Is Any Human Act Really & Ultimately Right or Wrong?

       Is Any Human Act Really & Ultimately Right or Wrong?

Little Bobby playing in the school sandbox made a beautiful sandcastle. He was so happy and proud of his achievement, he wanted to show it to his friends. Billy made a sandcastle on the other end of the sandbox, but Billy's sandcastle fell in and was ruined. Angrily, Billy stomped over and stepped on Bobby's sandcastle. Bobby was so angry and disappointed, almost to tears. He screamed, "Billy, you're mean. You don't play fair, and I'm gonna tell the teacher." Was Billy wrong to destroy Bobby's sandcastle? Upon what basis would any act of man be ultimately right or wrong?

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What if there's no kind of God? C.S. Lewis points out that people say things like: "How'd you like it if anyone did the same to you?" --"That's my seat, I was there first"-- Leave him alone, he isn't doing you any harm"--"Why should you shove in first?"--"Give me a bit of your orange, I gave you a bit of mine"--"Come on, you promised." People everywhere say such things every day whether young, old, educated, uneducated.  uoo
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Lewis isn't saying people don't mean just that other persons don't please them; they mean there is a standard of behavior they expect others to know and to follow. If others do deny the standard, they are constrained to give some special reason to excuse their bad behavior. So both parties had in mind some kind of law, ethical rule, sense of fair play, or standard of acceptable behavior. But if no kind of God exists, nature is everything, then something within nature must serve as every body's ethical standard.
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Now if man within all of nature is the highest being (no God we know really exists), then whatever moral standard there is must rest on human ideals. It seems the Golden Rule of treat others the way you want them to treat you, would be our ideal guide. But our selfish nature's want to dominate and control things our way. So we fight and destroy each other until some group or strong man gets control. The victors must enslave and kill all who oppose them to keep the peace and maintain their standard. Essentially, it seems we're no different than the perishing animals. This ultimate conclusion of  no God is the atheist humanist ethic and its what we see throughout history.
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What if the universe is God? Eastern religions as Hindus, Buddhists, Taoists, and others as "Christian Science", New Age claim the universe is God (pantheism), and God is the universe (monism). Like different ingredients cooked together in a cake, everything ultimately is the same and the differences are (Maya) illusion. We have multiple lives that take different forms (reincarnations). It's like the crops that come up each spring from the seeds they leave behind (deeds, karma). We are all a part of God and must not help suffering people as that only prolongs their suffering in other lives. But the mindless forces of nature don't know us, guide us, give us dignity, nor moral incentive. Monists may follow some esteemed wise man, worship ancestors, spirits, or do as they please. There is no moral standard, no ethical incentive. Absorption is the escape from the wheel of many lives of misery.

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What if there's only a limited God or gods? Ancient peoples as the Greeks, Romans, Babylonians, believed in many gods and goddesses that evolved out of nature. Their gods are selfish, fight each other, and are limited to their particular people or domain. They really are no better than their human worshippers. There's no assurance their gods care about them or even exist. Persons may show respect for their own tribe or people but not care about others--maybe even be head hunters. So, again, people in themselves have no dignity, ultimate purpose, and death may be relief. It boils down to might makes right--whatever group can get the upper hand  enslaves or kills those below them. 

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What if there's a God who created the universe, then abandoned it? It's called deism and there are good reasons to believe in a Creator God (Read my articles). But does he love us, hear our prayers, guide us, and act in our world to help us. No! Deists claim natures laws tie his hands, so miracles are impossible, which makes such a God irrelevant and belief in him amounts to practical atheism.
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 None of the views above give us a standard of behavior to say Billy mistreated Bobby. Nor do they prove what C.S. Lewis explained, that people everywhere have a common moral understanding of a real right and wrong. Now there is what is called "the natural law ethic." It is that all human beings are born free with dignity, equality, rights to life, liberty, happiness, land ownership, and have ethical incentives. It is supposed to be self-evident and inscribed upon the heart of every human being. The American constitution appeals to this as its basis of government. But if there is no God, no ultimate purpose to life, we are just animals waiting for the extinction of death, how, or on what basis is there to say there is any natural law giving all men dignity, equality, rights and ethical incentives?
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We must get beyond a deist God! If we live, reproduce, and die,--lights out! Life doesn't seem to mean much--we're without dignity, value, and ethical incentive. What we do doesn't really matter. We feel human compassion, guilt, and shame. But they don't make sense, if there's no more to life than just reproduction.  Now we need food, water, and sex, and what we need really exists. We too feel the need for a relationship that can give us forgiveness, acceptance, inner peace, fulness of life, hope,-- this is exactly what converts to faith in Christ say they experience.
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Now there are three great world religions that claim there is an afterlife of rewards or punishments. That adds a new dimension to the mix. These three world religions are Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.
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Judaism (2,000 B.C. to today), is presented in the Tanakh (O.T.). It records events of God's actions from creation until the Jews return to the land of Israel. It never reads like a fairy tale once upon a time, in some far off land. It discusses events we all experience in real life including our victories and failures. It mentions people, places, events known to history. A timeline can be established to events that correlate with histories in other nations. Miracles and prophecies are discussed that are established by eyewitness testimony and by martyrs. Things critics say never existed, archaeologists have uncovered with their spade. It describes people in rebellion against God and our need of a Messiah/Savior who is to come. But Israel never recognized such a Savior; its temple was destroyed and people again scattered among the nations in unbelief (A.D. 70).
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Christianity (First century until today), picks up where Judaism left off as recorded in the New Testament. Christians claim Jesus was the Messiah/Savior and King that Israel rejected. Jesus was actually the God-man who walked among us claiming and showing he was God by fulfilling  prophecies and by miracles. Yet, the people rejected him, and crucified him. Ancient prophets foretold of his life both as suffering for people's sins and as reigning as Israel's King. The final proof was that Jesus arose from the dead as he said he would. His disciples went out to establish the church and tell the world to trust in the Lord Jesus Christ to receive eternal life. Jesus promised to return to judge humanity and set up the kingdom promised throughout the O.T. One day all evil will be defeated and true believers in Jesus will dwell with him forever while those who want their way, and not Jesus, have their wish in a place separate from Heaven called Hell. The infinite God is one essence in three persons: the  Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. God makes himself known to persons who really want Him and is both loving and just, justice being love shown in society as preventing evil.
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Islam (A.D. 622 until today). It teaches there's only one God, Allah, and there are 124,000 prophets, but Muhammad is the seal or final one. All claims to other Gods is blasphemy (shirk). Islam is based upon Muhammad's claim that the Angel Gabriel revealed the holy book, the Qu'ran only to him alone in a cave. The Qu'ran reveals Islam's laws which can be abrogated  or superseded by later laws. Like Christians, Muslims believe in angels, Heaven, and Hell. People are basically good and salvation is by doing more good deeds that bad ones, fighting for Islam, and if Allah wills. Muhammad lived centuries after the Bible, partially understood some of its teaching which didn't seem reasonable to him and claimed its teachings had been corrupted. Ethics is doing what Muhammad did and anything that promotes submission to Islam.  

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How Then Can We Know Human Acts To Be Either Right Or Wrong? Feelings of human compassion, guilt, and shame require the Golden Rule ethic, which can be understood universally. The natural law ethic is not self-evident to millions of people of no Christian belief.  If life is only to be born, a fight to survive, and we cease to exist in death, it isn't worth much, and ALL our desires then seem reasonable.The American constitution was written by men educated in Christian schools of that time, who were active Christians in churches, and understood the love of God in Christ and the freedom, hope, and dignity it gives to humanity. Thomas Jefferson and Ben Franklin were deists, but still influenced by Christianity. So its a lie to represent the American constitution as the product of deists. Biblical Christians say there is a moral standard only because a moral rational God and Legislator has made himself known to us in our conscience, in the Bible, in history, and especially in Christ. Then, everything we do counts, and we will receive our just reward when we stand before our Judge, the Lord Jesus.
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This world is not perfect and we're all sinners. The Lord Jesus will save all who trust in Him. He offers us forgiveness of sin, His love and guidance, and will reward our service and he may return anytime. We will still face human weakness and problems, but He is with us. Won't you say, "Lord Jesus, I trust you now to save me and to live in your love until I meet you when you come." So be it.  Now share your new Christian faith with others.

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