Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Subjective Moral Reasoning?

The very first time I ever heard an apologist speak, It was a short video taken during a Q&A where Ravi Zacharias was the keynote speaker. Here it is.

The question posed is “Why are you so afraid of subjective moral reasoning?”

Dr. Zacharias does give a thoughtful response, but there are a couple of ideas that, I assume because of time restrictions and the long line of questioners, he didn’t take the time to explore or expand upon.

1. If my subjective morality and your subjective morality disagree with one another, how do we determine whose is right? We would have to appeal to a third party or popular vote, most likely. But who is to say that would provide a better outcome? If the popular opinion is that black people are less than human and can be used as property or killed without consequence, should we accept that? If the popular opinion became that Jews were a scourge in Europe and should be eliminated, should we accept that? I don’t know any people that would agree with that, thanks be to God. In fact, I think that most people today would appeal to a superior ethic that says that people of all races should be treated as equals, with dignity and respect. But where did they get this supreme ethic from? This wasn’t always, as we well know, the more popular position on these issues. How did it become the more popular opinion? There is good evidence to suggest that the answer that they are appealing to is an ethic that is handed down to us from Judeo-Christian values, which ultimately is claimed to have been received from God. Without it, I don’t see any compelling reason why a horrible opinion (popular or not) like black people or Jews are less than actual people can be argued against in a compelling way. If we believe there is a superior morality to this...that it’s real...then it merits an explanation for its origin. There are many that believe God and our being created in His image is the best explanation on offer. Some things that are abundantly clear though: there seems to be no direct correlation between popular morality and truth, nor power and truth. If it were true that the most popular morality was always right and that those in power were always morally right, subjective morality wouldn’t be so dangerous.
   
   Dr. Zacharias tells this story about how he was once presented with the notion that all morality comes down to “preference.” He responded with, “In one country they love their neighbors, in another country they eat them. Do you have a preference?”
   
   
2. Similarly, if my subjective morality, as the questioner in the video mentions, says that it’s okay for me to rape and pillage, on what grounds would one argue that I’m wrong? Isn't raping and pillaging objectively unethical? There is needed a transcendent supreme ethic by which we should compare all other ethics and moralities. If the God of the Bible is real, an omniscient and all-loving Creator, we would expect that He would have provided us with such guidance. Lo and behold, He has (thanks be to God). The Bible, as special revelation from God, has an incredible amount of things to say about morality. We, in the last 2000 years, even have the benefit of having seen it lived to perfection in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. I believe we are without excuse at this point to claim ignorance on what morality should look like. Perhaps we always were.

To quote the famous atheist Fedor Dostoevsky, “Without God, all things are permitted.” If the origins of supreme morality do not transcend humans, subjective morality is as good as any, but if God delivered us guidance on morality and showed us the way, then we have something far, far better. We would be fools not to take it.

Why is subjective morality so scary? Because there really are people and forces out there that would sow nothing but seeds of destruction and death if left to it. If morality is left simply to the individual or popular opinion, we have no solid ground on which to stand against those that would do evil...we wouldn’t necessarily even know what “evil” is ("The Parable of the Madman" by Friedrich Nietzsche). Thankfully because of God’s gift to us in scripture and the example set by Jesus, we don’t need to invent our own morality. We don’t have to fight about whose morality is better or worse between us. Further, we have grounds on which to argue against someone who wishes to do harm to others based on their own subjective morality. There is a supreme ethic and definition for morality available to us handed down by the same God that created us and loves us beyond all limits.

"Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law."

Romans 13:8-10