Not long ago a speaker presented the idea that in our postmodern, amoral and immoral world, there still is an opening to talk with people about God. His point, if I remember correctly, was that even though biblical morality seems lost in the present generation, most people still have some point at which they can see a wrong has been committed. Atrocities make them recoil in disgust. It is at this point that Christians may have an opportunity for evangelism with even the hardest of unbelievers.
When such an event as the Holocaust is discussed, people will generally (though tragically, not always) recognize the inherent awfulness of such a thing. Then, the Christian has the opportunity to pry a bit. “Why is that wrong?” one might ask. It may take some time to peel through the layers of superficial responses: “Well, it just is!” However, perhaps it can be done. Maybe the Christian can get the unbeliever to see that without a transcendent God, morality really means nothing. Without a Creator, who gets to make up moral rules? If someone responds that a government does, then Hitler’s gas chamber guards were just doing the right thing. Hopefully, people will see the errant nature of that logic. If someone responds that morality is based on inherent goodness in man, one could ask him to define that goodness. One leaving (unscripturally) an ailing wife to marry another might not seem good to that first wife, but it might seem great to the selfish husband or the new woman. So, goodness, at the core, without a transcendent lawgiver eventually becomes purely subjective.
If a Christian can find a person honestly seeking truth, this person can be challenged with these thoughts. As others have put it, “If God does not exist, nothing matters; if God does exist, nothing else matters!”
Perhaps the scandals of the current day can be openings to discuss these principles with people. People can see that, whether left-leaning or right-leaning politicians be involved, cover-ups and harassments are wrong. Hopefully, the recent trial exposing an abortion doctor for his infanticide will open the eyes of people that the two practices are inherently the same – one inside the womb and one outside. And why are these things wrong? Well, there must be a higher power. If there is not a God, then the highest power is either government or the individual. If government is the highest power and government does these things, then there is nothing wrong with them. The one shocked is then shocked without basis. If the individual is the highest power, then one cannot judge these individuals (whoever is responsible) in government for they might not have thought these things to be wrong. They may even have thought them to be good in a utilitarian (end-justifies-the-means) sense. Yet, people inherently know there is something wrong. People who are honest will be forced rightly to the conclusion that there must be a moral authority, there must be a higher power, and there is a God.
This is the moral argument for God’s existence. It, along with the cosmological and teleological arguments, carries the weight of proof. I cannot see God, yet I know He is there (Romans 1:20). Without seeing Him, I can love Him (1 Peter 1:8). With His presence, I can know by the revealed message what is right and what is wrong. I don’t have to wonder (John 12:48; 1 John 2:3-4; 5:3).
