Reason 13 of 13
Right and wrong are real
Almost everyone knows that some things, like torturing a child for fun, are truly wrong, not just unfashionable. Real moral obligations point to a moral lawgiver, and the Bible says that law is written on the human heart.
The argument
If God does not exist, objective moral values and duties do not exist either: morality becomes preference, custom or the by-product of evolution. But we know that some things are really wrong. So there is good reason to think God exists.
C. S. Lewis, a former atheist, found this the first clue: we all appeal to a standard of fairness we did not invent and do not keep (Mere Christianity, Book 1).
14(for when Gentiles who don’t have the law do by nature the things of the law, these, not having the law, are a law to themselves, 15in that they show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience testifying with them, and their thoughts among themselves accusing or else excusing them)
Romans 2:14-15 (WEB) · context
8He has shown you, O man, what is good. What does Yahweh require of you, but to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?
Micah 6:8 (WEB) · context
Where it leads
The moral law is good news and bad news. It points to a good God, and it shows that we have all broken His law. That is why the gospel matters: God Himself provided forgiveness in Christ.
23for all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God; 24being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,
Romans 3:23-24 (WEB) · context
The strongest objection, stated fairly
Evolution explains why we have moral feelings: cooperation helped our ancestors survive.
How it answers
Evolution may help explain why we have moral feelings, but not whether those feelings are true. If they are only survival instincts, then the conviction that cruelty is really wrong is an illusion. Most of us cannot live as if it were.
Where Christians disagree
- Some atheist philosophers defend objective morality without God (moral realism without theism). Christians answer that such views leave unexplained why moral facts bind us and why we can know them.
Sources
- C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity (1952), Book 1
- William Lane Craig, Reasonable Faith, 3rd edition (Crossway, 2008)
Why the evidence matters
If Jesus rose, His offer is real
God loves you and gave His Son so that whoever believes in Him should not perish.