Morality¶
Matthew 22:37-39
Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
Moral Law¶
Without objective truth, morality crumbles into subjectivity. In exploring modern views on morality, we confront the essence of good and evil, progress, and even the word "better". The most skeptical secularists speak of progress and what is "better", revealing an undeniable moral law written in our hearts. We cannot fully grasp why, but some things are truly "better" than others -- a universal intuition pointing to a divine source.
Jeremiah 31:33
But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.
Moral Relativism¶
Judges 21:25
In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes.
Moral relativism asserts that right and wrong depend on culture, era, or personal perspective, denying universal moral truths. This idea took root in the West during the 19th and 20th centuries. The so-called "enlightenment" elevated human reason above divine authority, sowing doubts about absolute moral standards. Anthropologists, observing diverse cultures, argued against judging others by our own norms, fostering cultural relativism as a guard against perceived ethnocentrism (ironically making the situation worse by their own standards).
Post-World War II, relativism grew amid revulsion to Nazism’s false moral claims and as decolonization challenged Western dominance. Nietzsche’s cry, “God is dead,” urged individuals to create their own values, while postmodern thinkers like Lyotard and Derrida dismissed universal truths as mere power constructs. Now embedded in education and politics, relativism promises tolerance but demonstrably fails while sowing moral confusion.
Relativism’s Fruits¶
The modern worldview -- steeped in secularism, materialism, and scientism -- makes moral relativism inevitable. By rejecting God and absolute truth, morality loses its anchor, turning into mere preference, and thus resulting only in deceitful power games. In a post-Christian world, where science claims sole authority, virtues like justice and excellence fade, not to mention truth itself, inviting chaos, destroying the very aim of science itself.
Without a transcendent source, we exalt the self, undermining truth and goodness. Relativism is the bitter fruit of modernity’s denial of objective reality, leaving us adrift in subjective whims, grasping for meaning amidst objective evil and undeniable suffering.
Moral Intuitions¶
Romans 2:14-15
For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves: Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another
Our persistent moral intuitions -- that some acts are inherently right or wrong -- point to a divine origin. These convictions, as St. Paul notes, reveal a moral order woven into creation, not invented by culture. Christianity fulfills these intuitions in Christ, the God-man who redeems our moral nature through His incarnation, death, and resurrection. Morality becomes participation in divine life, moving toward theosis -- union with God.
Without Christ, our intuitions lead to frustration and despair, endless grasping in darkness. The Church, as a spiritual hospital, transforms these instincts into virtuous life through grace. Only the Creator, incarnate as man, can fulfil the moral law He wrote in our hearts.
True Morality¶
Without objective, knowable truth, there can be no objective morality. In such a void, "better" loses meaning, and good becomes relative. Denying objective, knowable truth, we seek to become gods, echoing Nietzsche’s ubermensch, which is the serpent’s lie: ye shall be as gods.
Genesis 3:5
For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.
Modern definitions of good -- beneficial to you, harmless to others -- are wildly insufficient as a moral system, ignoring long-term harm. A "better" approach must consider enduring benefits for self and society, yet it still misses meaning and purpose. True good aligns with our Creator’s will, which is simultaneously your purpose in life.
Ephesians 2:10
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
Scripture reveals our true purpose: to glorify God, bearing His image and His likeness. Good necessarily reflects this divine intent.
1 Corinthians 10:31
Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.
Something is good if, and only if:
- It glorifies God, our highest purpose as we are made in His image and likeness;
- It is what we are called to do by God -- humbling ourself to His will and not our own, and
- It benefits those around us, our neighbors and all of society, both now and in the future; and
- It benefits us individually, now and in the future.