Secular moral philosophy is the idea that morals come from your environment. In other words, they suggest that we receive our moral understanding from the society that surrounds us. This, coupled with the idea of the conscience encoded into all of us in our DNA, brings us morality. This ideology does not propose an objective standard. Therefore, every culture would have a unique moral standard. This is true simply because in every culture man and humanism would be held up as the standard objective for morality.
It is not in man to set moral standards because of the varying nature of individuals. Rather, it is God that sets the standard for His creation. The Creator is the one who is the author of morality for what He has created, not any man, men, village, culture, or environment. Paul says in (1 Cor 15:33), “Do not be deceived: “Bad company ruins good morals” (ESV). With this statement Paul shows us that there is indeed a moral standard.
Solomon says that there is a way of understanding. “Forsake foolishness and live, and go in the way of understanding” (Pro 9:6). Solomon is boldly proclaiming that God is the way of understanding. This means that Solomon understands and teaches us that God is the great Creator from which all wisdom comes from. With God’s wisdom comes all the information that is needed for life and godliness. “As His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue,” (2 Pet 1:3).
You see, it is God that calls us to virtue and godliness, not by chance or an idea, but through knowledge. Thus Solomon would come to the conclusion “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is man’s all” (Eccl 12:13). Within God’s commandments sits the root of man’s understanding of right and wrong, and man’s guide for morality.
Another problem with the secular moral philosophy idea is that it is based on human emotion. A key component to this theory is that humans are bliss-driven. Your moral compass is effected by your society, and your society then reacts to what is positive and what is negative. In other words, what causes bliss and happiness is good and accepted as part of the moral standard.
To the contrary, things that cause sadness, anger, and depression etc. are considered bad or not up to the moral standard. One of the problems with this idea is that what makes one person happy might not make another person happy. Some people achieve happiness when they commit murder and rape while others do not. According to secular morality, if the amount of people who become happy when they murder and rape outnumber the ones who don’t, then murder and rape become the standard of morality. When man is lifted up as the standard of morality, then man will fall because of his standards.
To be continued next week…