It was once said that if there is no God, everything is permitted. Every day, our post-Christian culture is demonstrating that to be true. The reason for this is because, without God, our culture has no moral ‘oughts’ and ‘ought-nots’. Actions and behaviours have no meaningful moral basis to conform to if concepts such as ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ only exist within our minds.
If there is no God, then we are merely an unintentional and meaningless chemical by-product of time and chance working on matter. ‘Morality’ is ultimately incompatible with such a worldview. What one chemical does to another is morally irrelevant and always will be.
The Christian worldview, on the other hand, says morality is defined by the character of God. Morality exists outside of ourselves and is therefore not determined or altered by society or personal opinion. It stands as an unchanging measure for what is ‘right’ and ‘wrong’, regardless of culture and history.
Today, in our incoherent, post-Christian culture, ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ are determined by those in power. The redefining of marriage in the Western world demonstrates this shift. Nations that rejected marriage as Jesus defined it, have made it clear that those in power will determine what is morally acceptable, not the Bible.
If that is the case, then it must be granted that there is always a circumstance in which every act, even the most heinous, can be deemed ‘right’ and ‘good.’ Take a moment to consider what that actually means.
Provided those in power approve, the worst act imaginable cannot be meaningfully deemed ‘immoral’. The only basis you have to measure ‘good’ and ‘bad’ is the preference of the powerful. This is what we’ve become as a society and we’re quickly beginning to see the rotten fruit that inevitably follows, from ‘destigmatising’ pedophilia, to justifying incest and bestiality.
In the end, your freedoms, your rights, and your liberties will essentially rest upon the arbitrary and ever-changing opinion of the powerful – the same folks who, if consistent, would have to admit they have no meaningful basis for deeming any act ‘immoral.’
Society was deceitfully told that Christianity is harmful and that the Bible has no place in politics. Those who do not wish to submit to a higher authority, but rather be the highest authority, have convinced the public that Jesus has no place limiting their power and influence over our lives.
It was sold to us wrapped in the language of “equality,” “compassion” and “love”. Anyone who resisted it, or even questioned it, was promptly vilified as a “phobe” of some sort and an intolerant bigot.
And what is the end result for these folks? Societies governed purely by the arbitrary preferences of the powerful, with no external moral restraint or limitations. There are no brakes on this thing because there’s no binding definition of right and wrong, moral and immoral.
Unless we repent and again ground our ‘oughts’ and ‘ought-nots’ on God and his Word, we will, as C.S. Lewis warned, not only end our species but also damn our souls.
