How Do We Know Right from Wrong?
one
How do we know right from wrong?
a. One of the most basic questions in society is: how do we know right from wrong?
b. And, unfortunately, one of the most common answers to that question is – “We just make it up as we go.”
i. Of course, that’s an attractive answer to a lot of people: if everybody just makes it up as they go along, then everybody can make up their own rules and do pretty much whatever they want.
c. So unless we’re going to just make morality completely meaningless, we need to figure out what its foundations are. How do we know right from wrong?
two
Does moral disagreement support moral relativism?
a. One phenomenon that makes people think morality, right and wrong, is manmade – something we all make up on our own – is the fact that everybody disagrees about right and wrong
i. Person A thinks certain things are wrong; Person B doesn’t.
ii. One culture condemns certain practices; another culture approves them.
b. Doesn’t all this disagreement show that we can all just make up whatever moral rules we want? Doesn’t it prove moral relativism?
three
Moral Agreement
a. The Devil wants us to focus on what divides us. But actually, there is far more agreement across cultures about what is right and wrong than you imagine.
b. Just about everyone accepts that basic principle, do good, avoid evil.
c. Then as you get more specific, there’s still a lot of consensus. You can ask a bunch of different people, or even a bunch of different cultures, and all of them will agree with the following:
i. Indiscriminate sexuality (lust) is bad.
ii. Indiscriminate killing (murder) is bad.
iii. Indiscriminate falsehood speaking (lying) is bad.
iv. Indiscriminate property taking (stealing) is bad.
v. Indiscriminate material desire (greed) is bad.
vi. Courage and generosity and self-control and loyalty are good.
d. This kind of agreement about right and wrong means that we human beings have a common insight, a common vision about how we should be human.
i. That insight, that vision, is one of the gifts that God has granted human nature.
four
Our Moral Vision
a. Moral insight is kind of like physical sight.
i. Think of what happens during an eye-exam.
1. You might get a person here or there who’s practically blind, but almost everybody gets the same answer for the most basic levels – everybody sees that big letter at the top, and also usually those first couple lines
2. And the lower you get on that exam, the more precise the letters – well, that’s where the disagreement starts.
ii. The same thing happens with our views of right and wrong
1. At the most general level, as we’ve seen, practically everybody agrees about right and wrong – and as moral issues get more specific, things get blurrier.
2. So right and wrong is as objective as an eye exam
a. The problem is that different folks have different degrees of insight – and none of us is 20/20.
i. Which means we all need to visit the divine optometrist.
five
The truth is that unless you’re a total sociopath, there are certain things you know are right, and certain things you know are wrong
a. You can’t help knowing that – it’s part of being human.
b. But you can be wrong – you might well be wrong – about all kinds of particular, specific issues.
i. Which means that if you don’t want to make constant mistakes about right and wrong, about good and evil, about helping people vs. hurting people
1. Then you better go to the Specialist. You’d better have regular prayer appointments with the One who gave us the limited moral insight we have.
a. Daily prayer is not a moral option. It is the best – really the only way – to ensure that our moral vision is as clear as possible.