This month’s focus for Phil. 4:8 was “whatever is right,” and I have to tell you, this particular segment has had the most diverse and the most passionate replies that I have seen so far. I am not inserting my own thoughts just yet, but rather I am just trying to set forth some of the arguments in a very brief form.
In my readings and research, many people took the stance of moral relativism, saying that there is no absolute right or wrong. As one website said, “We need to make our own decisions about what's right or wrong, and not worry about an outdated moral code like the Ten Commandments,” to which Billy Graham responded to by asking, “which of the second group [last five] would you dismiss? The one forbidding murder, or stealing, or lying, or greed (covetousness), or treating others with respect (especially parents)? No, all those are important, and without them society falls apart.”
Another website saw a 50/50 split on whether or not there was even such a thing as absolute morals. Then The Charleston Gazette in its article “Right and Wrong: A Daily Dilemma” said that “right and wrong are elusive. They vary from person to person, place to place, time to time.” PewResearchCenter confirmed this view when it reported that it depended on where you lived as to whether you thought some things were right or wrong and gave as one example that “78% across 40 nations said married people having an affair was morally unacceptable.” However, in France, only 47% saw it as unacceptable.
The Charleston Gazette concluded the above sentence regarding how elusive right and wrong are by stating, “Confusion and contradiction abound.”
(Now I am inserting my thoughts.) And that’s the problem. Left to ourselves, that is exactly what will abound––confusion and contradiction––and so again, I go back to why Phil. 4:8 is written in the order it is, beginning with “whatever is true.” If a person or country or culture has no foundation based on truth, then that person, country, or culture will surely be in confusion and contradiction. And to reiterate again the point of I Cor. 14:33, “God is not a God of confusion but of peace.”
So couldn’t the true litmus test be just that? If a person or a country or culture finds himself or themselves or itself in confusion or contradiction and not at peace, wouldn’t that be an indication that something is amiss––that something is not right?
If you have time, I have provided a link to a 5 minute YouTube clip in which Ravi Zacharias, a current Christian apologist, answers a question by a young man who believes in moral relativism. I think you will find it interesting. You may have to copy and paste it in a browser.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0218GkAGbnU
In my readings and research, many people took the stance of moral relativism, saying that there is no absolute right or wrong. As one website said, “We need to make our own decisions about what's right or wrong, and not worry about an outdated moral code like the Ten Commandments,” to which Billy Graham responded to by asking, “which of the second group [last five] would you dismiss? The one forbidding murder, or stealing, or lying, or greed (covetousness), or treating others with respect (especially parents)? No, all those are important, and without them society falls apart.”
Another website saw a 50/50 split on whether or not there was even such a thing as absolute morals. Then The Charleston Gazette in its article “Right and Wrong: A Daily Dilemma” said that “right and wrong are elusive. They vary from person to person, place to place, time to time.” PewResearchCenter confirmed this view when it reported that it depended on where you lived as to whether you thought some things were right or wrong and gave as one example that “78% across 40 nations said married people having an affair was morally unacceptable.” However, in France, only 47% saw it as unacceptable.
The Charleston Gazette concluded the above sentence regarding how elusive right and wrong are by stating, “Confusion and contradiction abound.”
(Now I am inserting my thoughts.) And that’s the problem. Left to ourselves, that is exactly what will abound––confusion and contradiction––and so again, I go back to why Phil. 4:8 is written in the order it is, beginning with “whatever is true.” If a person or country or culture has no foundation based on truth, then that person, country, or culture will surely be in confusion and contradiction. And to reiterate again the point of I Cor. 14:33, “God is not a God of confusion but of peace.”
So couldn’t the true litmus test be just that? If a person or a country or culture finds himself or themselves or itself in confusion or contradiction and not at peace, wouldn’t that be an indication that something is amiss––that something is not right?
If you have time, I have provided a link to a 5 minute YouTube clip in which Ravi Zacharias, a current Christian apologist, answers a question by a young man who believes in moral relativism. I think you will find it interesting. You may have to copy and paste it in a browser.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0218GkAGbnU
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