Ethics 2: Who Decides What Is Right?

Note: For new readers, welcome! I greatly recommend you start back at the beginning of this series so that this makes sense. Just go to the search bar and type in "ethics" and all the ethics articles will pop up.

Who Decides What Is Right?

In the first article, I discussed how because we were made in the image of God, we have this "gut feeling" about things. We just "know" what is right, and what is wrong because God put that in us.

It isn't really hard then, to determine that God must be the one who decides what is right. But I'd like to make a really quick point:

God doesn't have to decide what is right. He is right. He is truth. He is just. He is the way.

The Bible tells us all that.

Have you ever heard or seen, "WWJD?" Well it stands for, "What Would Jesus Do?" When you see those, it can help you remember that Jesus was and is truth so if you do what Jesus would have done, you will be making a "right" decision.

It makes a lot of sense why following after God helps you live a cleaner life. The more you do the things God would do, the more you are participating in the "right" things to do.

I've been talking from a Christian's point of view for a while here, but I'm going to switch gears. What if I don't believe in a God?

Here is the dilemma atheists have. They don't believe in a supernatural being. Therefore, to make up for the lack of answers for the "Prime Reality" question, most of them argue that Man decides what is right.

Well, this is absurd. And I don't mean to be rude, but if you think about the fallen nature of mankind, and how easily we can change our minds about things, what is "right" can change a lot! Then we start getting into moral relativism which I will cover later.

As Christians, we can break down our thought process like this:

God made us in His image

Since He is moral, he put in each of us the same morals

Therefore, we understand things as being "right" or "wrong"

As an Atheist, you'd have to break down your thought process similarly to this:

There is no God or supernatural being

Since that leaves us with only man, mankind must decide what is right or wrong

Therefore, man decides what is "right" or "wrong"

I have a funny little story to share that helps explain my point.

Once upon a time, there was a man named Bob who didn't believe there was a god or any supernatural being/realm. He was a naturalist. One day, Bob's wallet slipped out and a robber snatched it up and started running away. Bob tried chasing, but failed and he cried out, "I've been done INJUSTICE!"

If we deleted the first two sentences, then we'd have a completely normal situation. BUT. Considering Bob doesn't believe in a God, he has no right to say he was done an "injustice" because he couldn't define injustice.

What do I mean by that?

Bob can "define" injustice by possibly saying "being wronged" or what-not. But Bob also can't explain what wrong is without being consistent with his worldview. Nothing in this physical world can explain your "gut feeling" and so if Bob was asked what wrong is, he can't really say, without implying there is something beyond the physical realm.

I'm going to close right here as we are heading into our next subject: moral relativism.

Thanks for reading, and I'll see you next time.
~Caleb