“For although they knew God, they did not glorify him as God or give him thanks, but they became futile in their thoughts and their senseless hearts were darkened.”Romans 1:21 NET
Legislating Morality
Every society legislates morality. Every law ever written declares that one behavior is right and another is wrong. Laws against murder, theft, fraud, assault, and perjury are all moral judgments. Even those who insist that morality should never be legislated unknowingly rely on moral laws every day, because the moment we prohibit one action or protect another, we have declared that one choice is better than the other.
The real question, then, is not whether morality should shape society. It always does. The deeper question is far more important:
Whose morality will it be?
History offers sobering answers.
In the early 1930s, a farming family in Ukraine lived much as families had for generations. They worked from sunrise until sunset, tended their fields, cared for their livestock, and dreamed of passing the farm on to their children. Their labor was honest, and their harvest represented years of sacrifice and perseverance. They believed that providing for their family was both a responsibility and a virtue.
Then everything changed—not because the land stopped producing, but because the government redefined what was considered good and evil.
Private ownership was declared immoral. Keeping the grain they had grown was labeled selfish. Families who had once been admired for their hard work were suddenly condemned as enemies of the people. Soldiers arrived without warning, confiscating crops, livestock, tools, and even seed that had been set aside for the following year's planting. Fathers disappeared into labor camps. Mothers watched helplessly as their children grew weak from starvation. Millions would eventually perish in what history remembers as the Holodomor, not because nature had failed them, but because a government had replaced one moral standard with another.
Only one thing had changed.
Someone else now claimed the authority to define right and wrong.
A generation later and half a world away, another family experienced a different expression of the same tragedy. During China's Cultural Revolution, children were taught that loyalty to the Communist Party was more important than loyalty to their parents, grandparents, teachers, or even truth itself. Students who had once stood respectfully when their teacher entered the classroom were encouraged to publicly accuse, humiliate, and sometimes brutally beat the very people who had devoted their lives to educating them. Neighbors informed on neighbors. Families were torn apart by suspicion and fear. The moral code that had governed society for centuries was swept away almost overnight and replaced by a new one, imposed not by conscience but by political power.
Again, the tragedy did not begin with violence.
It began when authority over morality changed hands.
The same pattern appeared in divided Germany after the Second World War. Families awoke to discover that a wall had risen through the heart of Berlin, separating husbands from wives, grandparents from grandchildren, lifelong friends from lifelong friends. The Berlin Wall was not built to keep enemies out. It was built to keep citizens from escaping. Hundreds lost their lives attempting to cross it because they believed that freedom was worth more than safety under a system that dictated every aspect of life. The concrete wall became a monument to a painful reality: when governments claim the authority to redefine truth and morality, they often discover that force is required to preserve the illusion.
That lesson remains visible even today.
Viewed from space at night, the Korean peninsula presents one of the most striking images on Earth. South Korea shines with the lights of vibrant cities stretching from coast to coast. North Korea, by contrast, is almost entirely dark. The two nations share the same peninsula, much of the same history, and generations of common ancestry. Yet they are separated by radically different ideas about authority, freedom, and truth. The darkness visible from orbit is more than a lack of electricity; it is a reminder that ideas eventually shape civilizations.
These stories are separated by continents, cultures, and decades, yet they all point to the same underlying truth. Totalitarian societies do not begin with concentration camps, labor camps, secret police, or prison walls. Those come later. They begin much earlier, when someone claims the authority to redefine morality itself—to declare that what was once good is now evil, what was once evil is now good, and that truth is no longer something to be discovered but something to be created.
If God is the Creator, then He is the ultimate authority, and truth, justice, and morality are discoveries. We do not invent them any more than we invent gravity or the laws of mathematics. But if humanity alone is the authority, then every generation—and eventually every individual—is left to construct its own version of truth. History shows that when that happens, confusion is never far behind.
The question before us is not whether morality will govern our lives. It already does.
The question is who has the authority to define it.
The Apple
Science seeks to understand the natural world through observation and analysis. Theology seeks to understand the spiritual realities and moral truths revealed by God. Each discipline has value on its own, but only together do they provide a complete picture of reality.
Imagine encountering an apple on the ground for the very first time, having no prior knowledge of what it is. You pick it up and take it home. Out of curiosity, you dissect it, examine its seeds, analyze its cells, and carefully record every detail.
Your investigation reveals much about the apple itself, yet your knowledge remains incomplete. Without knowing the tree it grew from, the soil that nourished it, or the climate that sustained it, you cannot fully explain its existence.
Studying nature apart from its Creator is much the same. We may accumulate impressive detail about the “apple”—the mechanisms of the natural world—but without recognizing its Source, we miss its greater meaning and purpose.
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Human Reasoning has its Limits
A world solely governed by science and empirical observation without any moral or ethical standards could lead to some dark consequences, and potentially a complete disregard for human rights. Romans 1:21 gives a warning in this regard, when people excluded God, their “senseless hearts were darkened”.
The Apostle Paul cautioned against using human reasoning to establish moral or theological values. In his letters to the Corinthians and Galatians, he wrote:
"We use God's mighty weapons, not worldly weapons, to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and destroy false arguments." (2 Corinthians 10:4 NLT)
"Dear brothers and sisters, I want you to understand that the gospel message that I preach is not based on mere human reasoning." (Galatians 1:11 NLT)
Paul’s own life defied human reasoning. He had been one of the greatest persecutors of Christians, tracking them down and terrorizing them. Acts 7:54-60 records his involvement in the stoning death of the Christian martyr Stephen.
His transformation from one who terrorized Christians to becoming a champion of Christians was sudden and complete when he encountered the resurrected Christ. It is by his own testimony that we know Christ transformed him in a single moment. That transformation through his encounter with Christ defies human reasoning. It also defies empirical and rational theory.
Isaac Newton and Enlightenment
When Isaac Newton died in 1727, England buried him among its greatest heroes in Westminster Abbey. To most people he was the scientist who explained gravity and changed the course of physics. Few realized that he devoted even more time studying Scripture than studying science.
Newton never saw science and faith as competing explanations. To him they were partners. One revealed how creation worked; the other revealed why it existed.
Perhaps we should listen to what Newton wrote in “The Principia” regarding “The Rules of Reasoning in Philosophy”:
“Therefore, to the same natural effects we must, as far as possible, assign the same causes.” (emphasis added)
“As to respiration in a man and in a beast; the descent of stones in Europe and in America; the light of our culinary fire and of the sun; the reflection of light in the earth, and in the planets.”
Look carefully at the phrase written by Newton: “natural effects—assign the same causes”. He is talking about the principle of “cause and effect”, but is using it to explain that it is a fundamental concept in philosophy, science, and everyday reasoning.
How can we assign a cause if we fail to recognize the source of the cause as the Creator? Just as studying an apple without considering its tree gives an incomplete picture, studying creation without considering its Creator gives an incomplete understanding of reality.
The Rise of Enlightenment
Not long after Newton’s death, the Age of Enlightenment introduced a dramatic shift in thinking. Philosophers such as Immanuel Kant began to argue that human reason—not divine revelation—should be the ultimate moral compass.
Kant distrusted the senses, warning that they could easily mislead us. He pointed to the ancient belief that the sun revolved around the earth as evidence that what we see is not always what is true. From there, he extended his skepticism to Scripture itself, suggesting that our own reasoning was more reliable than God’s revealed Word.
At first glance, this approach seemed to elevate human dignity and intellectual freedom. But once human reason was made the final authority, truth itself became seen as unstable. If every individual can determine truth on their own terms, then truth is no longer fixed—it becomes fluid, shifting with culture, opinion, and circumstance.
History shows the consequences of this shift. The French Revolution, born from Enlightenment ideals, sought to cast off the authority of God and enthrone reason as supreme. Churches were desecrated, a “Goddess of Reason” was paraded through the streets, and centuries-old moral foundations were replaced with human invention. The result was not freedom but chaos—bloodshed, tyranny, and moral collapse.
This is the essence of moral relativism. It replaces enduring standards with personal preference, leaving society without a solid foundation for justice or morality. What began as an appeal to human reason ended as a rejection of objective truth, with consequences still visible in the confusion and fragmentation of modern culture.
Kant wrote of the Bible, “If I have a book to serve as my understanding… I need not think”. To him, reason alone was enough. But history tells a different story: the Bible’s moral standards have guided societies toward stability, justice, and compassion for millennia.
When we replace God’s timeless truth with shifting human reasoning, we erode the moral foundation necessary for a healthy society. Moral relativism leads to fragmentation and confusion, while biblical principles offer a consistent framework for justice and unity.
Reason has great value, but it is not sufficient for determining morality. It must be anchored to something greater—something proven, enduring, and unchanging.
Whose morality will it be?
History shows that civilizations rise or fall according to how they answer that question.
The Ukrainian farmer never intended to become part of history. The Berlin family never imagined a wall would divide their lives. The Chinese teacher never expected his own students to become his accusers.
Each simply lived in a society that answered one question differently.
Who has the authority to define morality?
Every generation must answer that question for itself.
So must every one of us.
Chapter 3: Summary
Every society answers the same question, whether it realizes it or not:
Who has the authority to define morality?
History shows that the answer shapes civilizations. When governments, cultures, or individuals assume the authority to redefine truth, morality, and human nature, confusion and suffering eventually follow. The tragedies of Ukraine, China, divided Germany, and North Korea remind us that ideas are never merely ideas. They shape families, nations, and generations.
If God is the Creator, then He is the ultimate authority, and truth is not something we invent but something we discover. Just as an apple cannot be fully understood apart from the tree that produced it, creation cannot be fully understood apart from its Creator. Science helps us understand how the universe works, but Scripture reveals why it exists and what it means.
Human reason is one of God's greatest gifts, but it was never intended to replace the One who gave it. When reason is separated from its Source, truth becomes negotiable, morality becomes unstable, and every generation is left to construct reality for itself. When reason is anchored in God, it becomes a powerful tool for discovering the order, purpose, and meaning woven into creation.
The question before every generation—and every individual—is therefore the same:
Will we attempt to define truth, or will we discover the truth God has already established?
The answer shapes not only the world we build, but the people we become.
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Black Holes and Other Works of God continues from authority into identity, the reliability of Scripture, quantum energy, relativity, time dilation, black holes, and eternity. If this exploration raised questions you want to follow further, the complete book is the next step.
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Source material: Chapter 3, Authority, from the second edition of Black Holes and Other Works of God: God Seen. Everything Changes.