This is lifted out of a discussion with someone else, and then extended and refined a little bit. As such, he will likely find it a rehash and unengaging, and I want him to know I’m thankful for the discussion we had.
When considering moral systems we must first understand what a moral system is and how it relates to us on a basic level. The broad definition is “the guide by which we evaluate right and wrong” and this is acceptable as a general term but does not particularly help us think about the system we inhabit, inherit, or choose
Human morality exists only in relationship with other persons. This means human morality requires an externality: that which is not oneself. Thus the fundament upon which we can then build moral value systems and frameworks is established. The value systems can be thought of good/evil or right/wrong. We can imagine it as a map with which to navigate life and relationships and while we travel through our lives we reference the map to make our choices and hopefully avoid pitfalls, traps, and how to navigate encounters with other persons.
Does your life have moral worth? Why should you be kept alive in a hospital? If we ascribe to an economic system of morality, the answer may well be no, whereas in a different context the answer would be yes. This is a morally relative system. We see the practical application of such a system in Canada: there the state is pressing the cutely named MAID (Medical Assistance in Death), better known as Assisted Suicide. Imagine being told that your life as a cripple, or otherwise dependent person, lacks the worth required to keep you alive. I can’t lead a life where I’m actively contributing, and therefore, as a burden, I deserve to die. This is monstrous, this is sold under the auspices of dying with dignity. There is no dignity in reducing a human to their economic worth, and this is a heartless outcome of a heartless and broken culture. Yet people will accept the moral reasoning in a morally relativist system, and they will not even remember that there was a time when this would have been unthinkable to them1.
It goes thusly with ex nihilo creation of moral systems which are purely materialist in design. There are also spiritual ones which can be seen or viewed as context sensitive and are practiced that way in such a manner that the above scenario is still allowed, such as Buddhism. I reject them as fundamentally unsound; literally, they are too capable of shifting and serving the needs of anyone at anytime for any reason. A human centered morality existing in particular contexts and times is a morality in which the reference points on the map are moving. One day the mountain of Virtue is fixed here, and another it is fixed over there. Who is to say in what direction Virtue lies? How do I know what I am doing is truly right and good and not simply an acceptance of what is expedient and easy? This brings us to the next natural question: how do we establish a non-relativist moral system? In order to have a constantly fixed morality, a firmament of morality, then we need to look not just outside ourselves and our context, but to something even greater, higher, and beyond.
Thus transcendent morality; or, if you will, the morality that is manifested in part in many religions, and in whole in Christianity: which I believe to be True and whole in ways that others are not, and which has served as the platform for the flourishing of mankind. To understand this we must return to the fundament for a moment. Moral systems exist and are a property of relationship between persons. Thus, in many pagan or polytheistic religions this is easy to understand and learn from as the gods are basically superhuman. This is true in the Nordic, Germanic, Egyptian, Greek, and other religions where the gods are personified aspects of Nature, mankind, or a combination thereof. That very conception is their downfall, though, because they are essentially like us, just more powerful and therefore not beyond us. We can turn to YHWH and here we will find something much closer to what must be for a truly transcendent morality. YHWH is constant and unchanged, alien, existing beyond us yet intersecting with His creation and interacting with it at the same time. There is a relationship between YHWH and mankind which is sustained from both ends. Sounds well and good; if you eliminate or remove humanity from the equation, however, there is no moral system because you end up with the person of YHWH and no relationship, yet we require relationship for moral systems or metaphysics. How, then, can there be a truly transcendental morality? You know the punchline; I telegraphed it, it’s in your mind and heart already, and on the tip of your tongue. Three persons in one essence, unchanged, in constant relationship, or communion, with one another. Unknowable to us in their essence, a true mystery.2
Something eternal, transcendent, which can be seen in the light of Christianity. The morality which is the only one that fits with anthropos, the bridge and union between the material/physical and the spiritual/heavenly/higher; the pinnacle of creation was not made for anything lesser and should not accept anything lesser for it would be, as our fallen nature, warped from what is and always has been. In this Way, the orientation of man and his will finds its True North and direction. When we fell all Creation fell with us. For Christ did not come down solely to redeem the spirit, not just to redeem mankind in some transactional sense, but to restore, redeem, and right order all of Creation. We pray and live and practice and toil not only for own sake, but for the sake of the world.
Mass media propaganda and consensus manufacturing plays a critical role here, together with detachment from localized and stable community
“We believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible;
And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Only-begotten, Begotten of the Father before all worlds, Light of Light, Very God of Very God, Begotten, not made; of one essence with the Father; by whom all things were made:
Who for us men and our salvation came down from the heaven, and was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary and became man;
And was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate, and suffered and was buried;And the third day He rose again, according to the Scriptures;
And ascended into heaven, and sitteth at the right hand of the father;
And He shall come again with glory to judge the quick and the dead, Whose kingdom shall have no end.
And we believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, and Giver of Life, Who proceedeth from the Father, whom together with the Father and Son is worshipped and glorified, Who spake by the Prophets;
And we believe in One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church.
We acknowledge one Baptism for the remission of sins.
We look for the resurrection of the dead, and the Life of the world to come. Amen.”
MAID is sick. Carrousel without the spectacle.
Moral systems are ultimately based on survival instinct, even when they seem not to be. Obeying God's laws means He won't condemn you to Hell, for example. By protecting the weak and defenseless, one earns a claim to protection himself.