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"Whatever is right . . ."

3/30/2016

2 Comments

 
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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 As one website said, “We need to make our own decisions about what's right or wrong, and not worry about an outdated moral code like the Ten Commandments,” to which Billy Graham responded to by asking, “which of the second group [last five] would you dismiss?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





2 Comments
Penelope Ray
3/31/2016 08:08:38 am

This is a good topic to get the thinking juices flowing! I think of Adam and Eve making the decision not to obey God. The result was the knowledge of good and evil. We all have it. There is an innate sense of right and wrong within us, buried deep into our sin nature. We so naturally sin we think wrong is normal, and from there; without wisdom and knowledge; without hearing and seeing; without being born again; we easily reason that wrong is right. I believe there is a moral law reflected in the Ten Commandments that is as concrete as gravity. And without listening to Ravi, whom I enjoy hearing, I have to ask, Else, why would He have to have died in our place, that we might have eternal life, other than the fact that we, due to our sin nature, we can not obey that law? Death due to immorality is as inevitable as jumping off a cliff and falling to the ground due to gravity. Our reasoning through shortcomings: impurity, (pride), just won't let some of us accept this...Him. I am thankful for His abounding grace and merciful nature.

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Jody
4/1/2016 03:52:21 pm

Penelope,

Thank you so much, once again, for your insight. You are spot on in your assessment of our sinful nature to "reason that wrong is right." I, too, am thankful for God's grace and mercy.

Reply



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    Jody Eileen Solinski spent her career teaching in the California public school system where she enjoyed helping young adults take their place in society. A native Californian, she enjoys the outdoors and so loves living in Northern California where she can enjoy the beauty of God’s creation up close.

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