Morality Proves God’s Existence

The Moral Argument

If God does not exist, then objective moral values and duties do not exist.

Objective morals do exist.

Therefore, God exists.

Values relate to whether something is good or bad. This is a thing’s worth.

Duties relate to whether something is right or wrong. Obligation to do or not do.

Duty means what we ought or ought not to do.

There are many things that would be good for me to do, but that doesn’t mean I am morally obligated to do them.

Value. WLC gives the example of becoming a doctor vs. homemaker vs. farmer vs. diplomat. All could be valued as good, but I’m not obligated to work to become all of the above!

Also, when only bad choices are available to me, I am not morally wrong for having to make one.

Objective and Subjective

Objective means independent of people’s individual opinions.

Facts are objective. I weigh 180 lbs. It is sunny (or rainy) today. These are true regardless of my feeling about them.

Subjective, then, is dependent upon people’s opinions.

“I think,” or “I feel” might be prefaced to subjective statements.

“I think the Rangers are the best team in baseball.” Or “I feel President Obama is doing a good job.”

Morals Subjective?

Many people believe that moral values are personal and subjective or relative.

“What is right for me may not be right for you.”

“It isn’t wrong to lie/cheat/steal in every situation.”

Interestingly, these statements in support of subjective or relative morality are stated as though they are objective.

So, in obvious contradiction to this belief, certain moral values are objective, even self-evident. Such values and duties are not merely opinions and must be universally enforced.

“Rape is bad and wrong.” “Child molestation is bad and must be universally prohibited.” “The holocaust was evil and we must do everything in our power to prevent something like it from happening again.”

Premise 1 of the Moral Argument states that without God there are no objective moral values and duties.

God is the universal objective standard of good.

Without God what we have to contend with are 6.5 billion personal opinions!

My opinion is not morally superior to yours if there is no objective standard by which we can judge them.

Can Science Prove Morality?

Many atheists are naturalists. A naturalist only believes what science can prove.

Can moral values and duties be proven scientifically?

Evolution & Morality as Cooperation

Evolutionary biologists have sought to demonstrate that many of our morals relate to unselfish cooperation. These scientists believe that cooperative behavior is advantageous in the struggle for survival and therefore what we consider moral is just better for our survival as a species.

Darwin’s Bee Example

Well, bees live in a highly cooperative environment. Darwin taught that if humankind evolved in the same way as the bee, then we would believe it the sacred duty of every unmarried female to kill her brothers, and for every mother to kill her fertile daughters, since this is what happens in the beehive.

On this view, for us to think that our morality as human beings is superior to that of the bee, or the dog, or the anaconda, is foolish. Our morality is not special, just specialized cooperation for the perpetuation and increase of our species.

Evolution Aims at No Truth but Survival

“…if our moral beliefs have been shaped by evolution, then we can’t have any confidence in them because evolution aims, not at the truth, but at survival.” –WLC

Why Should I Cooperate?

In any event, why would I always choose to cooperate in order to benefit the species? I’m not going to do anything unless it benefits me. I am in competition with every member of my species for personal survival and the propagation of my DNA. I am only going to cooperate if it gives me, or my offspring, some advantage.

Dawkins’ DNA Propagation Machine

According to Oxford biologist Richard Dawkins: “There is at bottom no design, no purpose, no evil, no good, nothing but pointless indifference… We are machines for propagating DNA… It is every living object’s soul reason for being” (as quoted by WLC in On Guard).

Mate at Any Cost

According to Evolution one of the primary measures of success is called “biomass.” That is, the overall amount of biological material produced by a species.

Many morals that we would (and should) consider sacred fall by the wayside if we live the way evolution indicates every individual must. If I am “a machine for propagating DNA,” then I need to have as many offspring as possible. Additionally, I must mate with the best females, whether they are attached to another male or not, whether they are attracted to me or not, whether they like it or not!

“Sexual Immorality” in the Animal Kingdom

Observe the animal kingdom and this is exactly you will find. When anacondas mate, many males coil themselves tightly around a desirable female at the once, all squirming and squeezing in competition to fertilize her eggs. In a pride of lions there are many females and only one male. When a dog goes into heat, she will mate with many different males. Male great white sharks regularly force themselves on the females to mate.

Rape Ducks

A member of our church was recently disturbed by the behavior of some ducks when he took his small step-children out to the park. According to his testimony, three male ducks took turns in forcibly copulating with a female on the pond. Whenever she resisted, the males would grab her by the neck and hold her head under water. He says he now enjoys eating duck, preferably male duck.

Cleveland TX Rapes

Sounds like the case of the 11 year old girl who was raped by no fewer than 18 men last year. This included men in their 20’s, two members of Cleveland High’s state ranked basketball team and the son of a school board member. This didn’t occur in some undeveloped part of the world. It happened in Cleveland, Texas (50 mi. N of Houston). The crime was discovered because it was video taped on many cell phones and proudly shown. Even more disturbing, many in the town are blaming the family and the girl for the crime!

Radical Implications of Evolutionary Ethics

If humans were like the rest of the animal kingdom, polygamy or adultery would be perfectly acceptable. Unprotected sex is preferable and there should be no such thing as an unwanted pregnancy. Both abortion and homosexuality are abominable because each limits reproduction. We should kill deformed babies as soon as they are born to make sure that weakness is not passed on to future generations. Rape could even be justified as beneficial and right, since it may be nothing more than the strong ensuring his survival by implanting his seed in as many women as possible. As wicked and perverse as all of this sounds, it is all perfectly acceptable for a DNA propagation machine!

Murder

Even more disturbing, murder can be acceptable according to evolutionary standards. I should kill you if you get in my way or compete for the same resources I and my family need for survival. I may be justified in murdering you even if I simply want to prove my dominance. Consider it a warning to others not to mess with me.

Afghanistan Trophy Killings

An example of this occurred recently in Afghanistan when a group of soldiers from the 5th Stryker Brigade formed a kill team to target unarmed civilians. These renegade soldiers murdered at least three civilians in cold blood and then proudly took pictures of their crime. Why? Because they were stronger, better equipped, and apparently in need of proving their dominance. Jeremy Morlock, one of the soldiers involved in the incident testified that he had to ask, “how could I become so insensitive and how I lost my moral compass.”

Yet, by Darwinian standards this is not objectively wrong. It is natural, that is all. Sadly, without a God who has established a moral law on earth, our outrage at this crime is no better than the soldiers’ bloodlust.

Genocide

Mass murder, even genocide cannot be proven to be objectively wrong apart from the existence of God. One of the ways the Nazi’s justified the atrocity of the Holocaust during WWII was by appealing to the Darwinian doctrine of “survival of the fittest.”

Nazis

The swastika was originally a symbol of purity. For example, it would appear on a bottle of milk to assure the purchaser of its quality. The Nazis, in true Darwinian fashion, sought not only to survive but to propagate their pure Aryan DNA. They did so by trying to take over the world to control all of its resources. Ironically, the Japanese had the same idea at the same time because of the same belief in their racial superiority. The Nazis also sought to exterminate ethnicities they believed to be weak. We are well familiar with the result: During the holocaust. 11 million people were killed in concentration camps, 6 million of them Jews. This is all perfectly moral by Darwinian standards.

Science FAIL

Therefore, it seems science utterly fails when it comes to morality.

Now, we are not saying that atheists and naturalists cannot or do not live moral lives. We are saying we know these things are objectively and universally wrong.

And we are asking, why do we know this?

God is Good So We Know Right and Wrong

2. There are objective moral standards.

3. Therefore, God exists.

God is exists. God is good. God made us in his image. Therefore, we can know the good.

Moral Atheists

We are not saying that one must believe in God in order to be moral. There are many upstanding moral people who claim atheism.

What we are saying is, morals are objective or universal because of the existence of God and the unique way he has created human beings.

Conscience

The truth is, everyone, atheist, Christian, Hindu, Buddhist, has a conscience. And, unless that conscience is reprogrammed by erroneous teaching (such as Darwinian ethics), every person has access to the knowledge of good and evil. As we can clearly see in our world, that doesn’t mean that everyone avoids evil and does good.

C. S. Lewis observed, the very existence of the categories of right and wrong, and the concept of good itself, points to a moral Creator.

Laws of Physical and Moral

“…both the natural realm and the moral realm are under the authority of a God who gave us both laws of nature and the moral law….” WLC

“In my experience, the moral argument is the most effective of all the arguments for the existence of God…. No, we cannot be truly good without God; but if we can in some measure be good, then it follows that God exists.” -WLC

IMAGO DEI

Human beings are made in the image of God.

“So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them” (Gen. 1:27, ESV).

Fall

However, our God-likeness has been damaged because of an event called the Fall.

“Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned” (Romans 5:12, ESV).

Every one of us sins, following in the footsteps of our original ancestors.

The widespread flouting of morality points to the fact that we are living in a fallen world. That is, we’ve lost connection to the Creator who originally designed the world and established its physical and moral laws.

Two Natures

Some of the wrongs we are tempted to do speak of an animal nature that exists within human beings. Some of what we would rightly call cruelty or sexual perversity are normal in the animal kingdom. The loss of connection to God and the damage caused to his image within results in mans inhumanity to man. Without God we are less than human.

“And having lost all sensitivity they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity with a continual lust for more” (Ephesians 4:19, NIV).

Origin of Conscience?

Where did our conscience and the knowledge of good and evil come from?

Let’s take a look at Genesis 3 and the story of the Fall of Humankind for an answer.

Genesis 2-3

“The tree of life was in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil…”[1]

“And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, ‘You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.’”

“But the serpent said to the woman, ‘You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.’”

“Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.”

Damaged But Accountable

Now, God’s image within us is damaged and this explains inhumane and evil action on earth.

In spite of this our consciences still inform us morally.

“…what may be known about God is evident within them for God made it evident to them” (Romans 1:19, NASB).

“They show that the work of the Law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them” (Romans 2:15, ESV).

Independent Moral Recognition

Independent recognition of good and evil, and thus the human conscience, became a necessity when humankind separated from God. This is the reason the Creator attached such knowledge to the forbidden tree. So long as human beings were in close contact with, and in subjection to, their loving Creator, good and evil, right and wrong were communicated and learned directly from God. Apart from God, good and evil continue to exist.

Tree of Knowledge = Conscience Tree

Therefore, to keep us from becoming like the rest of the animal kingdom imprisoned by selfishness and following no higher principle than the survival instinct, God acted by inscribing a basic moral law upon the conscience. The result is that humans may have ethics and principles. We don’t have to be driven by competition and survival. I am capable of acting unselfishly, even if it does not benefit me or my offspring.

The conscience makes it possible to do what is right and avoid what is wrong, even in the absence of God (including absence of belief in God).

Conscience Makes Me Accountable

Ultimately, my conscience also makes me accountable to the God who formed it and me. I may choose to disbelieve in God, but one day I will give an answer to him for my life.

Judged By the Light Received

“It is appointed for everyone once to die and then comes the judgment” (Hebrews 9:27).

In fact, everyone is without excuse. No matter how much or how little you have heard or read or believed about God and Jesus, you will be judged according to the amount of revelation you have received about God, and by how you have followed the good revealed in your conscience.

“…who will render to each person according to his deeds: to those who by perseverance in doing good seek for glory and honor and immortality, eternal life; but to those who are selfishly ambitious and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, wrath and indignation” (Romans 2:7-8, ESV).

God’s Existence Proven

All of this points to God’s existence .

Everyone demonstrates the reality of God’s existence when recognizing good or evil, and when convicted about doing right or wrong.

Be Good!

There is no greater testimony to a relationship with God than a person who is truly good and moral inside and out.

God alone is good. We who are made in his image will reflect his goodness when that image is restored in Christ. God’s goodness flows through us when we are connected to Christ.

So, if you claim to be a Christian. Be good!

[1] The Holy Bible : English standard version. 2001 (Ge 2:9, 16-17, 3:4-5, 3:7). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.

-Pastor Darryl Hall

zionchurch.info

Great pastor, if interested his sermons are on Itunes.

02
08

Don’t dance with a corpse.

Romans 6:1-6

¹What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?

²God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?

³Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?

⁴Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

⁵For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:

⁶Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.

When we become Christians, when we accept Christ we die with him. (Galatians 2:20) Our flesh is dead. And when we fall back into that dead flesh, it’s like dancing with a rotting corpse. It stinks and it makes you sick. There will be struggle, but we are not to justify or give in, Christ will let nothing tempt us that we cannot bear. If we are to truly say we have died with Christ, we cannot also say that we are in love with our pasts.

When It’s hard remember his promises, pick up your cross and DIE DAILY.

1 Corinthians 10:13

¹³There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.

Matthew 11:28-30

²⁸Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

²⁹Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.

³⁰For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

There are no excuses, God is there, he gives us a way, he gives us strength, he gives us escape unto him.

We have no excuse for when we stumble, but when we do he is there to steady us.

However if we ignore his steadying hand, we are woeful indeed, as we lie with the dead when we could be standing tall with the living.

02
07

1 Corinthians 13

¹Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.

²And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.

³And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.

⁴Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,

⁵Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil;

⁶Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth;

⁷Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.

⁸Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.

⁹For we know in part, and we prophesy in part.

¹⁰But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.

¹¹When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.

¹²For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.

¹³And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.

—-

Some people don’t like the King James Version of this, because it says ‘Charity’ rather than the ‘Love’ of new versions, but I feel this gets the point across on a larger scale.

We warp the meaning of love to a point where it means nothing to us anymore.

The word charity however, in this setting, brings to mind the Agape love; the unconditional, sacrificial love -Christ love.

It reminds me of the true definition of love:

Working in the best interest of the beloved.
(i.e. Christ dying for us on the cross.)