Morality Rocks!

In our earlier discussions, we talked about how the Christian God is the foundation for logic. Logic is immaterial, universal, and consistent—qualities that can’t come from purely material or evolutionary processes. Instead, logic reflects the nature of God, who is the source of all reason and order. Just like logic can’t exist apart from God, morality also needs a foundation that goes beyond the physical world.

The Rock Analogy: Intent and Morality

Imagine a rock falling off a cliff and crushing another rock below. Nobody would say the falling rock is morally responsible for crushing the other rock. We wouldn't even prosecute the falling rock if it struck a human! Why? Because morality requires intent, and rocks don’t have intent. They’re just bits of organized matter following the laws of physics.

Now think about humans. If we’re nothing more than complex collections of matter—if our actions are just the result of neurons firing and chemical processes—then where does moral responsibility come from? If one person kills another, it would just be matter in their brain causing matter in their body to act on another mass of matter. Without something more, there’s no real basis for morality.

Why Materialism Falls Short

If the material world is all there is, morality becomes just a matter of opinion or social agreement. There’s no real right or wrong—only what people happen to prefer. And even their opinions would be nothing more than valueless outputs of the chemical processes of their brains! But we all know, deep down, that some things are objectively wrong—things like murder, slavery, or child abuse. These aren’t just behaviors we dislike; they’re violations of an unchanging moral standard.

The Source of Morality: God’s Nature

This is where the Christian worldview gives a solid answer. Morality isn’t just a list of rules God made up, and it’s not a standard outside of Him that He follows. Instead, morality flows from who God is. God’s very nature is the definition of goodness. His commands are good because they reflect His character.

In our next post, we’ll dive deeper into how God’s moral nature connects with the brokenness of the world and how His revelation helps us not just understand morality but live it..