The Basis of Morality

So the basis of morality in our society seems to be whether or not something hurts someone. Christians seem to have adopted this way of thinking. Because of this they have no way of understanding some of God’s commands, because they do not see how violating them harms anyone. For example, regarding gay marriage or cohabitation, or even, say, smoking marijuana, many students ask the question: how can that be wrong, you’re not hurting anyone? Most know that God has prohibited these things, but they can’t understand why. But because they have been shaped by their society and think that harm is the basis of morality, they think that God’s commands against these things are arbitrary. And though none of them say this, I think that if you believe God is arbitrary you are ultimately going to think he is either foolish or mean for keeping us from things that would make us happy for no good reason. And if God is foolish or mean, why trust in and obey him? This is a relevant discussion. 

Now I know that some Christians (I heard this all the time growing up) have co-opted this belief and say that every sin is wrong because every sin harms God. I think this is bad theology as it demeans and belittles God. I know there are great debates about whether or not or to what extent God suffers and I just don’t see how it’s possible for God to be God and for him to suffer pain at every single sin that every single person commits. So I think the basis of morality needs to lie outside of harm.

Now I do believe that every sin is the destruction, the perversion, or the bending of something good, so every sin does in fact involve harm. I believe that every sin harms the sinner and the community in which the sinner lives. I don’t however believe that this is why something is wrong. I don’t think that something is wrong because of what happens from it, this is consequentialism. Consequentialism doesn’t work because it is impossible to judge the morality of something based on its consequences when we often don’t know what those consequences would be. The only way we could be consequentialists is if we were omniscient, and we are not. Our inability to judge morality on our own is why God provided a revelation.

I think morality lies in whether or not someone breaks the Natural Law. There is a Natural Law (or order) built into creation, known partially and imperfectly through our conscience and reason and revealed more completely and perfectly in the Bible. This Natural Law reflects God’s character. When we sin we break this law. And like any law, when we break it we suffer harm, whether or not we recognize that we are suffering harm. This Law, and not the consequences of breaking it, is the basis of morality. Given the fact that we are shaped by our society and share its blind spots, there are always going to be parts the Law that seem unnecessary to us. This is where faith comes in. We have to believe that God is good and that he knows what is best for us and that his commands are not for his good alone, but also for ours.