The Question of Morality
Did you know that because of God’s great love that we have an objective moral law!? Humanity is in need of God’s moral law for living a secure life. Since we are God’s special creation, He did not leave us to determine the laws of good and evil, but He gave us His rules and instructions to be able to function optimally and to glorify Him as His image bearers!
If the world were bound by natural selection, it would mean that humanity is operating on the survival of the fittest! Then the main issue would be who is stronger to survive the natural processes and to beat others for the limited resources. Natural selections would create a very unsafe world if human beings did not have a soul with a desire to love and be loved! Furthermore, apart from having a Creator everyone will have to define their own moral law based on their values and what works for them.
Here is an analogy for making up our own rules of morality: If everyone on the road decided to make up their own driving rules such as how fast to drive, whether to stop at a red traffic light, or enter a “Do Not Enter” road, we would all be living in much apprehension. We might even try to completely avoid driving. Driving on the roads would be chaotic and very dangerous.
Ironically, those who believe in natural selection, generally believe that man is good in his nature, which infers that we can make good moral laws on our own. They claim that if we have the right amount of education, programs, and policies we can change societies and eventually the world! How can this be true!? If natural selection and survival of the fittest is in operation, then everyone will try to work at surviving, and in turn, people will become more animalistic not altruistic!
But when the Pharisees heard that He had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. Then one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, and saying, “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?”
Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.” Matthew 22:34-40
Life only makes sense when we recognize that there is a Creator who is in charge of the affairs of His Creation. He sets everything in order and creates rules of engagement, so we can function in the manner that glorifies God, loves our neighbor, and protects us!
In the Old Testament, the Lord gave the Ten Commandments to the Israelites. When Jesus came on the scene, He took the moral law to a higher level. It was no longer just about sinful acts but it was about the hearts and the minds of people! Jesus taught us that we can either submit our soul to loving the Lord and others or it will conjure up evil and lust.
God’s moral law allows humanity to have order and health in their lives and in their relationships. His standard of morality brings clarity and sanity. It is because of the moral law, that we recognize and appreciate God’s measure of love towards us and the sacrifice of His Son Jesus to pay the price for our sin and transgressions. The Lord through Jesus demonstrated that there is a better way to live and that is only possible through the life of the Spirit. Our soul must live subject to the leading of the Holy Spirit. This allows us to live with love, peace, kindness, gentleness, generosity, and self-control.