Saturday, March 24, 2018

No morality without God

The question is what is the basis of morality? For the Christian the basis of morality is God and what He deems to be just. However, for those who do not believe in God the basis of morality would be something other than the Bible. Some teach that morality can be based on the greater good. In other words what is good is good for the whole of humanity not just part. The essential problems of such ideology is that this does not tell us what good is or what evil is. Like pragmatism, the greater good is that which can be anything. For instance, what if killing one million people helped solve world hunger? This evil would essentially be good because it would help solve an evil. The problem is obvious evil is used to alleviate another evil. This is why anyone who wants to live without the Bible alone cannot justify any action. Either they will say morality is based on the greater good or they will say morality is based on what man feels is good. Both concepts do not present to us any clear definition of what is evil or what is good.

"As the Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoyevsky made clear, 'If there is no God, everything is permitted.' When a group of people adopt a worldview that has no place for a personal and moral God, we should not be surprised to find that the notions of good and evil lose their power. While atheists may acknowledge moral principles, they cannot provide good reasons for them." - Ronald H. Nash, The Meaning of History, pg. 127

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