Is Morality An Ends Or A Means?

Morality – “1. The quality of being in accord with standards of right or good conduct
2. A system of ideas of right and wrong conduct”
Ends – “Something toward which one strives”
Means – “A method to attain an end”
(American Heritage Dictionary)

Ubiquitous Che asked the following question in response to my last post:

Is living a moral life a means to an end, or is it an end in itself?

If living a moral life is a means to an end, what is the end?
If living a moral life is an end in itself, what’s so special about it?

… I’m genuinely curious to know your answer whichever two of the above three questions are relevant to your worldview.

This question is important because it hits the crux of what makes Christianity unique. Let me deal with the possibilities of morality being an ends and morality being a means, and then I will give my answer in regards to the Christian worldview.

For most religious worldviews, living a moral life is a means – it is the method used to attain salvation. A code of right and wrong, often including mandatory religious observances, must be kept. If it is kept perfectly enough as determined by the particular system, the devotee may attain the system’s view of paradise, be it a literal place, a state of mind, or even the cessation of consciousness itself.

It should be noted that this category includes not only the religiously devout, but also those everyday nominals who view themselves as generally “good people” and whose view of God fosters the belief that this will get them to heaven. Again in this case morality is a means – being a “good person” gets one into heaven.

On the opposite end of the spectrum we find the humanistic worldviews, which view morality as an end in itself. Adherents of this perspective often view the goal of their lives as doing good things. There is no eternal purpose in all this, no end to attain or ultimate reward to reap. Even for the one who does seek recognition, I will categorize them here because of a lack of eternal end. Morality is the goal because they believe this life is all there is and it should be lived the best we can.

Now to the question at hand. I am answering in regards to Christian morality because this is the worldview which I defend as the only fully coherent and consistent one. I am referring to a biblically Christian morality – one that adheres to the Bible. I am not talking about people who merely call themselves Christians but fail to live within the moral framework of their profession.

Biblically speaking, morality is not an end in itself. It is true that there would be nothing special about the Christian religion if this were the case.

Neither is Christian morality strictly a means, a way to get to something eternal, in the classic sense.

Now let me qualify those statements lest I confuse some and be met with cries of “heretic” from others.

What do I mean when I say morality is not a means? If we view salvation as the goal of religion, biblically speaking doing good things doesn’t save anyone. The heart of the Gospel message is that all people are born sinful and thus unable to attain salvation by their own means. Anyone less than perfect may not enter God’s presence, which is the essence of eternal salvation in heaven. Because of this, God made a way for mean to be “born again,” spiritually remade as God originally intended, through the sacrifice of Christ on the cross. The Bible says, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9). In biblical Christianity salvation is not attained by means of good morality, but is received by faith.

So what part does morality play in the Christian life? After all, Christians are constantly condemning immoral behavior and crying out on behalf of God’s moral law.

Biblically Christian faith has its outworking, its outward manifestation, in good deeds. The sinful nature everyone is born with is put to death in Christ and a new man is made. The result is someone eager to live a good moral life, not because it will save them from hell and get them into heaven, but because of the love of God that they now possess as a result of the supernatural act of the salvation of their soul. One who has received Christ as Lord desires to serve him with their life. Good morality and good deeds result.

We may end up with a couple different types of people: those who have some sort of morality without having put their faith in Christ; and those who profess Christ but whose lives contradict their profession. For the one who claims their know Christ but does not live a moral life, you can be sure they do not really know him at all, for the Bible says the Christian will produce good “fruit” in keeping with repentance. For the one who has morality without Christ, their morality as an ends still has no significance, and as a means produces no salvation.

To answer the question briefly, Christian morality is neither an end or a means. The end is salvation. The means is Jesus Christ. Morality flows from the faith that flows from the heart of the one who has receives the means so that they may attain the end.

The End of Reason

I have purchased and begun to read Ravi Zacharias’ new book The End of Reason. It is a fascinating study, and a strongly worded one at that, against the new atheism and the ideology it promotes. I would like to write more about this as I finish the book, a 128-page letter in response to Sam Harris’ Letter to a Christian Nation. For now, here are two examples of where the atheistic worldview breaks down.

First in the issue of morality: The atheist has no absolute point of reference to claim anything is right or wrong. Sam Harris claims to believe in morality, but never answers the question of where morality comes from. If it comes from within oneself, my morality may contradict yours, and we still have no answers. Relative morality is not morality at all, merely preference.

Stemming from this point, the example is given of a woman who called in to a radio show Zacharias was a guest on accusing him of putting up all this fight merely to rid women of the “right” to an abortion. He answered her by asking her why she believes (as Harris does) that God choosing to end the lives of some while saving others makes him immoral, while she sees her choice of ending the life in her womb as a moral right. You cannot hold God up to a different standard than you yourself believe in. Harris even went so far as to state in his first book that in some instances a person’s belief system is a justification to kill them (implying of course that Christians may be killed for morally acceptable reasons). Yet he shakes his fist at God for allowing atrocities such as Auschwitz.

There are many more contradictions along the way as well. What it boils down to is this: While the new atheists claim to have a rational worldview while anyone who believes in God is irrational, in reality it is the atheistic worldview that breaks down in the end. As Zacharias puts it, “The Bible outlives its pallbearers.”

Atheism or Irreligion?

I stumbled across a quick post today entitled “Is Atheism a Crutch?”. It made me go “hmm” because I have been thinking a similar thought these days.

Ravi Zacharias postulates that most atheists are not so for intellectual reasons but for moral reasons. In other words, many have not chosen atheism because they don’t think there is enough evidence for God or anything like that, but because they echo Huxley’s sentiment that they want this world to be without God and without meaning so they can do whatever they want without consequence. I tend to agree.

I am not saying that all atheists are immoral buffoons, but I do agree with Ravi. At the heart of atheism many times is not the rejection of God’s existence but the choice not to serve, worship, or really think of him at all. At the heart many atheists are not really atheists but simply irreligious.

Most of the people I have encountered who profess atheism do so out of rebellion in one way or another. They do not want to have God on their consciences telling them what they are doing is wrong. They do not like feeling guilty about sin and fearing hell.

By the way, conviction is not a bad thing, and fear of hell is not a bad reason to seek God’s mercy. In fact these are the very reasons we seek God – so he will make us into new creations in Christ Jesus. Salvation is not just “fire insurance,” but a new life that is born out of true sorrow and repentance.

So the root of both atheistic irreligion and Christianity is morality. Many atheists are so because of rebellion in one way or another, wanting to write their own moral laws. Many Christians have become Christians because they have seen the moral bankruptcy of their lives and the moral perfection of a holy God.

Wounded by Cults and Loss of Faith

I was browsing around www.exmormon.org and read some people’s accounts of what caused them to leave the Mormon church. I was saddened by what much of what I was reading. Many people who left the church had written off religion altogether.

This is not completely unreasonable. I’ve been to churches that hurt me and I know that I was hesitant to return to church for fear of the same kind of manipulation. But the truth is that just because one church hurt you doesn’t mean that there isn’t truth out there to be found.

There is a humorous commercial on our local Christian radio station. It depicts two men sitting down to eat at a restaurant. One of the men refuses to order anything but pickles because that is the only thing that he’s ordered that hasn’t been messed up in the past. They messed up his cheeseburger or so he’ll never order a cheeseburger again – you get the idea. Then they bring the wrong kind of pickles and the guy swears off that too. The point of the commercial bears a truth: just because something bad happened in the past at church doesn’t mean that God isn’t real and the gospel isn’t true.

I’m sorry to see so many people hurt by the deception of the Mormon church. I wish that these people would see that God is real and the Bible is true. The message of the Mormon church has perverted the message of the Bible.

To get to the truth you need to search for it. It doesn’t make sense to swear off truth because someone who claims to have it really doesn’t. It’s hard, but you need to dust off your feet and move on, getting to the real message of the Word of God. Nothing less will do.

A Warning Concerning Education

The Bible warns against men in too high esteem.

You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere men? For when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” are you not mere men? What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe – as the Lord has assigned to each his task. I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow (1 Corinthians 3:3-7).

We are also warned not to hold ourselves in too high esteem.

Do not deceive yourselves. If any one of you thinks he is wise by the standards of this age, he should become a “fool” so that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight. As it is written: “He catches the wise in their craftiness”; and again, “The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are futile” (1 Corinthians 3:18-20).

Too often in the scholarly realm the man is put on the pedestal. It then becomes more important what men say than what God says. Besides holding men and their teachings too highly, many educated men and women become proud of their status of wisdom in the eyes of the world. But the Bible tells us that God’s idea of wisdom is radically different from man’s.

Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?… Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things – and the things that are not – to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him. It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God – that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. Therefore, as it is written: “Let him who boasts boast in the Lord” (1 Corinthians 1:20, 26-31).

So we are not to boast in worldly wisdom but in the gospel of Jesus Christ, for it is the work of the gospel that has made us who we are today in Christ Jesus.

We are given many warnings in the Word of God about what happens when we boast in our own wisdom. “Knowledge puffs up, but loves builds up” (1 Corinthians 8:1b).

If I speak in the tongues of men and angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I posses to the poor and surrender my body to the flames but have not love, I gain nothing” (1 Corinthians 13:1-3).

If we miss the point of the gifts God has given us – if we do not love God with all we are and love others as Christ loves us – our work is meaningless. It doesn’t matter how many books you’ve read, if you have a college degree, or if you have climbed the academic ladder as high as it goes. It is possibly to completely miss God and what he’s doing if you become puffed up about yourself. We are warned, “Do not think more highly of yourself than you ought” (Romans 12:3).

Do you need proof that God delights in using people this world views as foolish to confound the wise and to do his work? Look at D.L. Moody. Moody only had a sixth-grade education, and he went on to lead hundreds of thousands of people to Christ. More than that, our Lord used him to found a Bible college that is still standing today. Or look at A.W. Tozer. Tozer wasn’t educated either, but he was a man who knew God better than most scholars, and his life, preaching and writing showed it. A.W. Tozer preached by the power of the Holy Spirit. No education can replace that.

I’m not saying that education in and of itself is a bad thing, but that basing one’s worth on education is unbiblical and sometimes idolatrous.

Ecclesiastes, that great book of the Bible themed on meaning and futility, ends with these words:

Of making many books there is no send, and much study wearies the body. Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil (Ecclesiastes 12:12-14).

Martin Luther King Jr. On Thinking

“Rarely do we find men who willingly engage in hard, solid thinking. There is an almost universal quest for easy answers and half-baked solutions. Nothing pains some people more than having to think” (Martin Luther King Jr.).

Gospel Proclaimed and Judgment Warned

“Come now, let us reason together,”
says the LORD.
“Though your sins are like scarlet,
they shall be as white as snow;
though they are red as crimson,
they shall be like wool.

If you are willing and obedient,
you will eat the best from the land;

but if you resist and rebel,
you will be devoured by the sword.”
For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.

(Isaiah 1:18-20)

Is Truth Old-Fashioned?

Call me old-fashioned, but I believe in absolutes. I believe there is such thing as truth. I believe the Bible is God’s infallible Word and serves as our reference point for knowing God’s mind in matters of truth. I believe Jesus Christ is the only way to salvation, just like the Bible says. I also believe these things are not merely matters of faith but of reason. I think they make sense.

These kinds of ideas are seen today as things of a bygone era, things our parents and grandparents believed, but things that have no bearing on our lives today.

Interestingly, I’m not an “old” person – I’m in my early twenties. Nor was I raised in the church – I had heard some things about God as a child but did not become a born-again Christian until I was 19. I do not fit the stereotype of old-fashioned Christianity. My daddy isn’t a preacher. My mom wasn’t a praying woman when I was growing up. They didn’t drag us to church or make us listen to boring sermons. They didn’t push their old-fashioned views on us, indoctrinating us before we knew better. There’s nothing wrong with being raised in the church or with teaching your kids what’s true and right. I encourage these things. I’m just saying that that wasn’t me.

The truth is that truth exists, and it is not old-fashioned to say so.

Happy Easter

This weekend the Christian church commemorates the most important event in the history of our faith – the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. I’d like to wish you all a very happy Easter. We will be taking this long weekend off blogging as we’re going to be away from our internet connection. We’ll be back, Lord willing, on Tuesday.

1Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. 2By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.

3For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve. 6After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. 7Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, 8and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.

9For I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me. 11Whether, then, it was I or they, this is what we preach, and this is what you believed.

12But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. 14And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. 15More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised. 16For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. 17And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. 18Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. 19If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men.

20But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. 22For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. 23But each in his own turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him. 24Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. 25For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. 26The last enemy to be destroyed is death. 27For he “has put everything under his feet.” Now when it says that “everything” has been put under him, it is clear that this does not include God himself, who put everything under Christ. 28When he has done this, then the Son himself will be made subject to him who put everything under him, so that God may be all in all.
29Now if there is no resurrection, what will those do who are baptized for the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized for them? 30And as for us, why do we endanger ourselves every hour? 31I die every day—I mean that, brothers—just as surely as I glory over you in Christ Jesus our Lord. 32If I fought wild beasts in Ephesus for merely human reasons, what have I gained? If the dead are not raised,
“Let us eat and drink,
for tomorrow we die.” 33Do not be misled: “Bad company corrupts good character.” 34Come back to your senses as you ought, and stop sinning; for there are some who are ignorant of God—I say this to your shame.

(1 Corinthians 15:1-34)

Without Scripture We Can Know Nothing

“Not only do we know God by Jesus Christ alone, but we know ourselves only by Jesus Christ. We know life and death only through Jesus Christ. Apart from Jesus Christ, we do not know what is our life, nor our death, nor God, nor ourselves. Thus, without Scripture, which has Jesus alone for its object, we know nothing, and see only darkness and confusion in the nature of God, and in our own nature” (Blaise Pascal, Pensees, 547).