I am concerned about how society lives more and more according to moral relativism instead of embracing moral absolutes. I think it is obvious that if we do not adhere to moral absolutes, we reap chaos in society. For example, look at what has happened to the traditional family unit over the years as people have decided not to honor their wedding vows, or not bothered to marry in the first place. Families have been torn apart, and children are caught in the middle, being left insecure and made to shuttle back and forth between Mom and Dad. Or, in many cases, Dad isn’t even in the picture because he didn’t do the right thing and marry Mom and live up to his responsibility to help her raise their child.
Moral relativism is not a stable worldview and is really self-centered; it’s all about manipulating a situation in order to bring about a result that benefits oneself, even if it means lying or cheating to protect oneself from unpleasant consequences of one’s actions, or using someone else to make personal gains, or maybe, as in the case of someone who is suffering from a disease or a disability but is not necessarily in a terminal state, to take their life by medical means “to end their suffering and to not let them become a burden to others.” “Others” including oneself. Taking an innocent life, which was always considered murder in the past, has now become acceptable in certain situations because of a morally relativistic worldview. That is how we have legalized abortion and euthanasia in this country. Moral relativism is a form of rationalizing choices and behaviors that really are not morally defensible.
A lot of people nowadays also do not believe in absolute truth. If something is in fact true, it is true all the time, not just in certain circumstances. One plus one always equals two; the sun always rises in the morning (even if we can’t see it on a cloudy day), and it always sets in the evening. We cannot live without air to breathe. These are absolute truths. If truth is not absolute, then how can it in fact be truth? How can we trust anyone, how can we really know anything for sure, if there is no such thing as absolute truth?
Without absolutes we are left wondering about what is right and what is wrong; we do not have the guidance we need to make wise decisions; and we are not be able to trust anything anyone tells us. There is no order, only chaos, because everyone does what they believe to be right in their own eyes, and doing harm to themselves and others in the process. When left to themselves, people tend to have differing ideas of what is good and right and permissible in various situations. Confusion or disagreement over right and wrong, and over what is true and what is not, does not promote personal or social stability. It is quite obvious that this is happening in society today.
If we choose to live by a worldview that embraces absolute truth and moral absolutes, I believe that we will live healthier, more emotionally stable lives, and be examples to future generations of what real character is. Character traits such as honesty, integrity, selflessness, patience, are born out of a worldview that embraces moral absolutes; such a worldview reinforces those character traits because it holds them in high esteem and does not waver in that estimation. And choosing to live by moral absolutes will also give us security, peace of mind, and assurance that we are doing the right thing.
I believe that God gave us absolute moral standards to live by, and that when we violate those standards we pay consequences, both personally and as a society. I believe the Ten Commandments were given to be the basis for our moral standards. I don’t believe it matters what century we live in or what society says is good and right; God set the standards for our behavior in the beginning, as they are laid out in the Ten Commandments, and they were born out of His character. His standards are for all time, for all people, and will never change, because His character does not change (“I the LORD do not change,” Malachi 3:6). He laid down those standards out of love and concern for our wellbeing, not to be a killjoy. Choices we make bring consequences for either good or bad, and He wants us to know how to make the good choices so we can know His greatest blessings.
In the end, what kind of legacy do you hope to leave your children and grandchildren as far as the kind of worldview you pass on to them?
