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Definition

Morality for a Christian is the application of Gods laws regarding a persons


private and public behavior. In his or her seeking to live a moral life, a Christian tries to
obey the rules for his or her personal behavior that have been decreed by God and
recorded in the ible. !hroughout centuries of history these rules have been proclaimed
by Gods prophets, like Moses and Isaiah and "eremiah, taught by "esus, interpreted by
the apostles, like #eter and #aul, established by $mperor Constantine, and proclaimed by
various popes, theologians, and preachers, like %t. &ugustine, Martin 'uther, "ohn Calvin,
"acob &rminus, "onathan $dwards, "ohn (esley, Dwight '. Moody, illy Graham, and
other contemporary preacher)teachers within the "ewish*Christian traditional
understandings of what is right and what is wrong.
#roblems with moral behavior
In spite of all of the clearly written and proclaimed statements of moral law,
individual "ews and Christians and non*members of these biblically based religious
communities have found it to be impossible to live in accord with these laws. +o one has
the ability to be as good as he or she knows that he or she should be. &lthough most
people have a basic understanding of what is right and what is wrong, most of us cannot
be consistently right in how we obey Gods laws as well as those that have been
established by various governmental authorities.
!he psalmist of ancient Israel said that ,all have turned aside -from seeking to do
good and from seeking God. they have become corrupt/ there is no one who does good,
not even one0 -#salms 1234.. #aul 5uotes this in his teaching letter to the 6omans in
Chapter 4, verses 17*11, and he adds this comment to include believers ,all have sinned
and fall short of the glory of God0 -6omans 4384.. &ll human beings live and have lived
on a battlefield between the righteous God and his rebellious angel 'ucifer or %atan, and
this battle between Gods righteous will and %atans rebellious desires goes on day after
day in everyones life.
&ttempts to deal with personal immorality
+o one likes to admit that he or she is a rebel against God, that he or she is a
sinner. Individuals have gone to a great deal of effort in the study of Gods moral laws to
find loopholes in these laws that will enable them to e9cuse their immoral behavior and
attitudes. !hey have written new interpretations of these laws, and defined e9ceptions to
them, like it is all right to use ,deadly force0 against a person if that person is threatening
to use a ,deadly0 force against you or someone you love.
!he book shelves of hundreds of law offices and law schools are filled with books
interpreting these laws and their derivatives and how they have been applied in numerous
legal cases throughout history. :ur courts, including our %upreme Court, are constantly
seeking to apply these laws to the behavior of individuals with whom they are dealing.
!he legislative bodies of our society are regularly engaged in the processes of trying to
understand what is ,right0 for our citi;ens and what laws need to be enacted in order to
get people to behave and to live basically moral lives. ut there are hundreds of e9amples
of how some legislators and lawyers and enforcers of these laws do not and cannot live in
accord with them themselves. !he moral life is neither easily defined nor demonstrated.
Gods summary of his moral laws
"esus engaged in a lot of discussions regarding the laws of God and personal
morality with the lawyers of his people, the %adducees and the #harisees. !hey were
constantly challenging him in regard to his interpretation of some of these laws and why
his accepted disciples did not follow them more fully. In one situation a #harisee, an
e9pert in these laws, asked "esus, as he addressed him as ,!eacher, which is the greatest
commandment in the 'aw<0 -Matthew 8834=.. &nd "esus replied with this answer3
,>'ove the 'ord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your
mind. !his is the first and greatest commandment. &nd the second is like it3 >'ove your
neighbor as yourself. &ll the 'aw and the #rophets hang on these two commandments0
-Matthew 8834?* 27.
!his really simplifies the rules for morality, Gods laws for moral behavior. "ust
love God completely and love everyone else as much as you love yourself. %o the moral
life is to be lived in love, and immorality is not living with such love for God and others.
& life lived in accord with these two laws would be a perfect demonstration of morality.
@ow to practice morality
In the first place it must be done with a persons sincere confession of his or her
sin and his or her inability to obey Gods laws by his or her own efforts. %uch confession
and repentance demonstrate ones acceptance of Gods will and love.
(ith the acceptance of Gods will and love comes his forgiving grace and his gift
of the @oly %pirit. It is Gods grace, faithfully trusting in his good will, and surrender to
the transforming power of the @oly %pirit that enables any Christian or believer in "esus
to practice morality, to live a moral life. !his is not a matter of regularly practicing
traditional religious rituals of worship or even service to others, but it is a matter of being
,born0 by the %pirit of God. Aor some particular guidance in this transforming process
see my statements on ,asic doctrine regarding sin0, ,Gods work of redemption0, and
,!he #lan of %alvation -6evised.0 on this website.

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