Morality

There is a famous scene found in a paragraph from the great atheist existentialist philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre's novel Nausea that almost perfectly sums up the dilemma of modern man.  Here the book's protagonist, Roquentin, spends most of his days living out a humdrum existence – frequenting coffee shops, the public library and just general aimless wandering, all the while attempting to write a book.  Throughout much of the narrative he is frequently struck by feelings of intense nausea that unexpectedly well up within him – mostly they are caused by the various inanimate objects he observes (i.e. a pebble, a newspaper page etc.). Sartre & Roquentin One evening, after having dinner at a restaurant and being overcome by an especially intense bout of nausea, he goes for a walk and ends up sitting on a park bench under a chestnut tree, where, in a sort of epiphany moment, he comes to the realization of why he has been afflicted with such sickness.  In essence Roquentin realizes that all of existence is completely meaningless and every object that exists has no reason for doing so. All life is meaningless?

One key point that has been argued down the ages is that morality is only of intrinsic value if it is objective, which means it needs to come from an external source God, not merely a set of opinions which we temporarily agree on. Here we investigate this point of view. Introduction & Respect for Persons Initially most people would think that the obvious answer to this question is 'yes, of course morality can exist without God.'  It certainly seems that both atheists and agnostics alike can lead what we recognize as good and decent lives, despite their lack of belief in a deity.  Often times, in fact, it appears that many unbelievers' moral lives put many religious believers to shame.  But the question here isn't, can we act morally without belief in God, but, ultimately, can morality exist without God? This second question is different from the first - it's a question about the nature of moral facts and values themselves, as opposed to how someone may or may not act.

An unjust God? Sadly, because of the gross injustice prevalent in this world, we tend to think that God is an unjust God. How can He be a loving Father and yet allow a child to be abused? There’s something inherent in us that cries out for crimes to be punished, for wrongs to be made right. Anger rises in us when we hear of hideous atrocities committed against innocent victims. And I believe that this is what it means to be created in God’s image (Gen 1:27). God hates injustice with a greater passion than you and I can ever do. A study of the book of Amos in the Bible would reveal to you how angry God is that His people are mocking the judicial system. It is a terrible thing to come across God’s mighty wrath. For now, we look briefly at what the Bible says about justice. God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished— He did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus. (Rom 3:25-26)

It is worth saying to begin with that anything that the church puts forward as their viewpoint is not because they have got together and held a democratic vote on the subject, but is because it is revealed in a higher standard, The Bible, which Christians believe to be the word of God (For more see article How do we know the Bible is the word of God? [Coming soon]). I would like to make it very clear to begin with, that God created sex, and is absolutely delighted with that. Because of this He wrote a whole book about sex and intimacy within the Bible called the Song of Songs. Over past generations it would be fair to say that, on occasion, the church has been too silent on this wonderful joy for all married couples, which has allowed society to take over and cause us to learn about it only from reading various magazines. Lust as Adultery