cold individual, and he would not repair a thing or even clean the house. You see, he had no consideration for others and no ethics. His conscience was seared, as the Bible says it can become. This is a result of rejecting God over and over, as he had done.

Our fallen, sinful nature separates us from a holy God, and our judgment is skewed.

The only way to know for certain what is considered good, evil, fair, and just is to have an unchanging plumb line or standard for it. The only one who can determine and provide that line is God, because he is the only one who is perfectly just all the time.

Deuteronomy 32:4, “He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he.”

Knowing right from wrong and good from evil can never be based on human standards, since the entire human race has been corrupted by sin.

Romans 5:12, “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so that death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.”

Romans 3:12, 23, “For there is none that doeth good, no not one…For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.”

The Bible clearly defines what is right and wrong, good and evil.

Psalm 119:128, “I esteem all thy precepts concerning all things to be right.”

Psalm 119:151, “All thy commandments are truth.”

For the most part, godless people determine what is right and wrong in our world. They teach our children, are leaders in government, are heads of corporations, and produce and broadcast information, media, and movies. They lie, cheat, steal, falsely accuse, and are haughty, arrogant, self-righteous, and total hypocrites. They are described in 2 Timothy 3:1–5.

They will act as if they are looking out for you, when the reality is that they are planning to destroy you.

Proverbs 11:11, “The good influence of godly people causes a city to prosper, but the moral decay of the wicked drives it downward.”

Proverbs 14:34, “Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people.”

Once evil begins, it progresses quickly and infects society. This is why God forbade the Israelites from mixing and marrying people from other foreign nations. Their worship of false gods and pagan ways spread to God’s people and corrupted them.

In addition, for the most part, godless and immoral people are the ones who feed and shape the data and information that builds artificial intelligence. Will artificial intelligence determine right and wrong, good or evil? Is artificial intelligence the world’s new plumb line?

Ask yourself, “Can you make sense of the world having morality without a God?” The answer is no.

We, as believers, are here to influence people with God’s truth. Each person must repent of sin, turn from their selfish, sinful lifestyle, and receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior to avoid hell.

Morals come from God, and he is the only one who is good. You cannot argue that anything is evil without God. You cannot say the world is unjust without the flip side. If evil exists, good exists. If good exists, God exists.

This next verse describes what many are doing today.

Isaiah 5:20, “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil; Who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; Who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter.”