Does God Have a Moral Standard Outside of Himself?

Sabbath School With Branch Davidians

Why is God's law good? Often, people think it's good because God said it and whatever God says is good by default. While this might initially sound good and honoring to God, we need to consider whether this sort of explanation really makes sense.

Consider, if anything God says is good by virtue of him saying it, could *anything* be good so long as God said it? Like, hypothetically, if God were to say, "Thou shalt not take care of the sick, the elderly, or the infants," would that *actually be good* just because God decided to make it a commandment? And how about other things, like racism, torture, exploiting child laborers, selfishness, etc.? Would these things be morally right if God had decided to command them instead of other things? If your answer to any of these questions is "no" then it shows that you understand morality must be based on something other than God's arbitrary decree. Of course, God's law should be our source of moral instruction, but we need to know that the law itself isn't the basis of morality. If it *were* the basis, it would mean that it doesn't *have* a basis. But as we'll see, God's moral law *does* have a basis. So, what is it? What is the basis of morality?

Join us today as we take a look at what scripture has to say about this moral standard.

For more study, see:

“What is Truth?” (1 of 2) https://youtu.be/WNU5xzHIAzU?si=FOSBpvb8Rl3VVVK5

“What is Truth?” (2 of 2) https://youtu.be/AeDNYW-wvqw?si=2R7J9x_3dN63UdmR

2024 Sabbath School, Quarter 3: The Book of Mark – Week 6, "Inside Out"

A Branch Davidian Seventh-Day Adventist perspective on the Sabbath School lesson.

www.bdsda.com

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