Where does morality come from?

Where does morality come from?

Morality is rooted in the nature and character of God Himself. He expresses moral distinctions through His actions and words, and through interaction with Him, we learn what is "right and good" (consistent with God's character) and what is "wrong and bad" (contrary to God's character). The very existence of morality points to the existence of God. Without God, "right" and "wrong" are mere opinions with no objective reality.

It’s a mix.

It’s a mix. Some is taught directly, some is instinctive, and some you pick up to function in society.

The short answer is God

The longer answer is that the laws have been written on our heart and mind

How do you know that?

from Light.



the more one is found to be "in Christ" -- the more they are found to be in Light -- the more they are found to be in Truth.

Morality is a human construct. It is mankind's attempt to live in independence from God. It's roots are in the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. It helps to remember that it is also the Tree of Death.

The Western world used to base its morals on the Bible. That is the "good" side of the the Tree. Now morality is determined by whoever can shout the loudest and is motivated enough to force its will on society. The homosexual lobby demonstrates this perfectly.

The reason why such groups prosper is that the church has failed to be salt and light. So God's moral standards have been rejected. God's judgement is now at work. The rise of China coincides with the moral decline of the West. God allows this because He wants to get out attention. COVID is another example of God's judgement. He does this out of love because He wants to get our attention. He wants the world to repent and turn to Christ, and so come under God's blessing instead of cursing.

Besides making claims, how do you know that anything you just said is true?

Scripture (Mark 10:18 & Hebrews 10:16)

Is that an epistemological question?

I feel like the foundation of moralty is innate to all born into the human family. We may have slight differences in temperament, preference, and (later) ideology, but I do feel that all members of the human family (generally) are born with a tendency towards peace, love, connection, and care.

I mean, I definitely think you make major errors in your ideology when you begin to use the Bible to explain present-day political and medical outcomes. I don't believe God sent COVID as judgement, nor is CHina's political standing in the world in act of God's wrath. Your stated ideologies are not spiritual, they are political. It helps the body of Christ when we separate the two.

Scripture gives an interesting warning about wicked people in the parable of the tares. There are wheat which are capable of producing the spiritual fruit (the works of love), and there are tares which are without good fruit but look similar to wheat. From scripture, your statement fully applies to the wheat in the world, but the tares are incapable of producing good fruit.

How many tares are in the world today? Maybe none. But at least historically there were a multitude of them. And their tendency toward peace, love, connection, and care may only be superficial and not true to what is generally true for humanity.

I can agree with everything you said. I do, however, feel less concerned about those who "tares" past and present and am worried about those who call ourselves the body of Christ. I believe that even our sense of morality hugely flawed or at least inconsistent.

That's like asking "How do you know you exist?" Are you sure you exist?

Short answer... The Holy Spirit and the bible

There have been studies done on children that support this view that we are born with the basic morals
Jonathan Haidt says that we are born with 5 particular morals built in. I forget which ones they were but he gives a good lecture based on studies.

I think you will find many atheist like Sam Harris believe the same, that we are hard wired to know the basic rights and wrongs, eg not to intentionally hurt people...

In fact, atheist thinkers have made up some good ways to know what is right and wrong... The best one ive heard is this:
"Any deliberate action to hurt someone is wrong". U could also add "deliberately damaging property is wrong"

Atheists and theists mostly agree on these morals, they are personal morals, the God given ones
What we don't agree on is societal morals like gay marriage. They will say that its not hurting anyone so its ok. My response is that zoophilia, necrophilia and other sexual deviations are ok too because they don't hurt anyone. So that view is flawed...

Thats why the bibles morals are true morals, objective... Most other ways are subjective and therfore flawed

Morality... This was probably the number 1 topic that brought me back to God after being a prodigal son

How can we know what is right if we don't know what right is...

Its a topic that is spoken a lot among atheists but not so much here cos i think we all have the same answer to that question of where morality comes from... God and His Word
Iv watched some good lectures and debates on morality...
My favourite one was Ben Shapiro vs Sam Harris... A jew vs an atheist... Fascinating debate

From God..........His Law........specifically; the 10 Commandments which are the Moral Laws