Brad Alles

Let’s continue this series of blogs on ethics.  If the Christian worldview is wrong, and there are no absolute moral standards, then moral relativism must be true.  We each decide what is acceptable and what is not.  But if that’s the case, then there is no such thing as “wrong”, even in the case of infanticide, the killing of newborn infants.

If we each determine the ethical standards of our own life, what may be right to someone may be wrong to another.  We could never say that someone’s behavior is wrong; it is simply right for them, not us.

Another way to think about it is this way:  We are evolved animals living by our own rules.  And no one has the right to judge our decision as evil or wrong.

The problem is that in reality, no one can actually live as a moral relativist.  If we each decide right and wrong for ourselves, then we can’t complain about evil.  For instance, was Adolf Hitler wrong?  Was cannibal and killer Jeffery Dahmer wrong?  While moral relativism may sound good in theory, it doesn’t work in practice.

Furthermore, moral relativism creates moral cowards.  If there’s no moral absolute, how can we have moral reformers like Dr. Martin Luther King?  Slavery, racial injustice, or other evils are just people’s preferences.  If there’s no absolute, how could anyone condemn a culture and call for a change of direction?

Keep your eye on current events, especially moral issues.  If we follow moral relativism, what’s wrong with infanticide?   That moral stance says you may object to the killing of newborns, but who are you to judge others?  That is their moral decision to make.  The same applies to those who advocate sex with children.  Whether they call it “adult-child sex” or “minor attracted people”, supporters of moral relativism admit pedophilia is simply another moral preference for some.  It is not a violation of a moral absolute.

When a culture such as ours supports issues like these, one is reminded of verses like James 3:15-16.  It says, “Such ‘wisdom’ does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic.  For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.”