Morality: Negotiated or Given?
"Morality" is not a sterile list of rules; it is the daily, practical answer to the question of how we should live. But is that answer just a social contract we negotiate over time, or is it grounded in an absolute, unchanging standard?
The Bottom Line
Executive Summary
The Death of Truth: Modern culture has abandoned classical logic (where truth is absolute) for relativism (where opposing truths are synthesized).
The Dark Conclusion: If there is no Absolute, there is no ultimate definition of good or evil. As the existentialists realized, if God does not exist, everything is permitted.
The Inescapable Reality: We claim that truth is relative, yet we live every day expecting to be treated fairly, proving that an absolute moral law is written on our conscience.
The True North: True morality is not a restriction of our freedom; it is the reflection of the holy character of our Creator, protecting human flourishing.
1 - The Death of Absolute Truth
For centuries, human thought operated on classical logic: Thesis and Antithesis. If something is true, its exact opposite must be false. You cannot simultaneously have two opposing realities. In our professional work, whether in engineering, accounting, law, or aviation, we still rely entirely on this absolute logic.
Yet, as philosopher Francis Schaeffer observed, modern culture has abandoned this when it comes to how we should live. We have shifted to Synthesis: the belief that opposing moral views can simply be merged into "your truth" and "my truth". We are asked to accept the impossible premise that when it comes to human behavior, absolute truth does not exist.
2 - The Descent into the Dark
What happens when truth becomes relative? Life gets very dark, very quickly. If there is no absolute standard outside of humanity, then morals are simply a matter of sociology. Right and wrong are decided by a 51% majority vote, or worse, by whoever holds the most power.
The great existentialist thinkers understood the terrifying reality of this void. As the novelist Fyodor Dostoevsky famously concluded: "If God does not exist, everything is permitted." Francis Schaeffer noted that if a purely material nature is our only standard, then cruelty is just as "natural" as kindness. Without an Absolute to appeal to, we have no foundation to call anything truly evil. Justice becomes an illusion.
3 - The Everyday Illusion
Despite our culture’s embrace of relativism, no one actually lives as a relativist. A person may claim that "all morality is subjective", but the moment they are defrauded by a business partner, lied to by a spouse, or cut off in traffic, they immediately appeal to an invisible, universal standard of fairness.
Why do we instinctively cry out, "That's not fair!"? As C.S. Lewis pointed out, you cannot call a line crooked unless you already have a concept of a straight line. Our daily, visceral reactions to injustice prove that a universal moral law is hardwired into the human experience. We cannot escape our own conscience.
4 - Grounding "How We Should Live"
You cannot have an absolute moral law without an absolute Moral Lawgiver. This changes the very definition of morality.
Morality is not an arbitrary list of rules designed by society to keep us in line. Nor is it a system of restrictions designed to keep us from enjoying life. True morality is simply the reflection of the unchanging character of our Creator. It is the "True North" of the universe. When we ask, "How should we live?", the answer is found not in looking inward at our own shifting desires, but in looking upward to the design of the One who made us.
5 - The Protection of the Absolute
The modern mind fears absolute truth because it feels restrictive. But the exact opposite is true: the Absolute is what protects us.
If morality is relative, we are at the mercy of the mob, the state, or the current cultural fad. Human rights become temporary privileges granted by those in power. But an absolute moral framework provides true freedom. Because the rules do not change based on who is in charge, human rights are unalienable, corporate integrity is grounded, and true justice is possible. The Absolute does not confine us; it secures us.
Where Does Your View Lead?
What we believe about absolute truth dictates how we navigate our daily lives, our ethics, and our response to injustice.
Ethics & Integrity
If relative: Ethics is merely a matter of compliance and public relations. You do whatever you can get away with, so long as it benefits you.
If absolute: Integrity matters even when no one is watching. You operate with honesty because right and wrong are fixed realities, regardless of the immediate cost.
Justice & Human Rights
If relative: Justice is determined by power dynamics. The strong make the rules, and human rights are merely temporary social contracts.
If absolute: Human rights are unalienable because they are defended by a higher Law. True justice is possible because evil can be objectively defined and condemned.
Personal Guilt
If relative: Guilt is just an unhelpful psychological complex that you must therapeutize or rationalize away.
If absolute: Guilt is a real, healthy indicator of a broken standard. Because the guilt is real, it can actually be dealt with, forgiven, and truly resolved.
Continue the Journey
If there is an absolute moral standard woven into the fabric of the universe, what happens when we inevitably fall short of it? Are we held accountable to this standard? The question of how we should live brings us to the final, ultimate question of human existence: Where are we going?
These are weighty questions, often better processed in conversation than in isolation. If you’d like to share your thoughts, explore these ideas further, or learn more, we would love to connect.