In 20 years of college teaching, Prof. Robert Simon has never met a student who denied that the Holocaust happened. What he sees quite often, though, is worse: students who acknowledge the fact of the Holocaust but can't bring themselves to say that killing millions of people is wrong. Simon reports that 10 to 20 percent of his students think this way. Usually they deplore what the Nazis did, but their disapproval is expressed as a matter of taste or personal preference, not moral judgment. "Of course I dislike the Nazis," one student told Simon, "but who is to say they are morally wrong?"
Overdosing on nonjudgmentalism is a growing problem in the schools. Two disturbing articles in the Chronicle of Higher Education say that some students are unwilling to oppose large moral horrors, including human sacrifice, ethnic cleansing, and slavery, because they think that no one has the right to criticize the moral views of another group or culture.
Does that make you cringe? It should! I cannot comprehend how some people can acknowledge that the Holocaust happened but cannot decisively say that it was wrong. Additionally, I weep for the future of our country if today's students are unwilling to oppose moral atrocities and unwilling to say that those who commit such heinous acts are morally wrong.
Friends, is there no absolute standard for morality? Many people would like us to believe this is the case, but they do not like to address the implications of such a position. Realize that if there is no absolute standard for morality then it is up to each individual to subjectively determine what is right and what is wrong. As a result, no one can truly be wrong. If there is no absolute standard for morality then the liar cannot be wrong, the thief cannot be wrong, the murderer cannot be wrong, the rapist cannot be wrong, and the pedophile cannot be wrong. If there is no absolute standard for morality, then all we have is subjective chaos, and we live in an age similar to the period of the judges in the Old Testament where "everyone did what was right in his own eyes" (Judges 17:6; 21:25).
Yes, there are many who would like us to believe that there is no absolute, objective standard for morality, but, as followers of Christ and students of God's word, we should know better.
If we believe the Bible, we must believe Solomon who wrote by inspiration, "There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death" (Proverbs 14:12; 16:25). If we are to believe the Bible, we must believe the prophet Jeremiah who wrote (also by inspiration) "O Lord, I know the way of man is not in himself; it is not in man who walks to direct his own steps" (Jeremiah 10:23).
How can man--the creation--determine for himself the difference between good and evil when the way that seems right to him leads to death and when he cannot direct his own steps?
Dear listeners, make no mistake; there is an absolute and objective standard for morality, and it is the Bible. The Bible is our absolute and objective source "for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, [and] for instruction in righteousness" (2 Timothy 3:16). The Bible gives us what we need to be "thoroughly equipped for every good work" (2 Timothy 3:17). Let us cherish and honor the Bible--our moral standard!