Hi Randy,
A while back I wrote in response to Jim Bell's claim that evolution has
nothing to say about morality:
>> Are you sure of this? There is quite a literature on the evolution of
>> morality (e.g., there are plenty of examples of the adapativeness of
>> altruism). I don't necessarily agree with all of it, but you should be
>> careful of what you claim.
In reply to this point of mine, you asked me:
>And just how do you suggest does morality (e.g. examples of the
>adapativeness of altruism) prove evolution as opposed to creation with
>intelligent design.
Randy, the most straightforward answer is that I never suggested that
morality proves evolution, or anything else for that matter. My point to
Jim was that he made a claim about which he appeared to have little
information. That's all. In fact, I did add a disclaimer to show that I am
not an adherent to the concept of the evolution of morality.
It is extremely important to understand that if you want to be a CREDIBLE
witness to the world, you need to make sure you know what you are talking
about. This means that you need to know what the Bible says, as well as
know what the arguments are against it. Otherwise, when you witness, you
will simply be talking to the wind.
You also wrote:
>I would think that just the opposite would be the logical conclusion, i.e.
>morality is the result of intelligent design. The Doc's for this design
>can be found in a little black book called the Holy Bible.
Well, my primary Bible is red, but I get the point.
My most recent extracurricular interest is in moral philosophy. I recently
attended a workshop on teaching Ethics, and later spent the summer at our
lake house reading about the subject. I was quite struck by the difficulty
with which all secular philosophers have in describing the source of human
recognition of what is right and what is wrong. So I have been thinking
about the problem of moral knowledge: How and why do we have knowledge of
right and wrong? Furthermore, if such knowledge emanates from a theistic
source, how can we understand those (unfortunately, many) Christians who
behave immorally?
The conundrum, as I see it is this: Either knowledge about right and wrong
is not sufficient to guarantee moral behavior in Christians, or many
Christians do not havef moral knowledge. This then begs the question, Why?
The conclusion I have come to (at least so far), is that the Bible is NOT
the source of moral knowledge, but that the Holy Spirit is. The Bible is a
SOURCE of moral information, but, by itself, it is not sufficient to provide
us with a fundamental understanding of good and bad. This makes it
understandable to me how Christians who are well versed in the Bible, can
behave in immoral ways because simply knowing what the Bible says is not a
sufficient foundation for knowing what is right and wrong.
I recently gave a talk on this topic to a Christian audience in which I
began with this question: "Since the Bible commands us to not bear false
witness, how many of you believe that a Christian should always tell the
truth?" Several people quickly raised their hands. Then I posed the
following dilemma: Suppose that you lived in middle Europe around 1940.
One day several Gestapo come to your door and demanded to know whether there
are any Jews inside. You know that there is a Jewish family hiding in the
attic. Do you tell the truth as the Bible commands? (Note: a relevant
Biblical example here is that of Rahab).
If you choose to tell the truth to the Gestapo, please explain the moral
basis behind your decision. If you choose to lie, I would still like to
know the reasoning for this moral decision.
Furthermore, If you choose to lie in this example, then please explain to me
how morality is not relative. If you lie to the Gestapo, it seems to me
that whether one ought to tell the truth depends on the situation rather
than on any absolute truth. Morality that is based on the situation is, in
fact, relative. How does a Christian deal with this?
Finally, is there anything in the Bible that tells us what is the right
thing to do in this case?
Let me end by saying that I believe in moral absolutes and that my belief is
not compatible with the idea of social evolution. However, I also believe
that Christians have a poor understanding of morality, especially with
regards to what is and what is not absolute. Christians point to Biblical
rules and claim that they are absolute, but they are flat wrong as the
example of the Nazi Gestapo illustrates. This is simply a Pharisaic legalism.
Shalom,
Steve
____________________________________________________________
Steven S. Clark, Ph.D . Phone: 608/263-9137
Associate Professor FAX: 608/263-4226
Dept. of Human Oncology and Email: ssclark@facstaff.wisc.edu
UW Comprehensive Cancer Center
CSC K4-432
600 Highland Ave.
Madison, WI 53792
"It is the glory of God to conceal a matter, but the glory of kings to
search out a matter." Proverbs
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