The Ultimate Moral Dilemma

The Bible says that in the last days mankind will have lost their sense of direction and be seeking and never finding. That society will be without a moral compass (2 Timothy 3:1-7). Verse 7 states that people will be, “always learning but never able to come to a knowledge of the truth.” The most fundamental precept of morality is based upon the premise of truth.

Is Truth Absolute? Today’s post modern culture believes that truth is fluid and everchanging. That truth can mean one thing to someone and an entirely different thing to another person. And the post truth culture denies that truth exists altogether. The Bible claims to be truth. Jesus said, “I am the way and the truth and the life.” Was He?

The apostle Paul wrote in 2 Thessalonians 2:1-3 that there will be a rebellion in the last days. A great falling away. An apostacy. But more than that, he describes it as “the” rebellion. A significant world event. A major decline in moral awareness. And it will precede the return of Christ.

According to research conducted in 2020 (Barna and the American Bible Society), there has been a sharp decline in biblical belief in America. Only six percent of American adults now have a biblical worldview and there has been a dramatic increase in the “don’t” movement (those who don’t believe, don’t know, or don’t care if God exists).

Hidden between the lines of the study, the belief in reincarnation is on the rise, belief in a literal hell is declining and there is a growing belief that people are essentially good. Additionally, there has been a profound shift in the Christian church, insofar as the American culture has impacted the church to a far greater extent than the Christian church has influenced the American culture.

Among Millennials, 43% don’t believe or know if God exists, and overall the “don’t” segment of the population has grown from 12 percent in 2011 to 34 percent in 2021. Only 26 percent of respondents believe the Bible is the actual word of God and should be interpreted literally.

Secular Philosophy

Secular philosophy uses the premise that humanity has done a good job of improving human rights to a standard that exceeds anything else historically. It assumes that people everywhere essentially agree about right and wrong and that our values have blindly evolved. Furthermore, by pushing God out of the equation, secular reasoning implies that a Creator doesn’t have the right to dictate morality. Is human intuition a product of evolution, or is it a reflection of being created in the image of God?

Darwinism suggests that the universe doesn’t care about right or wrong. If there is no good or evil in the world, then suffering is simply an expression of natural selection as the weak of the species are weeded out. Therefore, the argument that there is no God because there is suffering in the world, doesn’t hold water.

Humans are the only species with the ability to grasp morality. While other species love and protect their young, they do not rationalize the benefit of an individual laying their life down for the benefit of the group, for example. True altruistic behavior is limited to mankind.

Man’s ability to reason is not the product of micro or macro evolutionary processes, nor is our sense of morality created by reason. Mankind was created with the ability to reason, and rationality reveals morality as presented by God. Furthermore, if human brains are simply a combination of chemicals and proteins, there is no room for equality, since we are nothing more than competitors for food and space, fighting for the perpetuation of our clan or family group. In sharp contrast, Jesus values all equally as Christ laid down His life for us (John 15:13).

Blind Morality

Blind morality is expecting good intentions to keep you blameless regardless of the results of your actions. If those who attempted to assassinate Donald Trump thought they were doing civilization a favor, did that make them correct in their choice? That’s what makes the social conditioning that is happening today so dangerous. If good is something we invent, then the value judgements we make have no value. C.S. Lewis said, “Either we accept traditional values of morality or else there are no values at all, just confusion. The very idea of freedom, presupposes some objective moral law which overrides rulers and ruled alike.”

If man’s ability to reason is the result of random evolutionary processes, then there is no valid reason to determine truth. The fact that man has the brainpower to reason at all, is reason to believe in intelligent design. Without intelligence there would be no science. There would be no art. There would be no language. It doesn’t make sense that our thoughts could be the result of irrational causes. Subjective morality leads to confusion, and confusion leads to no motivation. There is no incentive to achieve a higher standard when we don’t know what that standard is.

It is an exercise in futility to think we can debate the existence of an objective moral code when our ability to debate is a result of that same moral code. C.S. Lewis put it this way: “When you are arguing with God, you are arguing against the very power that makes you able to argue at all. It’s like cutting off the very branch you are sitting on.”

The principles of moral relativism could be used to defend the actions of Hitler, Stalin or Mao, given the situation they faced at that particular time. However, that nonsensical reasoning is essentially the foundation of the argument being used to promote subjective morality as it applies to self-determination today. If right and wrong are simply matters of opinion, and our evolutionary derived default setting is “good” then why do we need security systems? Why do we need police forces? Why do we need prisons?

If there is no moral standard, then every criminal could continually appeal their convictions, and every judge would be handcuffed, unable to apply laws that are fluid in their meaning depending upon who is interpreting them. Society would become unstable and the resulting anarchy would be worse than the order of a totalitarian state. Now we have men who identify as women and women as men; abortion is labelled as women’s health; good is called evil and evil is called good (Isaiah 5:20).

While post modernism rejected absolute truth, post truth culture dictates that personal preferences take precedence over the values of others regardless of truth. Confusion is treasured and clarity is despised. Religion is viewed as intolerant and restricting. We must construct our own answers to our existential questions. So we become experts without authenticity and pundits without credibility.

If truth is an individual’s opinion or perception of reality, then there are no lies. If this is the case, then an individual can decide what morality looks like for them. If we are accountable to no one we assume to be gods. 2 Timothy 3:1-5 once again warrants being cited in the context of this conversation.

“But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God – having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people.”

Ever since evolutionary theory began to be presented as fact in classrooms, universities, museums and documentaries, society has been fed a continuous diet of an ideology that amounts to nothing more than a compendium of lies. It is an ideology that denies that humans be held to a higher standard than animals. That humanity is nothing more than animals, and without moral responsibility. Today, science is exposing cracks in the foundation of Neo-Darwinism and advocates the merits of intelligent design as a viable scientific alternative.

Moral relativism has precipitated the pernicious erosion of truth in a society that has placed self above God. Subjectivity has been misappropriated by today’s culture in defiance of factual realism to the extent where the existence of truth itself is questioned. Approximate truth is valued in ontological and epistemological debate as the antithesis of biblical truth which is absolute.

Truth Is Absolute

But truth is absolute. Either something is completely true or it is untrue. A partial truth is a lie. By extension, God’s moral code is absolute. It never changes. It’s always the same. Jesus said in Matthew 5:18, “For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.”

The apostle Paul declares in Romans 1:18-21, “The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who supress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the beginning of the world God’s invisible qualities – His eternal power and divine nature – have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.

For although they knew God, they neither glorified Him as God nor gave thanks to Him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.” Society today lives in darkness. But Christians are not in darkness and should not be surprised by this. We must break the paradigm that our adversary has constructed as an illusion to the masses and cling to the truth of God’s word wholly and completely.

The rejection of truth nullifies any need for responsibility. Subjective moral relativism rejects not only moral absolutes but also any individual obligation. But man, being made in God’s image possesses inherent objective ethics, meaning our consciences dictate universal moral principles that apply to all people, regardless of their culture, religion or personal beliefs.

The ultimate moral dilemma we face is that in order to reconcile our intrinsic sense of right and wrong, we must concede that we did not create it ourselves. Therefore we must seek its source, since we are truly set apart from the animal kingdom, complete with a conscience, a soul and a spirit. The answers are contained in the Holy Bible and nowhere else.

And the Bible tells us that even though sin has constructed a barrier between man and God, Jesus has established full reconciliation by way of the cross. He has bridged the chasm separating the created from the Creator, and He alone is the small gate on the narrow path of morality.