It wasn’t so long ago that families would sit together in the cool of the evening and reason about the issues of life. I remember, as a boy, hearing the adults engaged in just such discussions. Sometimes the arguments became very intense—even heated and passionate. In the midst of these discussions, one would often ask, “What does the Bible say?” Bibles would be opened, and they would read and discuss the matter in the light of God’s Word. Most often, the discussion would be settled by saying, “If that’s what the Bible says, then that’s it. There is the answer.”
Such discussions just don’t seem as prominent in families these days. In fact, there is little searching and few answers. An appeal throughout the ages has been to reason (Isa. 1:18). The British educator C. S. Lewis reasoned his way to an understanding of the existence of God. He wrote the book Mere Christianity based on his reasoning process. One of the most powerful arguments for him and many others is what is known as the moral argument—the reasoning that right and wrong point to a source for such morality.
Our society is looking for answers. People are looking for answers to violence, both public and private. They are dealing with the problems of theft, lying, cheating, fraud, sexual immorality, and murder. Most acknowledge these things to be wrong, but why are some things wrong and others right? Many who deny the existence of God and reject an objective moral standard will still judge certain actions to be wrong. Atheists often do this in their rejection of God on the one hand, while on the other appealing to the idea that something is morally wrong. What, then, is the standard?
Is there a moral standard—an objective standard—of right and wrong? Or is everything simply based on one’s feelings and nothing more? This question is important in religion. Is there a standard by which to live, or not? Is the standard of right and wrong based on dreams, visions, voices, or feelings? And if so, whose? Is there a standard of right and wrong, and can we know it? Jesus affirmed that there is objective truth (John 17:17), and that we can know it (John 8:32).
God’s Word is the moral code, the standard by which we are to live. Though an unbeliever, Thomas Jefferson said of the teaching of Jesus that it was “the most sublime and benevolent code of morals ever offered.” The Bible affirms that it provides that which will make one complete (II Tim. 3:17), thoroughly furnishing one unto every good work. In it are “all things that pertain unto life and godliness” (II Pet. 1:3–4). The answers to the questions of life are found in God’s Word, the Bible. Why? Because it is the Word from the Creator, God. It has to be, for there is no other book like it. If one of an honest and good heart seeks within its pages, (s)he will find the answers to life on earth and the direction to eternal life.
If more people would take the time to seek the truth, more would find it. If more would do as I remember my family doing years ago, then more would not only come to a knowledge of the truth but also be obedient to it.
David Hill
President
Tennessee Bible College