Morality without Religion? – Part 1

Matthew 7:21-29 “Not every one that says unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity. Therefore whosoever hears these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. And every one that hears these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it. And it came to pass, when Jesus had ended these sayings, the people were astonished at his doctrine: For he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.”

This week, Michael writes that a modern myth is that we can have morality without religion. We have eliminated the study of scripture and Christian morality from our schools and yet we intend to turn out a moral society. George Washington said in his farewell address: "Of all of the dispositions and habits which lead to success and prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would any person claim to support patriotism who would subvert these great pillars of human happiness and let us with caution indulge the supposition of those who embrace the proposition that morality can be maintained without religion."  

Russian author Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoyevski said, "without a moral code everything is permissible." Jean-Paul Sartre, an avowed atheist, said, "without God, without religion, all activities are equivalent." It doesn't matter if you help someone across the street or if you just run over them. Al Capone is equivalent to Mother Theresa. Lichtenstein said, "If there are any absolutes, then they would need to come from outside of the human situation." For the last twenty five years Americans have attempted to banish religion from the public square. According to the Gallup poll, The USA is facing a moral and ethical crisis and needs to find spiritual answers to deal with the question of morality. According to the last chapter of the Bible’s book of Judges, "every man did what was right in his own eyes."

1 Corinthians 15:33. Be not deceived: evil communications (bad company) corrupt good manners.

Honesty, perseverance, respect for others, personal responsibility and a sense of duty to honor God and country used to be revered and respected as the bedrock of our Christian morality. In contrast, today's eighteen to thirty year old self indulgent generation holds to the belief that "I am entitled." As a consequence, grim statistics from a House Committee on morality indicates that Suicide is now the second leading cause of death in this age group and homicide is the most common cause of death. Teen pregnancy has increased 621% since 1940 and 85% of the boys who impregnate these girls abandon them. The average age of first time drug abuse in America is thirteen years old.  

Let's continue Michael's message on morality in the next post.

In Christ, Brian