Morality and evil

Another feature of all people groups across the world and throughout history is the concept of morality. There seems to be a common code of right and wrong, love and justice. Now there are differences between the moral code of different civilizations, but these pale into insignificance when we consider the huge similarities. The standards of the ancient Egyptians, Babylonians, Greeks, Hindus and Chinese etc. share such a lot in common both with each other and ourselves. There has never been a country where returning spite for kindness has been acceptable, or being a traitor has been approved of. Now we all make excuses to ourselves for why we sometimes go against this moral code and these excuses show just how conscious we are of it.

We all assume these standards and are horrified when people break them. For instance we would all agree that the things that Hitler did to the Jews in Nazi Germany were wrong. Why? Surely that was up to him? We know those things were wrong because we all have a moral code which tells us the basics of right and wrong.

A frequent obstacle to belief in a God is the problem of evil. How can a God of love allow such evil and suffering in this world? But first in order to raise this objection we must recognise that evil exists. What is evil? If we take an atheists point of view then there can be no real standards, therefore evil doesn't really exist and the objection is invalid. I cannot say a stick is crooked unless I compare it to a straight stick. We cannot say that something is evil without comparing it to an absolute standard.

Consider again the crooked stick analogy. We all know there is evil, therefore we all compare evil to the''straight stick'. But where does this 'straight stick' come from? The only logical conclusion can be that it comes from a God who gave those standards to us, and therefore those standards are a reflection of His standards and His nature. For instance, we have strong concepts of justice and love and God therefore must have the same.