A study adapted from the book by

Dinesh D’Souza

Dr. Gary VanDeWalker

Evangelical Free Church of Mount Shasta

Study Seven:  Christianity and Morality

·         There is an objective foundation of morality

o   The Darwinist must explain morality

o   The real objection is to absolute morality

o   Atheist can be good and moral people

o   Humans are unique in being moral beings

o   Humans live in the physical and moral domains

o   Disagreement of morals does not mean there are no morals

o   There has never been a culture known without a system of morality

o   Moral diversity in the world is over exaggerated

o   If someone tells you morality is relative, hit them in the face

§  Atheists have morality

§  Try to uphold racism or destroy the environment

·         Humans are more than matter

o   If only matter, then man is a robot

o   Science rejects the soul because it cannot be discovered by science

o   If true, free will is an illusion

o   You cannot give conscious qualities to a machine and be honest

o   Darwinism cannot explain consciousness

o   Consciousness gives intention and purpose to a person

o   A human is no more a collection of atoms than a Shakespeare play is a collection of words

o   The Darwinist has a difficulty:

§  Evolution selects for reproduction

§  Truth of any kind cannot be known

§  For instance, most people believe in God…so that must be an advantage for the process of evolution if it where the truth

o   Free will must be rejected

§  But what in physics explains acts of the will?

§  If everything belongs to science, then nothing about us is outside of the realm of science

·         Christianity understands human nature in a different way

o   Human nature is corrupt

o   Darwinist tend to say man’s nature is good, corrupted by society

§  One should follow their natural instincts

§  People do what they “feel” as what is right

§  Old restraints should be set aside

·         There is a motive to get rid of absolute morality

o   It removes accountability to God

o   Some unbelief is sincere

·         Without freewill and absolute morality, everything becomes dark and meaningless

·         For the Darwinist:

o   Evil and good cease to exist in a meaningful way

o   No one event is different morally from another