Morality with me at the centre of the world

Twitter and other social networks are very judgemental environments - and I guess this post is already sounding like it's one of the same kind. In this, there is a difference between disagreements over ideas and  the  judging of one another for doing what is "wrong". How is a person able to judge the moral value of another making some statement, behaving in a certain way, or not doing something that, it is assumed, should have been done?

With that introduction, I want to give the rest of the space in this post over to a Christian leader who analyses why many people believe conduct in society is becoming worse, no matter whether looking at shoppers' behaviour to each other and to the staff, or in the business world, academia, and instutituions in general. With the understanding that the writer knows that the biblical account of the origin of humankind is a poetic one, consider the ideas below:

Clearly, we must trace the source of division [among people] in the human heart and the human mind.  This division is caused principally because man sought full autonomy from God.  This is the message from the book of Genesis.  We are told that God, after He created the earth, “shaped man from the soil of the ground and blew the breath of life into his nostrils, and man became a living being.”  God gave His Spirit to man and he became a living being.  Indeed, the moment God withdraws His Spirit, we will turn back to dust.  “If he should take back his spirit to himself, and gather to himself his breath, all flesh would perish together, and all mortals return to dust.”  (Job 34:14) Hence, man’s existence is dependent on God alone.  Without Him, man turns to nothing.

The biggest folly and ignorance of man today is to think that he is the center of the world.  The modern man thinks highly of himself, of his intellect, knowledge and power to do things.  He does not need God and makes no reference to God. He does not believe in absolute moral laws but everything is subjected to his whims and fancies.   He thinks he is the center, the whole world and everyone revolves around him.   What is needed is a Copernican revolution instead!  God made it clear that He is the center, not man.  “Yahweh God planted a garden in Eden, which is in the east, and there he put the man he had fashioned. From the soil, Yahweh God caused to grow every kind of tree, enticing to look at and good to eat, with the tree of life in the middle of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.”  The tree of life and the tree of knowledge of good and evil is the symbol of God’s life and wisdom.  Only God can give us life.  Only God knows what is good and evil clearly.   He gives us laws so that He can guide us to the fullness of life.

God placed moral boundaries for human beings so that man can be protected from his ignorance.  “God took the man and settled him in the garden of Eden to cultivate and take care of it. Then Yahweh God gave the man this command, ‘You are free to eat of all the trees in the garden. But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you are not to eat; for the day you eat of that, you are doomed to die.'”  In other words, man does not have absolute freedom.  He is given the freedom to choose but if he does not obey God’s moral laws which are part of creation and in harmony with natural laws, man will suffer a backlash.   

Morality is something placed in the hearts of man.  We have a conscience that tells us from within whether something is right or wrong.  We all know that there is objectivity to morality because of natural laws.   Who placed them there?  Even without studying morality, we know that something is not right.  Morality as what the world wants us to believe is more than just situational or conditional.   We are moral beings and God has planted truth in our hearts.  Truth is not an invention or creation of man.   But man uses his reason to rationalize and justify what he wants to do all in the name of relativism.  If we search deep into our heart, moral laws are as clear as the sun!

However, due to his arrogance, man wants to rely on himself instead on God.  He wants to continue with selfish and self-centered acts.  Without God, without absolute moral norms, he twists and turns all moral laws to suit himself.  We think that morality is a matter of opinions and statistics simply because the majority believe it to be right.  This is why when we use reason alone, we cannot agree on what is ethical or moral.  The tragedy is that God has been removed from humanity in the Post-Enlightenment Period.  Science and technology without God and without morality has led to the destruction of humanity.  We can see this in climate warming, pollution, deforestation, wars and nuclear armament.  Today, the world justifies every action, including terrorism, assassination of world leaders, chemical wars, abortion, and euthanasia, all in the name of justice and human rights.  We are blinded by our intellect and arrogance.  Fulfillment can only be found in God alone.

Published 10 February, 2021. Written  by Catholic Archbishop of Singapore William Goh. His reflections are not archieved, but his work can be read here.