The Question of Morality

This is a follow up to my recent blog post on the issue of morality. It is an interview between a Christian journalist and the prominent atheist Richard Dawkins.


“What defines your morality?” I asked with genuine curiosity. 

There was an extended pause as Dawkins considered the question carefully. “Moral philosophic reasoning and a shifting zeitgeist.” He looked off and then continued. 

“We live in a society in which, nowadays, slavery is abominated, women are respected, children can’t be abused—all of which is different from previous centuries.” 

He leaned forward as he warmed to his subject. 

“I’m actually rather interested in the shifting zeitgeist. If you travel anywhere in the Western world, you find a consensus of opinion which is recognizably different from what it was only a matter of a decade or two ago. You and I are both a part of that same zeitgeist, and [as to where] we get our moral outlook, one can almost use phrases like ‘it’s in the air.’” 

At this point, perhaps a word of explanation is necessary. Zeitgeist is a German word meaning “spirit of the age.” Dawkins here refers to the prevailing moral climate or mood of a given place or time. We may observe that what constitutes moral or ethical behavior differs from one culture to another; indeed, it may even differ within a given culture. This is not in dispute. The question, rather, is this: should moral standards be based on the societal zeitgeist or should they look beyond it to something else? 

I asked an obvious question: “As we speak of this shifting zeitgeist, how are we to determine who’s right? If we do not acknowledge some sort of external [standard], what is to prevent us from saying that the Muslim [extremists] aren’t right?” 

“Yes, absolutely fascinating.” His response was immediate. “What’s to prevent us from saying Hitler wasn’t right? I mean, that is a genuinely difficult question. But whatever [defines morality], it’s not the Bible. If it was, we’d be stoning people for breaking the Sabbath.” 

I was stupefied. He had readily conceded that his own philosophical position did not offer a rational basis for moral judgments. His intellectual honesty was refreshing, if somewhat disturbing on this point. 

Dawkins proceeded to cite the abolition of slavery and the civil rights movement as examples of Western moral advancements, but would not credit Christianity in the slightest. 

“Now you have to remember where I am from,” I objected. “Birmingham, Alabama—the home of the civil rights movement. Many there would argue that the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., was motivated by his Christian convictions. And what of William Wilberforce?” 

But Dawkins would have none of it.


The really interesting bit I have put in italics. It proves that if you do not believe in God, literally anything can go. There is no morality except what someone decides personally. But then that means things such as genocide, murder and rape are not wrong because it's all down to personal preference. But we know these things are wrong and the one true level of morality for all mankind, from God, declares them wrong. No matter what Joe Bloggs thinks.


This interview also shows Dawkins irrational opinions on Christianity, which makes a mockery of his credibility on this issue.

Results Day

As the beautiful summer weather ceases, it is like a picture of the academic year finally ceasing.


Mid to late August is the time every year where students find out the product of a year's work, the exam results! Whether you are GCSE, A Level or doing a professional qualification the day usually means a lot of nervousness and excitement and then happiness or sadness depending on how you did.


Today I found out my fate and I am pleased to report that I did pretty much as I had expected, which was quite well. I passed three of the four exams at this level, with the one failure being one I saw coming due to the exam paper asking questions we hadn't quite studied in class! I will get to re-sit this exam in December with my next two exams and I hope for another three passes!!


It got me thinking however, one day we face the ultimate result. The result of a lifetime of living our lives. When I got the text with my results on I went from the unknown to the known in a matter of a second. Likewise, when our lives finally end we will go from the unknown to the known in a short amount of time.


Hebrews 4:13 states that we all have a meeting scheduled with God upon our deaths, where our lives will be judged.


Just as it's pass or fail or getting the grade you want or not, it's Eternity with God or Eternity without God. This is better known as Heaven or Hell. Of course, Heaven & Hell have been mis-represented to much on this world through TV, books and other media that it is not hard to think it is just a fairy story.


The Bible is clear that Heaven and Hell are a reality. Jesus refers to Hell on three occasions in Mark 9. In Luke 23:43, whilst He is dying, He famously tells the robber on the cross next to Him that he will be with Him in Paradise that night.


We have all sinned, and have fallen short of the glory of God states Romans 3:23. This is terrible news because it means we have failed to meet the requirements to enter Heaven.


But this is the good news - Romans 10:9...."That if you confess with your mouth, Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved."


YOU WILL BE SAVED. That is a promise from God and the Bible shows that, time and time again, God doesn't fail to keep His Promises. Everything God has said will pass, has passed. Jesus came to die on the cross for our sins, that was the main thing He came for, for us. Martin Luther called it, 'The Great Exchange' because Jesus took the punishment for all of our sin in exchange that we might have His perfect life and be able to pass that meeting with God.


The evidence for Jesus rising from the dead is extremely convincing. Atheists have tried to disprove it and failed, some actually converting to Christianity because of the strength of the evidence, which I will post more about this week.


So when it's time for your result, do you know that it is going to be? Do you have confidence? Or will you wait nervously like so many others and just see what happens. Some people can fluke exams, you cannot fluke past God who knows everything.


He Loves you so much, call on Him tonight and make your peace with the one who made you. Those who seek Him with their heart, will find Him. (Jer 29:13)


God Bless you, and I hope your exam results went great!

PCY Camp 2011!

I said I would blog on the recent PCY Camp, which we hold every year at Pembrey Park in Llanelli, so here it is!
I have to say that the 2011 edition of Camp was the best yet personally. What set this year apart was how much fun we all had and the wonderful atmopshere all around Camp. The feeling of wishing I was still there lasted longer than it had before. I guess it's a taste of what Heaven will be like, sharing super-fun and worshipful fellowship with great friends and brothers/sisters in Christ! I am already excited for 2012.

Apart from the two guys far left, these were the boys in my tent - Tent 1! :-) I must say they played a great part in it being such a great week. We had a lot of fun and everyone treated each other with love and respect. It was wonderful to see them encouraged in their faith and two of them give their lives to Christ. I was also blessed to see them be more like the people God made them to be!

This is Me with my second cousin Sam. Sam & Joanna came to Camp for the first time. It was the first time I had seen them in 6 years! It was a pleasure to get to know them again and see the fun, friendly and faithful people they had become :) This picture also give an indication to the fun we had on Camp, particularly with the £1.20 shop!!

Lastly I give thanks to God for all He did on Camp! I know of 4 commitments and many, many hearts and lives changed and encouraged for Him. I am so excited to see what He does in our lives, the happiness He will bring, the purpose He will give and the product of 50 people leaving Camp with their minds on serving God. This was all His Work and it's the greatest privilege ever to be a part of it, not just at Camp but all year around. THANK YOU LORD!

"The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands." Psalm 119:1

“For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.” Philippians 1:21

Britain's 'Broken Society'

Being away in Llanelli for PCY Camp last week (will blog on the incredible things that God did later this week!) meant that I wasn't privy to the News and it was with great shock that I saw a newspaper during the week with pictures and comments about rioting in the country.

This is something I have never seen before and I naively thought that it was a thing of the past.

Despite all the different theories flying around, I agree with David Cameron when he attributed it to a 'broken society' and 'moral collapse'.

Blaming the riots on the economy is foolishness. Everyday necessities were not being stolen, luxury items were. This was down to sheer hate from the groups seeking to cause trouble and sheer greed.

I have seen signs of this for a while now indeed, the breakdown of communities, the highest prisoner numbers ever and the increased signs of depraved behaviour in the country. It is as if evil behaviour has become 'cool' and the normal way to behave in Great Britain.

It is no co-incidence to me that this happens to parallel to decreased influence of the Christian Church in society and the recent attacks on it from militant Athiest groups.

You see, this is the problem...if God doesn't exists then neither can morality.

Without God, it is simply a matter of personal opinion. 'I believe this is wrong' or 'We believe this is wrong'. This doesn't work because not everyone has the same ideals. Does a pedophile believing molesting children is right make it right? Does a society believing that adultery is acceptable make it acceptable? NO IT DOESN'T.

God is perfect and has no evil in Him. He created the world and set down laws for the people to abide by. Not because of a power trip, but because He Loves us and wants us to enjoy our lives. The truth is that sin doesn't help us enjoy our lives, it actually destroys lives.

Because God is so much higher than us, and has authority, it means His Law is the only form of morality we can realistically rely upon.

So when Great Britain decides that it doesn't need God anymore and it's own opinions are more important, it spells TROUBLE.

The only hope for 'Broken Britain' is that the hearts of the people turn to Christ and follow Him. Otherwise, we will just continue in a vicious circle of selfishness, hate and greed.

Deuteronomy 5:29

Oh, that their hearts would be inclined to fear me and keep all my commands always, so that it might go well with them and their children for ever!

Testimony - Alistair McGrath

Found this testimony/criticism of Dawkins online today and wanted to share it as I found it encouraging and very true.

"He is a 'psychotic delinquent', invented by mad, deluded people. And that's one of Dawkins's milder criticisms.


Dawkins, Oxford University's Professor for the Public Understanding of Science, is on a crusade.


His salvo of outrage and ridicule is meant to rid the world of its greatest evil: religion. "If this book works as I intend," he says, "religious readers who open it will be atheists when they put it down." But he admits such a result is unlikely. "Dyed-in-the-wool faith-heads" (that's people who believe in God) are "immune to argument", he says.


I have known Dawkins for more than 20 years; we are both Oxford professors. I believe if anyone is "immune to argument" it is him. He comes across as a dogmatic, aggressive propagandist.


Of course, back in the Sixties, everyone who mattered was telling us that religion was dead. I was an atheist then. Growing up as a Protestant in Northern Ireland, I had come to believe religion was the cause of the Province's problems. While I loved studying the sciences at school, they were important for another reason: science disproved God. Believing in God was only for sad, mad and bad people who had yet to be enlightened by science.


I went up to Oxford to study the sciences in 1971, expecting my atheism to be consolidated. In the event, my world was turned upside down. I gave up one belief, atheism, and embraced another, Christianity. Why? There were many factors. For a start, I was alarmed by some atheist writings, which seemed more preoccupied with rubbishing religion than seeking the truth.


Above all, I encountered something at Oxford that I had failed to meet in Northern Ireland - articulate Christians who were able to challenge my atheism. I soon discovered two life-changing things.


First, Christianity made a lot of sense. It gave me a new way of seeing and understanding the world, above all, the natural sciences. Second, I discovered Christianity actually worked: it brought purpose and dignity to life.


I kept studying the sciences, picking up a PhD for research in molecular biophysics. But my heart and mind had been seduced by theology. It still excites me today.


Dawkins and I both love the sciences; we both believe in evidence-based reasoning. So how do we make sense of our different ways of looking at the world? That is one of the issues about which I have often wished we might have a proper discussion. Our paths do cross on the television networks and we even managed to spar briefly across a BBC sofa a few months back. We were also filmed having a debate for Dawkins's recent Channel 4 programme, The Root Of All Evil? Dawkins outlined his main criticisms of God, and I offered answers to what were clearly exaggerations and misunderstandings. It was hardly rocket science.


For instance, Dawkins often compares belief in God to an infantile belief in Santa Claus or the Tooth Fairy, saying it is something we should all outgrow. But the analogy is flawed. How many people do you know who started to believe in Santa Claus in adulthood?


Many people discover God decades after they have ceased believing in the Tooth Fairy. Dawkins, of course, would just respond that people such as this are senile or mad, but that is not logical argument. Dawkins can no more 'prove' the non-existence of God than anyone else can prove He does exist.


Most of us are aware that we hold many beliefs we cannot prove to be true. It reminds us that we need to treat those who disagree with us with intellectual respect, rather than dismissing them - as Dawkins does - as liars, knaves and charlatans.


But when I debated these points with him, Dawkins seemed uncomfortable. I was not surprised to be told that my contribution was to be cut.


The Root Of All Evil? was subsequently panned for its blatant unfairness. Where, the critics asked, was a responsible, informed Christian response to Dawkins? The answer: on the cutting-room floor.


The God Delusion is similarly full of misunderstanding. Dawkins simply presents us with another dogmatic fundamentalism. Maybe that's why some of the fiercest attacks on The God Delusion are coming from other atheists, rather than religious believers. Michael Ruse, who describes himself as a 'hardline Darwinian' philosopher, confessed that The God Delusion made him 'embarrassed to be an atheist'.


The dogmatism of the work has attracted wide criticism from the secularist community. Many who might be expected to support Dawkins are trying to distance themselves from what they see as an embarrassment.


Aware of the moral obligation of a critic of religion to deal with this phenomenon at its best and most persuasive, many atheists have been disturbed by Dawkins's crude stereotypes and seemingly pathological hostility towards religion. In fact, The God Delusion might turn out to be a monumental own goal - persuading people that atheism is just as intolerant as the worst that religion can offer."

Source : http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-433628/Do-stop-behaving-God-Professor-Dawkins.html?fb_ref=LikeButtonBottom&fb_source=profile_oneline