Biblical Morality

Bestselling author, speaker, and advocate for Christian apologetics, Dr. Alex McFarland. Bestselling author and apologist, Dylan Burrows. Together bringing you truth. For a new generation, this is TNG Radio. July 19, 1941, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill held up two fingers, the V for victory, and he gave a speech the day before where he talked about the Battle of Britain, and he was talking about fighting Adolf Hitler, and he said, quote, upon this battle depends the survival of Christian civilization. And Churchill went on to invoke the justness of their cause that Hitler and his regime, in trying to wipe out a whole segment of the human population, was violating an objective moral standard that people really did know.

Moral absolutes as the basis for the Allied forces of World War II. With that, we welcome you to today's edition of Truth for a New Generation Radio. My name is Alex McFarland. With me, colleague, brother, and friend, Dylan Burrows. Dylan, good to be with you, brother.

Hey, great to be on the radio again today, as always. You know, as we record this, so much of the news media is covering the President's meeting with Kim Jong-un of North Korea. Very, very significant on a number of levels, and frankly, I hope everybody's praying about this, because this is the first time that US President has met with this world leader. As I'm sure everybody knows, North and South Korea are two different universes, really. South Korea being much more free, much more westernized.

North Korea, like so many dictatorships, for the few rare photos that ever appear, they try to project the image of success and prosperity, but those that have been kind of behind the wall have reported on how the people live in abject poverty and squalor, and the people have no rights, and it's, they're broke, they're bankrupt. So they need to interact with the West and specifically the United States, and really to establish some diplomatic dialogue is very historic, and I hope people are praying for our President, but one of the things that is being talked about is that they would denuclearize themselves and the Korean Peninsula to hopefully make the world a more safe place. A lot is at stake. Human rights, the treatment of human beings, making the world safer by getting them to destroy their factories that produce nuclear weapons.

So Dylan, let's talk about all this. Going from bad to good, moving from good to better. Human rights, justice for the world. All of these conversations presuppose a moral standard that we are reaching for, doesn't it? Well that's a good way to put it, because even though we might have different views regarding North Korea, everyone looks at the situation and says North Korea is bad, they need to change, there's something better for their future and for the future of our world, and when we look at this we say how do we evaluate what is right and what is wrong? And it takes us to this topic the Bible talks about regarding moral truth and how we understand what is right and wrong. It's been said that everyone has some sense of right and wrong in this world, whether they know anything about the God of the Bible or not. Where does that come from? How do we understand this? And what does it mean for us as we seek to live for God and to communicate His truth in our culture today?

Exactly, exactly. So today on Truth for New Generation Radio, we want to talk about morality. This is a time, Dylan, everybody knows the Western world has moved towards secularism.

There are a lot of reasons, we've talked about the reasons for this, not the least of which is the rise of evolution in the middle of the 19th century, the publication of Darwin's book on evolution, and then by the 20th century this presupposed naturalism that there is no God, there is no God in our past as Creator, there will be no God in our future in terms of judge. This secular mindset has long infected our academic institutions, but really we're to the point where in pop culture and media it's just assumed that the world is secular, America specifically is secular, and I want to talk about the fact that we can't live without morality. In fact, knowledge of morality and behavior, assuming that there is a moral code, is just universal. But Dylan, one of the things that has been reported on over the last ten years has been the rise of nones, N-O-N-E-S, who when they're polled and they're asked what is your belief, what is your religion, they'll say none, N-O-N-E-S.

It's estimated that right now rejection of God or agnosticism, severe questioning whether or not God even exists, worldwide it's maybe an average of 13% of the population rejects belief in God. So let's talk for a minute, Dylan, about the reasonableness, the logic of even invoking morality when there is no God or no ultimate standard of good. Right, and it really gets us to this passage in Romans chapter 1 verse 20 that talks about this that reads, For since the creation of the world, God's invisible qualities, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made so that people are without excuse. Now that's simply to say that everyone has this sense of right and wrong. We all have this in our hearts and we're wired that way from birth, so we can't have that excuse, oh, I didn't know any better. Well, we do know that there is a sense of right and wrong and that God has put that in our hearts.

The question is what to do with that, and in our time together today, we have five key topics that we want to go through along these lines, and we'll mention just the first one here before we go to our break, Alex, and tell us just a bit about what this first principle is for us today. Well, the first point we want to make is that the Bible teaches that humans really do know God's moral truth. I'm not saying that we always do what's right, but deep in our heart we know what's right. Romans 2 talks about the fact that the law of God is written on the heart, says that the Gentiles that didn't have the oracles of God like the Jewish people did, by nature do the things prescribed by the law. Romans 2.15 says that the Gentiles show the work of the law is written on their hearts, and their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts either accuse or excuse them. Hebrews 10 verse 16. Hebrews 10.16, this is the covenant I will make after those days, says the Lord, I will put my law on their hearts and write my law on their minds. You know, Dylan, while we maybe beat around the bush, we try to not be condemning, we want to tolerate everything. Deep in the human psyche, we really do know moral truth, and the Bible clearly states that. That's so true, Alex, and we appreciate you being with us today.

Stick with us, we'll be right back. If you're a Christian parent, you of course want to instill a biblical view of life in the hearts of your children. If you're a pastor, you want to offer ministry that draws young families to your church. This is Alex McFarland encouraging you to check out my new book and video curriculum, The 21 Toughest Questions Your Kids Will Ask About Christianity. Why do bad things happen? I interviewed hundreds of children, ages 5 to 12, and we address actual questions from actual children, the spiritual issues that are on the minds of your kids.

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That's AFASTORE.net. Over centuries, the Bible has inspired humanity and shaped the very world we live in. But how do we know this book is the Word of God and not merely the words of men? What we believe about the Bible is based on what we believe about its source. The God Who Speaks explores the evidence of the Bible's inspiration and authority through some of the world's most respected biblical scholars. We have essentially a dual authorship. So it's true to say that Paul wrote Romans. It's equally true to say that God wrote Romans.

He says, We saw this. And that sets the Bible apart from almost everything else in the ancient world and its religious pantheon of gods and goddesses. The God Who Speaks is a feature-length documentary from the American Family Association.

Available now at TheGodWhoSpeaks.org. Universal moral truth. Objective truth. Absolute truth. Absolute morality. Does it exist? Can we know it?

Why does this matter? Alex McFarland and Dylan Burrows here on TNG radio. We're going to resume our conversation on this in just a moment. But I do want to encourage people on a couple of levels. Please go to our website, which is TruthForANewGeneration.com. Truth, F-O-R, it's spelled just like it sounds.

TruthForANewGeneration.com. Got some very exciting things coming up. For one, Murfreesboro, Tennessee.

That's right in the middle of Tennessee, just 25 minutes from the Nashville airport. September 13, 14, 15, we've got another one of our Truth For A New Generation events. I'll be at Middle Tennessee State University debating an atheist.

Then, Friday and Saturday, we've got Josh McDowell, Jay Warner Wallace, Dr. Michael Brown, and so many others. Amazing speakers, amazing music. It's Christian apologetics, biblical worldview, defending the faith, and it's our next TNG national conference coming up in September in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. Then in October, October 26, 27, we're going to be in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. We were there a year ago at Greenwell Springs Baptist. Phenomenal facility, very easy to get to, and I hope that those listening in the Baton Rouge area will join us at Truth For A New Generation. Amazing speakers, a whole lineup of apologists, worldview speakers, and the TNG events are appropriate for all ages. Really, you know, Dylan, we started 22 years ago trying to reach young people, but I believe people of all ages not only need to know how to defend the Christian faith, but they really do respond so wonderfully to these speakers and to this content because it's really very empowering, isn't it, to understand the gospel, to know how to live it, present it, even defend it.

It's very empowering and encouraging, isn't it? It is, and for anyone who wants to better understand their Christian faith, this is a uniting time to hear from some of the best voices in our world. Josh McDowell, for instance, one of the great apologists of our generation, and you get to hear him.

If this is your area, Murfreesboro or Baton Rouge, you need to be there. We have Jay Warner Wallace of Cold Case Christianity. This is a guy who knows his information, how to communicate it, and to prepare you to share your faith more effectively. And then the testimonies from people like Kamal Saleem who has come out of extremist Islam, or people like Daniel Ritchie who has come from extreme difficulties in his background to present the gospel. These are voices you need to hear and bring your friends and your church family to be part of.

So I'm excited about it. As we transition back to our topic today, we've been talking about this idea that the Bible teaches humans really do know God's moral truth, but this is just the first of five areas of information we want to share today. Alex, get us started with the second point. Well, the second point is that human history bears out the fact that we really are aware of objective morality. All throughout history, we are implying or inferring that there are some things desirable, there are some things undesirable. There's good, there's bad, there's right, there's wrong.

And Dylan, human history has been the story of civilizations, and to exist, they make moral laws, judgment calls. You shall not murder. You should not lie. You ought not bear false witness against somebody. In a courtroom, if you lie on the stand, that's called perjury. You shouldn't steal your neighbor's goods.

You shouldn't cheat on your spouse. Now there was a movie some years ago called The Invention of Lying. The guy Ricky Gervais, who was the founder of the show The Office, wrote and starred in this movie.

And it didn't do very well at the box office, but it was actually a really good movie, because here's the thing. In this movie, nobody had sinned yet, and the main character discovers that he doesn't have to tell the truth. He could lie to people. He could begin to get his way.

So he begins to lie, and hence the title, The Invention of Lying. Well, people begin to do other bad things, and they do things that they know aren't right. And it becomes anarchy. Ultimately, the world becomes just a place of chaos, brutality. So he feels really bad that he introduced lying and really injustice to the world.

So he cloisters away, and how can we fix this? And he comes up with a list of ten things that we ought to do or not do. It's very similar to the Ten Commandments. And the movie concludes, and he basically, after causing all untold sadness and violence, he says, look, we have all got to police ourselves by things that deep in our heart we really know are right. And we shouldn't lie and steal and be violent.

Let's try to restore order by behaving morally. Now what's very odd is, while the movie is good and it's not the gospel, it's not salvation, morality and salvation are two different things, but we have to have a moral foundation to have a civilized society, and cultures throughout history have recognized that. The interesting thing about that movie, The Invention of Lying, is Ricky Gervais, who basically says we can't live without morality, he's an atheist.

He claims to be an atheist. I've got a book right here by a philosopher who's an atheist who basically says, while he is an atheist, we have to have moral truth in which to have a safe, civilized, prosperous society. So human history bears out the fact that we are not only aware of morality, Dylan, we're aware of our need for morality.

That's so well said, and that brings us to our third point today. It's this idea that humans intuitively desire and work toward conditions that are more closely aligned with God's moral order. In other words, we naturally tend to work toward a sense of morality that is closely in line with what God says is right, and to speak against things that God would say is wrong. Now this isn't exact, we have different standards from culture to culture, but we all have this common basis for morality. It's interesting in the recent solo film, the spinoff from Star Wars that came out, you have a Han Solo character who takes ethics into his own hands at times.

He steals if it's to his own benefit, but when he sees that there's a greater need in society toward the end of the movie, he chooses to do the right thing morally and to become the good guy. And even today, we have these ethics where you see people choose what is personally beneficial to them at times, but they still have the sense of right and wrong deep down inside of them that is something that God has wired within us. So when we come back, we're going to talk more about this concept that we've been discussing with moral truths, so stick with us.

We'll be right back. First Peter 3.15 tells us to be ready always to give an answer for the hope we have. We're instructed to be prepared to defend our faith. This is Alex McFarland for the Life Answers Teams, students we train at North Greenville University, a leading Christian college in South Carolina. The Life Answers Teams are made up of students who will inspire and equip your congregation. These apologetics teams we train speak in churches to youth groups and train Christians of all ages to address key issues of our times from a biblical perspective. Like is there a God?

Is the Bible true? What about gender and moral issues? Call me at 864-977-2008 and we will arrange for the Life Answers Team to come to your church and give a presentation that will benefit your people for years to come.

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Welcome back to TNG Radio. We're talking about morality, moral truth, and we made the point that humans intuitively desire, we know about, frankly we invest ourselves in conditions that are more closely aligned with God's moral order. I know, Dylan, you're a parent of three great kids, and it's better to clean your room than to wreck it, isn't it? It's better to obey Mom and Dad than to disobey. I mean, even as a parent, there's got to be order and structure, i.e. morality in the home, doesn't there?

Oh, of course. When you have children, you have to have consequences, you must have boundaries. If you don't, it ensues into chaos. And the same thing is true in society. If you don't have some form of morality that is clear and enforced, chaos ensues. So we see that in cultures in our world today, we see that in families, we see that in individual lives, and it all goes back to the sense of morality and where it comes from, which has its origin in God Himself.

We lament disorder, we condemn injustice, we reward the good, we punish evil-doers, and we seek the betterment of the human condition. And all of this shows that, you know, all sane humans have a moral awareness, a moral knowledge, even if we don't always listen to it or follow it. The fourth point I want to make is this, folks, that knowledge of moral truth is what makes value judgments legitimate or possible. Listen, our undeniable, ubiquitous knowledge of morality is what makes value judgments possible.

Atheists, I dialogue with a lot of atheists, and they will deny the existence of God, and they'll say, you know, religion is false, there is no God, and it's wrong for you to say otherwise. And I'm saying, wait a minute, if there is no God, there is no wrong. I mean, think about this, folks, parents judge right and wrong. Municipalities and governments judge based on an assumed moral reality. You were speeding through a school zone, that endangers children, that's wrong, we're going to cite you.

You embezzled money, that's wrong, to defraud your company, we're going to punish you. So the fact that governments can pass laws and adjudicate court cases shows that there must be morality. And in fact, God himself will judge the world based on people's response to moral truth. There's going to be a day, the Bible says God will judge the world in righteousness.

How much philosophizing is going to go on that day, Dylan? Oh, it's just like the kid who does something wrong and gets caught by his parents or her parents and then tries to come up with some excuse to explain why they were doing that action. And when we stand before God, the problem there is that God is perfect. He is all knowing, he knows all of our excuses, he knows what we've done, even what we've thought. So there's no way to make an excuse.

That's why scripture says men are without excuse. This has huge ramifications for how we live, because what we do now matters for eternity. You hear the saying, you only live once, or YOLO, it's sometimes mentioned in our culture. And that's true, you only live once, but you also live for eternity.

So you better make it count while you have a chance. And that's the fundamental message that Solomon gave at the end of Ecclesiastes, to remember your Creator in your youth. In other words, don't wait until the end of your life to look back and say, oh, I wish I would have lived for God when I was younger, and now I have all these regrets. Live for God today, no matter what age you're at, so that you can have that future to look forward to with the Lord in eternity, because you've come to faith in Jesus Christ, and you can look forward to rewards in eternity, because you've been faithfully serving Christ.

You know, very famously back in the 70s was a song by the rock group Kansas, Dust in the Wind. All we are is dust in the wind. And so for many people that don't believe in God or some ultimate standard of right, maybe they don't believe in heaven, they make their highest good, their summum bonum, pleasure. Very sadly, and we don't trivialize this at all, but Dylan, I mean the fact is the human heart will have something that it's ultimate North Star. Now obviously we believe that that should be the Lord Jesus Christ, the Savior, God's plan for your life. And really, the insatiable hunger of the human heart can only be satisfied by an infinite reality. Our thoughts, our fears, our hopes, our dreams, our desires. We would submit that the only thing that can tame the wild human heart and the only thing that can fill the vast space of longing that is in every human soul is an infinite reality, which is the Lord Jesus Christ. Suicide now, Dylan, they say is the tenth leading cause of death in America.

And among millennials and younger, those thirty and younger, it's usually in the top four. Very sad because without hope, without hope for something better, the human soul just implodes on itself. And sadly, far too many people take their own life. By the way, if you've ever thought that or contemplated, you know, maybe the world would be better if you weren't here.

Don't do that. For one thing, there is hope that God does love you. God does have a plan for your life.

Mistakes, we all make mistakes. We're sinners. But Jesus will forgive us. Jesus will give us a fresh start. And friend, if you think there is no truth or there is no hope, then please get help. And we will, if you write to us at Truth for a New Generation, we've got a little book that we've given to tens of thousands of people over the last twenty years. It says, what does God say about my relationship with Him? I want to send you a copy of this little book free of charge. Just write to us.

We'll send you that or you can find us on the web. But Dylan, what is, in talking about moral truth and the meaning of life and hope for the future, what really is the hope not only of this world but the hope of every individual person? Yes, as followers of Jesus, we believe the only hope for this world, for you and for me personally, is to live for Jesus Christ. And friend, if you're out there listening today, know that if there is air in your lungs and your heart is still beating, that God has created you on purpose and for a purpose.

He has not done with you yet. We hope we've encouraged you today and encourage you to stick with us next time on Truth for a New Generation radio. Thanks so much. Truth for a New Generation, in association with Alex McFarland Evangelistic Ministries, to equip Christians with a biblical world view through conferences and camps. For information about upcoming events, visit truthforanewgeneration.com or give us a call at 877-YES-GOD-1. That's 877-YES-GOD and the number 1. TNG radio is made possible by the friends of Alex McFarland Evangelistic Ministries, P. O. Box 485, Pleasant Garden, North Carolina, 27313. That's P. O. Box 485, Pleasant Garden, North Carolina, 27313. Or give online at alexmcfarland.com or truthforanewgeneration.com. Thanks for listening and join us again next time as we bring you more Truth for a New Generation on TNG radio.