November Monthly Blog

Brad Way
Mrs. Burnett
AP English
11/20/14

After reading "The Challenge of Cultural Relativism" by James Rachels, we see a comparison to the book "Things Fall Apart". In "Things Fall Apart" we see the cultural differences of the Christians who enter the Native's land and the actual Natives to bring conflict. The Natives are used to a way of life that differs from that of the Christians. This brings havoc within the tribe since the two parties are both equally accustomed to one way of life that they find it impossible to live the way of the other side. In the novel, we see the end result is buildings burning down and suicide. The culture clash of what is right and wrong brings destruction to the tribe.

On another note, the fact that morality exists is proof of God. An argument might state that since one person's morals differ from another's, that deteriorates this proof of a higher being. However, the fact of the matter is, everyone has a sense of morals. No matter what culture, person, place, or thing, morals exist. And that is what shows the reality of God, the fact that everybody has a sense of what is "good" and what is "bad". Think about this, do you view murder bad? I would hope so, but now I ask, by what standard? Why is murder bad? The idea of survival of the fittest tells us that murder actually is not a bad thing. If you'd like to argue with me over that, first look at Hitler. Was he a bad guy? He did what he thought was right, the Jews were holding him back, so what did he do? He eliminated the thing that held him back. Social Darwinism would say that Hitler was justified in what he did. Yet, the fact is, no person today would say everything is okay. Getting off the example of Hitler, another way to put it is this: every person has a set of actions and ideas they view as "good" and "bad". There is no evolutionary standard that makes sense of morals. There is no reason or room for that matter for morals to exist in survival of the fittest.

God, being the creator of every human (Psalm 139:13), gave everyone of us a sense of morals. However, with a sense of morals He also gave us a choice to follow Him or not, henceforth many people's morals contradict that of the Bible's. The only thing I would have to say to anyone who believes all morals are okay, we just need to have an understanding of different cultures and beliefs; I would say that they are ignoring objective truth. The Bible is objective truth. Name any sin mentioned in the Bible and there will be a logical and loving reason behind it. I say "logical and loving" because first off, the thing about sin is that God commands us to not do it because He loves us. He knows the effect sin not only has on us physically, but also emotionally and mentally. For example, part of the fruit of the spirit is to be of sober-mind (Galations 5). Basically God is saying, "Do not get drunk or high." Why does God say that? Physically: damages your body and has been proven to be the cause of early deaths. Mentally: drugs can give feelings of loneliness especially when you isolate yourself when you do it.

Overall, morals are everywhere, but the objectively right and true morals are held within God's Word. We all have a sense of morals, it's time to see what our morals are called to be by our Creator.