Truth Process Session IV, Lesson 6

On Morality, Ethics, and Stone Throwing

Imagine this:

A senior high math teacher walked into her advanced calculus classroom and announces a 50 question “pop quiz”. Once the groans have died away, she patiently explains that she has both good and bad news for them, and that she has just given them the bad news. Smiling brightly, she delivers the good news – “There are 50 questions on the quiz, and you get to decide whether the answer you choose is right or wrong!

The classmates looked at one another in bewilderment. “You’re kidding, right?” one of them said. “Absolutely not” came the reply.

Deb raised her hand, and when called upon asked the following. “Let me get this straight. Let’s say a question on the test is ‘What is 2 + 2?’. We know that the answer ought to be 4, but if I put down 5 as the answer, I can decide that 5 is right, even though it’s wrong?”

“Not exactly,” the teacher said. “There are 20 of you in the class. If 11 of you decide to accept ‘5’ as the right answer, then it will be considered right.”

Deb’s hand shot into the air again. “So if the majority says that ‘5’ is right, does that mean that ‘4’ is wrong?” The teacher replied in the affirmative. “But ‘4’ IS right”, said Deb.

“Not any more” was the reply.

What an absurd story, you say. Well, it’s no more absurd than the culture we live in today.
In The Truth Project Lesson titled “Philosophy & Ethics: Who Says So?”, Ethics is defined as follows: The standard, the line, that which ought to be. The principles of conduct governing a person or group of people.

The dictionary definition of “standard’ offers more than 20 meanings. The one that stands out to me is “a rule or principle that is used as a basis for judgment.” The Truth Project definition of Ethics is centered on a truth claim that there is an objective truth which sets the standard of what “ought to be” in terms of human conduct. That objective truth is found in the divinely inspired word of God.

“Morality” on the other hand is defined in The Truth Project as “the rightness or wrongness of conduct; that which is. Habits of life or the practices of an individual.”

Ideally, that which is should be consistent with what ought to be. Up until the Fall, it was. Then Satan slithered into the Garden of Eden and Adam and Eve “bought” the false truth claim presented by the serpent – “you will not surely die”. At that moment, the cosmic battle between truth and lies, good and evil, began to rage in the hearts of the only creatures created in God’s image.

The battle continues to rage, thousands of years later. And, since no one knows the date and time of Christ’s return, for all we know, it may continue to rage for thousands more. Paul’s words would certainly apply to today’s culture:

For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. (2 Timothy 4:3-4)

So what’s a believer to do in such a cultural climate?

It seems to me that the first priority is to look within. Certainly our culture is an absolute mess, but what about me? Is that which is in my life – thought, word, and deed – consistent with what ought to be ? In other words, does my morality match God’s ethics? All too often, the answer is “No.” Now, does this reality disqualify me from being a “change agent” in the culture? CERTAINLY NOT! What it does do is give me a humble perspective.

Deb touched on this in the course of our discussion last week. It’s easy to cast stones at the culture and harbor an “I’m better than you” attitude. That attitude is not very winsome to the unsaved, and can hurt the cause of Christ. If we are not careful, we can become “Pharisee-like” in our thoughts as well as in our actions.

Jill Carattini, managing editor of A Slice of Infinity at Ravi Zacharias International Ministries, wrote the following:

Each of us, in an instant, can drudge up a snapshot of humanity at its worst. Images of genocide in Germany, Rwanda, Bosnia, or the Sudan come readily to mind. Other impressions are not far off: students planning deadly attacks at school, looters taking advantage of natural disasters, the greed that paved the Trail of Tears. They are visions that challenge the widespread hope that people are generally good, leaving in its wake the sinking feeling of human depravity. But such snapshots of humanity also seem to grant permission to distance ourselves from this depravity. Whether with theory or judgment, we place ourselves in different categories. Perhaps even unconsciously, we consider their inferior virtue, their primitive sense of morality, or their distinctively depraved character. And it is rare that we see the stones in our hands as a problem…

In the worst images of humanity, we cannot afford to leave ourselves out. For in them is a picture of how far the curse extends within us, and how great is the reach of God’s cure. Considering the depths of human depravity without seeing ourselves in the picture is failing to see the true depths. Viewing the sins of the world with a position of superiority is like picking up the stones God has saved you from and lobbing them at someone else. Jesus has called us to examine both the stones in our hands and the rockiness of our hearts, and to drop every one at his feet. (For the entire article go here.)

So – if I have to drop the stones, what do I do instead?

It occurs to me I ought to do. With the humility which comes from an awareness of my own sinfulness, and the confidence born of the magnitude of God’s grace – I can offer the one thing this culture so desperately needs – the TRUTH.

The more I think about this, the more I recognize my tendency to throw “truth stones” at the culture. We can’t hurl the truth at the culture and expect change. What we can do is offer the truth in love and humility, trusting God for the outcome.

In Christ,

John

Soli Deo Gloria