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Are there moral absolutes?

Discussion in '2003 Archive' started by Jailminister, Nov 13, 2003.

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  1. Jailminister

    Jailminister New Member

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    What was once God's wisdom is now man's inept logic. Where truth once prevailed, there is now only confusion and licentiousness as chaos becomes the new emperor. Where has the child gone, the innocence in each of us, who longs for love, truth, and righteousness?
    You relativist(if any of you are of that mind), present to me the child who does not initially retreat from violence, hatred and abuse. Show me the loving wives and children who are not devastated or estranged by extramarital affairs and divorce. Show me the stable adult --who was without parental love. Show me the rapist, the murderer and the vengeful who we truly adore. Will we really harbor the thief, the fraudulent, the liar--in good conscience? Is it truly acceptable to be spat on, cursed at, or physically beaten? Are we quite sure that moral absolutes no longer exist?
    Will we promote alcoholism and drug addiction over independence from the same? Do we honor the mass murderer, the executioner of life, over the humanitarian? Is it really death and disease that we pursue rather than life and health? Will we elevate the self-seeker over the philanthropist? In teaching our children, should we encourage evil behavior, pride, fighting, mockery, hypocrisy, lack of mercy/compassion, destruction of property, ingratitude, boasting, disobedience, cruelty to animals, fits of rage, discord, envy, selfish ambition, lying, stealing, cheating, murder, rape or incest? Of course not! And neither does God. After all is said and done, do we really enjoy compromising truth and justice--for any reason? Then why do we continue to do so?
    Shall we continue to bomb the innocent, rape the unsuspecting, deceive our children, be unfair to our neighbors or not protect the defenseless? Would you choose to do nothing in the event someone were raping your wife, your mother, or your sister? Would you nonchalantly pass by a lost, lonely, crying or starving child? Would you beat the elderly into submission? Would you help give rise to Nazi Germany (again) by idly watching the massacre of millions of our Jewish brothers and sisters? Then who and where are the self-seeking or insane that proclaim moral absolutes no longer exist? Who else is responsible for the carnage that has arrived? Again, only the immorally-educated, the hedonist, or the insane would make such a claim. Yes, there are "absolutes"--and they are God's. If this were not true, that a standard above man does exist, then our hearts would not cry out for justice in the midst of subjective, totally fallen "Man."
     
    #1 Jailminister, Nov 13, 2003
  2. Brett

    Brett New Member

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    Relative morality cannot exist in a world with God. For any particular moral dilemma, God knows with absolute certainty the best course of action to take, and He will judge everybody with an absolute standard of justice on judgement day.
     
    #2 Brett, Nov 13, 2003
  3. gb93433

    gb93433 Active Member
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    What you stated has been happening since the beginning of time. Just read the Bible. Look at Moses and how he killed a man. Things have never changed.
     
    #3 gb93433, Nov 13, 2003
  4. Jailminister

    Jailminister New Member

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    Somewhat things have been taking place since sin entered into the heart of man. That does change the fact that there are moral absolutes.
     
    #4 Jailminister, Nov 14, 2003
  5. Scott J

    Scott J Active Member
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    By my reckoning, it seems to go in overlapping cycles historically. For awhile, man will concentrate so heavily on the tangible, material, factual "truth"... and thus discount God because He can't be measured in a test tube. Then, seemingly by Satan's design to keep us off balance, man will deny objective truth exists to the point of denying God because He represents a immovable standard.

    One of the blessings of the Bible is that both of these philosophical extremes and many corollaries were in existence when the NT was written. Paul's epistles provide the godly balance between objective and subjective truth.

    Right now, post-modernism seems to be on the upswing- denying absolutes. We as Christians have been arguing about what the truth is for so long that we sometimes can't relate to the growing reality that many people believe the lie that there is no absolute "truth". We have learned to argue effectively against modernists. Modernists agree that there is objective truth but deny pure Christianity due to our dependence on both objective and non-material truth.

    The result of all of this is that man will find a rationale for doing what is in his sinful will/nature. Do people want to commit the sins you list? Yes, in the right circumstances, men find pleasure in a variety of evils. Man often doesn't like the effects of someone else's sin but seldom does even a Christian consider their own sin and its widespread impact.

    For instance, my failure to pray effectively in the morning may leave me insensitive and unprepared to be a witness, testimony, or effective servant in the afternoon. Whose life might have been touched? Someone who buys pornography thus encouraging its proliferation leading to some truly perverse individual raping a child? The drunk who will kill his family next week? The child who is at a crossroads and may commit horrible atrocities?

    There's probably no one who would consider an inconsistent prayer life or Bible study or church attendance major sins. But these sins have a wide area of impact. I am probably more guilty than most of you so I am not judging- just pointing out the causal "beam" or "mote" as your case may be.

    [ November 14, 2003, 01:38 PM: Message edited by: Scott J ]
     
    #5 Scott J, Nov 14, 2003
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