Throughout the ages, an argument has been made against the
moral fallibility of man. People have had varying opinions from “Man is his own
god” to “There is no such thing as morality, therefore there can be no moral
fallibility“. All these arguments are simply to justify the conscience of man.
By doing this he attempts to absolve himself from any guilt which would come by
recognizing the Savior.
As mentioned above, there are many arguments against the fact that man is
morally fallible. One popular counter argument says that man is his own god. In
order to refute this argument, we must first define the purpose of a god and
its capabilities. We can do this by defining the God of Christianity and
comparing his purpose as to what a god should be. The God of Christianity is
subject to judging[1], therefore a god must be able to
judge. In order to judge, he must have a set of standards that he and his
people must abide by. The God of Christianity cannot sin[2] therefore
he abides by his own rules. Therefore a god must abide by his own rules and
judge other who do not abide by his rules. This is a problem when you consider
that if every man is a god, then they all abide by their own rules, they cannot
judge others. Therefore they cannot fulfill the requirements of being a god.
One other argument is that there is no such thing as truth; therefore because
there is no truth, there is no such thing as morality. This argument in itself
is a “truth”, consequently it defeats itself.
A third
argument against man’s ability to err morally is that because good and bad is
relative, a man can judge his actions as good as he wants or as bad as he wants.
This is untrue for several reasons. One of these reasons is that good and bad
are not relative. They have unchanging values. These values are based upon the
word of God, regardless if the person is a believer or not. Another reason why
this is not true is the fact that man cannot judge himself. Man is not capable
of judging anyone including himself, for the reason that he does not hold the
ability to eternally condemn or commend himself to heaven or hell. Only God has
that ability. Consequently, only God is able to judge.
In
conclusion, we can clearly see that man is morally fallible, contrary to the
common thinking of today. As believers we believe that man is naturally apt to
do wrong because of his naturally sinful nature. However, this sinful nature
can be remedied. By obeying the Acts 2:38 message and receiving the Holy Ghost
by evidence of speaking in other tongues and being baptized in the name of
Jesus, we receive the ability to shed our sinful nature. Our sinful nature will
always remain with us, but through the act of obedience to God’s word we can be
a light to a morally corrupt world.
[1] 2 Corinthians 5:10
[2] Matthew 5:48
