In real-life experience, we realize that there are moral duties. Morality exists. The question we ask ourselves is the following: what do these moral obligations depend on? Do they depend on society, culture and the particular situation, or do they exist independently of these?
Let’s consider an example: you have a child, but someone murders him for fun. Is there a culture, or a situation, in which, murdering for fun, is morally right?
So moral absolutes do exist. Let’s make one more example, being kind to others is always morally right. Morally, it’s never wrong to be kind to others, no matter the situation. On the other hand, rape is always morally wrong. One person raping another person will never be morally right.
Some say that morality is something that most people in a society have agreed upon. During the Second World War, Hitler created a society according to which it was morally right to kill Jews. But does the fact that everyone agreed to kill the Jews make that morally right?
Thus, opinions are one thing, and morality is quite another. Each person has their own opinion on a certain moral topic. People argue with each other about moral issues. But morality goes beyond people’s opinion. Morality is something above opinion. Some things are right or wrong, whether people like it or not.
If now, in the place where you are reading, a doctor came to perform an abortion on a live child. And if you saw the baby die and be dissected, you would intuitively understand that abortion is morally wrong, because it is the willful murder of a defenseless baby. When we are faced with something morally wrong, we can perceive it through our conscience.
The doctor who performs abortions every day loses this sensitivity. And this is what happens to societies that practice wrong morality. Over time, the habit takes away their sensitivity to morality. Why do people do this? To reap temporary benefits, such as not having to take responsibility for an unwanted child. This sensitivity is what makes us distinguish between good and evil, right and wrong. We are suppressing real morality, in order to come out with a fake and convenient morality.
A distinction we have to make is between law and morality. The law is a set of rules which, accepted by the majority of a people, have the purpose of maintaining public order. Through the legal system, the law ensures that individuals who break it are punished. Doing so as to discourage a certain type of behaviour or conduct. Absolute morality is a set of perfect virtues with which we can compare our choices to evaluate our behaviour. While the laws change from nation to nation, and according to historical era; morality does not change, but is always the same with respect to any era, situation or culture. Since the law depends on opinions, it is relative. The law is certainly inspired by absolute morality, but it doesn’t necessarily reflect it completely. If a person breaks the law of a country he is punished by that country’s judicial system. A certain act may be considered a crime in one country, but not in another. If in one country a person acts in a certain way he is convicted, but if in another country another person acts in the same way, he is not committing a crime. On the other hand, if a person does something morally wrong, he feels it through his conscience, in whatever country he is in, regardless of whether this act is considered a crime or not. Conscience is a wake-up call for any person, whether European, African, American, or Australian, living at the North Pole, or in a tribe isolated from the rest of the world.
So we know that there is an absolute morality, that is independent of people, culture and situations. We know that this morality was not created by people, and it does not depend on more people agreeing on it. So where does this morality come from? How is the ability to perceive it found in us? Where does our conscience come from?
Morality concerns virtues, for example, kindness, courage, love, altruism, generosity, etc. Those who possess the virtues are the people. There are no things or animals that have virtues. Have you ever heard of a generous table or an impartial dog? Since there is absolute morality, there must be a source of absolute morality. This source, for what has been said, must be personal. In fact, if only people can possess the virtues that lead to morality, so this source must be personal and possess these virtues perfectly. We are therefore speaking of a personal and perfect being, the source of perfect morality, who possesses every virtue in a perfect way. If we consult the Bible we find all these characteristics in God.
Absolute morality comes from God. In fact, God possesses absolutely perfect qualities that lead to perfect morality. God is the point of reference, the standard, the source, and the ultimate authority, as far as morality is concerned. If we make our decisions, comparing ourselves with the virtues of God, we know what is the right choice to make in order to fulfil our moral duties.
Let’s think about this example: a person behaves in a moral way to get a reward, in this case, the person is acting out of self-interest to earn the reward. But there is the case of a person who behaves morally, without gaining anything, or even losing. Why did that person act like this?
Let’s think of someone drowning in the sea: if the lifeguard sees him he will save him because it’s his job. But let’s make the case that there is no lifeguard on that beach. And that a person who can swim passes and sees the other drown. Rescuing a person from the sea can be very dangerous even for the rescuer. Yet there are people who would not hesitate to jump into the sea to save that stranger. Why? Put yourself in that person’s shoes: isn’t it perhaps the conscience that makes us feel that we are subject to moral duties? Going back to the example: how would you feel walking away doing nothing and pretending nothing happened? So someone put a conscience in us so that we can realize these moral duties.
Without God, everything would be permissible, ethics would simply be a matter of opinion. But from our experience, we know that’s not the case. God therefore must exist.
We have said that there is a great difference between human law and absolute morality. Human law is inspired by absolute morality, but it is agreed between men. Absolute morality stands above men and is discovered by them through conscience. We have said that human law is intended to maintain public order. But it also has a higher purpose, which is to seek justice. The concept of justice is something that is closely connected to that of morality. Man has within himself the concept of justice, just as he has within himself the conscience. It is through conscience that we perceive justice. So human justice leads to the creation of human law, which is related to the nation. But this makes us think that absolute morality is connected to absolute justice. This justice is a perfect and infallible justice. Human justice is created by man through his relative morality. Perfect justice must come from a perfect being: God. A perfect being, the source of perfect justice, creates a perfect and absolute law based on absolute morality. Because this justice is perfect and infallible, every injustice must be punished with a just and perfect punishment. But, in this life, we often see injustice triumph, crime pay, and righteousness penalized. Therefore, perfect justice has no course in this life. But there must exist a continuation of consciousness after death, by which absolute justice is experienced. For there to be true justice, there must be perfect judgment. This judgment must be conducted by a perfect judge. This judge must be perfectly upright and incorruptible and must know all, that is, be omniscient. This judge must also have all the power possible to enforce the punishment. He must therefore be omnipotent. But, since God’s standard is perfection, the punishment must be infinite, that is, eternal. But a perfect judge also possesses, among his qualities, infinite mercy and love. For this, he must be willing to forgive us. But at the same time, justice must be done.
So God’s standard of justice and morality is perfect. Man, due to his sin and his limitations, can never meet God’s standard. For this, God, who loves us, sent his Son Jesus, who is God himself, to pay the price for our injustice and give us eternal life. The Bible tells us that God gave us the ten commandments of Moses so that we could have an absolute reference and understand that we all are sinners. None of us is able not to break these perfect moral laws. Only Jesus, because he was God, lived a sinless life, died for us on the cross, and rose from the dead. This is why we need Jesus.
And God spoke all these words:
“I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.
“You shall have no other gods before me.
“You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.
“You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.
“Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
“Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you.
“You shall not murder.
“You shall not commit adultery.
“You shall not steal.
“You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.
“You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”
When the people saw the thunder and lightning and heard the trumpet and saw the mountain in smoke, they trembled with fear. They stayed at a distance and said to Moses, “Speak to us yourself and we will listen. But do not have God speak to us or we will die.”
Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid. God has come to test you, so that the fear of God will be with you to keep you from sinning.”
The people remained at a distance, while Moses approached the thick darkness where God was.
Exodus 20: 1-21
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
John 3:16
Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. The earth and the heavens fled from his presence, and there was no place for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what they had done. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. Anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire.
Revelation 20:11-15