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“There’s something more,” Matt said. “Let me ask you a question. Why is it wrong to lie?”
“Well,” Alan said thoughtfully, “for a long time I would have said lying is wrong because God says it’s wrong. He revealed it in the Bible. That’s still the right answer, right?”
“That’s really not why, Alan.” Matt replied. “Certainly we know lying is wrong because we have God’s written revelation, but it runs a lot deeper than that. God didn’t sit on His throne in heaven one day and arbitrarily decide some actions were right and others were wrong. Lying is wrong because God is a God of truth. In fact, He is truth. Ultimately, it’s God’s character that establishes right and wrong—and what He says also reflects His character.1
“Here are some additional examples. Adultery and premarital sex are wrong because God is faithful, and murder is wrong because God is life. Framing it in positive terms, we could say that keeping sex in marriage, affirming and working to preserve life, and telling the truth are right actions because they are consistent with who God is—His faithfulness, His being the author of life, and His being the embodiment of truth.”
“The divine standard, therefore, is a standard—it’s actually the standard—by which all actions and lifestyles can be judged. In judging these, we’re not violating Matthew 7:1, which says, ‘Judge not, that you be not judged.’ Jesus was talking in that verse about being judgmental, not about determining right from wrong. The divine standard isn’t one God has set; it’s the standard of who He is. When habits and actions reflect His character, we can say authoritatively that they are right. If they cloud, mar, or misrepresent God’s character, then they are wrong. Knowing these as well as other things God tells us in His Word about right and wrong, we can speak authoritatively about them. No, we can’t prove what we say beyond a shadow of a doubt, but having a solid basis for our conclusions, we can speak beyond a reasonable doubt.”2
Copyright © 2015 by B. Nathaniel Sullivan. All Rights Reserved.
Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture has been taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Notes:
1Josh McDowell and Bob Hostetler, Beyond Belief to Convictions (Wheaton, IL: 2002), 161.
2adapted from Adult Leader Guide, KJV Family Bible Study, Spring 2005, (Nashville: LifeWay Christian Resources, 2004), 125-126.