Is there any behavior that is wrong? Are there actions that we should or should not take? Everyone finds some type of behavior to be wrong. Even those who believe that there are no absolutes and that we should be tolerant of all lifestyles view intolerance as a wrongful behavior. These same people believe that it is wrong to speak out against certain behaviors. No matter who you are, there are behaviors that you find to be wrong.
How do you decide what is right and what is wrong? Think about a behavior that you find wrong, some behavior that you try to refrain from and believe that others should as well. Why did you decide that it is wrong? Perhaps your parents taught you it was wrong. Maybe you learned it in school. It could be that your friends said it was wrong. You possibly could have checked the polls and found that the majority of Americans see it as wrong. Perhaps you just feel that it is wrong. Maybe you define something to be wrong if it hurts someone else. It could be wrong because it is against the law. You could have possibly decided it was wrong because a celebrity says it is wrong. What causes you to determine right from wrong?
The above determining factors have all proven to be untrustworthy. Have your parents ever let you down or been wrong? History teaches us that school curriculum is constantly changing; because there are times that we figure out that we were wrong on things and change. Haven’t your friends let you down? Remember that the majority of the world thought the world was flat. How many times have you felt good about a decision only to have it fall apart? Celebrities have been wrong often.
Two of the factors are more understandable than the others. Is hurting someone wrong? Not that I am implying that hurting someone is okay, but who decided it is not okay? Why do we take the lives of some, but not others? Why do we hurt children by giving them shots? Is there ever a time that hurting one person prevents another from being hurt or actually helps them? Many people get verbally aggressive over the phone in order to get what they want. They have justified that in order to get what is needed it is necessary for someone’s feelings to be hurt. But who decided that hurting someone was wrong? What reliable source proves this?
Sure if you break the law, you will probably get in trouble. But who wrote the law? Didn’t people write the law? How did they decide that something was wrong? They probably used one or more of the above factors. If that is the case, then we are right back where we started. A lot of factors to chose from, but none that is trustworthy.
There are no trustworthy factors; that is, except the Bible. Only the Bible has proven throughout history to be trustworthy. The principles of God’s Word are flawless. No other factor makes sense. The very fact that we admit there are wrongs, reveals that there is something written on our conscience. In fact regarding this God said that “I will put My laws upon their heart, and on their mind I will write them,” Hebrews 10:16. However, in order to distinguish between opinions from untrustworthy sources, including our own feelings, we must go to the Bible. We are told that the “one who looks intently at the perfect law…and abides by it…this man will be blessed in what he does,” James 1:25. How do you decide what is right and wrong? I do so by the Bible.
