“What’s true for you isn’t true for me.” This claim more or less sums up moral relativism, the belief that morality is relative, and that different things can be true for different people. Saying that morality is subjective and that there isn’t any objective morality at all is obviously a big claim, and it’s one that quite a few people make. It’s a way to enable everyone to be right, and it doesn’t discriminate against any worldview. It looks nice at first glance, but it is full of flaws. Moral relativism may seem to work if you only apply it to things like political opinions or religious beliefs, but if you try to apply it to other things, the problems with it become apparent. Take murder, for example. If someone thinks murder is perfectly fine, does that give them the right to go around killing people simply because it’s ‘true for them’? Anyone in their right mind would obviously answer no to this question. If everyone embraces moral relativism, then people will be allowed to do whatever they want. Murder, thievery, arson, child abuse etc. would have to become acceptable. However, no one seems to endorse those crimes, even moral relativists. Furthermore, the claim ‘what’s true for you isn’t true for me’ is an objective claim. It asserts that morality differs between people, which is an objective truth. This claim refutes itself by stating that everything is subjective, while the claim itself is objective.
Romans 2:15 says, “They show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts sometimes accusing them and at other times even defending them.” God’s law doesn’t apply to only some of us; it applies to everyone. The objective moral truths that God gave us are written on our hearts, imprinted in our consciences. The Ten Commandments don’t only apply to some people, they apply to everyone. When God said not to murder, He was addressing everyone. Morality isn’t up to us and what we believe is true, it’s up to God and what He said was true. We are tainted by sin, and if what was morally true was up to us, it would be tainted with sin as well. God, however, is perfect. He is not tainted in any way. We can trust that the moral truths He gave us are correct, and that they won’t lead us astray.
Marie Birkmann – 9th Grade