“There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death” (Proverbs 14:12).
Although most people say they want guidance from God, or the Bible, the vast majority of them say they don’t believe in absolutes. And what is an absolute? If you check the dictionary, you will learn that an absolute is a moral law, something which is unchanging which derives its authority from itself.
A poll asked people to respond to this statement: “There are few moral absolutes; what is right or wrong usually varies from situation to situation.” Of those interviewed, 63 percent agreed, yet 70 percent said they believed in God and what the Bible says is important, but not absolutes.
Traditionally, absolutes have included such things as morality, honesty, integrity, and ethics that are right or wrong in themselves, not right or wrong depending on whether you like or dislike doing something.
Today the issue goes much deeper than whether or not it’s OK to lie to customs to avoid paying duty when you’ve been traveling overseas. The issue includes whether or not it is right to terminate the life of a child born without a fully developed brain so that organ transplants might allow other children to live who would otherwise die. It involves issues like withholding information from the person that you are marrying because you think it is highly unlikely that your past history will ever catch up with you. It includes decisions which determine whether or not a child is born, or the life of that pre-born infant is terminated before he has a chance to breathe on his own.
The issue of absolutes makes us uncomfortable because of the implications we prefer not to face, yet whether or not you like or dislike something is not the issue. Then what is the issue? It is whether or not something is true.
John Stuart Mills, the English philosopher, was among those in modern times who raised the issue of God being less than good to allow unpleasant things such as the suffering of a child, or the injustices which are forced on the poor. The deeper issue, though, is not whether God is good, but whether He is just.
When the justice of God is overshadowed by His goodness, we have lost sight of the nature of God which resulted in His establishing moral absolutes.
If today’s commentary has come in six inches over your head, please forgive me. The issue, though, is not just philosophical. It is bottom-line practicality. Like what? How would you describe a mate who is faithful to his or her spouse as much as 70 percent, or even 85 percent, or even 97 percent of the time? Before you cry, “Unfaithful,” remember that 97 nights out of 100, that person comes home. Maybe even 99 nights out of 100. Yet, that person would still be unfaithful.
When it comes to moral absolutes, the thing that we must not overlook is that whether or not people keep them, they are still there, and God expects certain things of us which are not negotiable. Issues of right and wrong are as non-negotiable to God as the weather.
Long ago, during the days of judges, there was a time when every man did that which was right in his own eyes; it was a period of chaos. “Everybody did as he saw fit;” that’s the way the prophet described it, and when we revert to that standard, we will be in even deeper trouble than we are today. Remember, to find God’s help for your life, demands that you recognize the guidelines that you find in Scripture are absolutes which are true of themselves and in themselves, regardless of how we think or feel, we find safety and comfort.
Resource reading: Psalm 1.
