{"id":45325,"date":"2022-03-15T15:03:34","date_gmt":"2022-03-15T20:03:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/?p=45325"},"modified":"2022-03-15T15:03:34","modified_gmt":"2022-03-15T20:03:34","slug":"if-matter-is-amoral-then-atheists-dont-have-an-explanation-for-where-morals-come-from","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/if-matter-is-amoral-then-atheists-dont-have-an-explanation-for-where-morals-come-from\/","title":{"rendered":"If matter is amoral then atheists don’t have an explanation for where morals come from"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\t

Question:<\/h2>\n

I have followed your website for many years. I have been a member of the Lord’s church for nearly fifty years. I have learned many things in life but my greatest knowledge is of God’s most Holy Word.<\/p>\n

Anyway, I have found your article on “The Failure of Moral Relativism<\/a>” to be very well written and informative.<\/p>\n

What I’d like to add to your article is the fact that matter, from which all <\/b>life is made, is amoral. Since it is amoral, then the evolutionary process would need another source for morals to be incorporated into our beings. Simply having a brain would not <\/b>give human beings the building blocks necessary to develop morals when the building blocks of matter, needed for the human evolutionary process, are void<\/strong>\u00a0of morals.<\/p>\n

We know that morals came from God Almighty, but there are those who love the freedom that having no belief in God brings them — no matter how short-lived that “freedom” may be. I personally believe that the real <\/b>reason atheists believe the way they do is not because they cannot physically witness God or the things He does or has done. I believe that atheists believe the way they do because they don’t want to answer for any<\/strong> of their actions, which is what wicked mankind has wanted to believe from the beginning.<\/p>\n

Thank you kindly for your time.<\/p>\n\t

Answer:<\/h2>\n

You are correct, atheism has no explanation for morality. It clearly exists in the world but physical matter and evolution cannot explain its existence. And as you noted, heeding atheism and evolution leads people to become immoral. You may also be interested in\u00a0The Faith of an Atheist<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Question: I have followed your website for many years. I have been a member of the Lord’s church for nearly fifty years. I have learned many things in life but my greatest knowledge is of God’s most Holy Word. Anyway, I have found your article on “The Failure of Moral Relativism” to be very well…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[184,80,38],"class_list":["post-45325","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-atheism","tag-evolution","tag-morality"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":58148,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/morals-in-the-pulpit-and-in-the-pew\/","url_meta":{"origin":45325,"position":0},"title":"Morals in the Pulpit and in the Pew","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 20, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"by Leslie Diestelkamp via\u00a0Think, Vol. 2, No. 5, July 1971 Once, when I preached a sermon on morals, a mature man in the congregation asked to speak. For perhaps two or three minutes he exhorted the people, giving complete endorsement to what I had preached. I believe his endorsement may\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":42996,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/bad-company-corrupts-good-morals\/","url_meta":{"origin":45325,"position":1},"title":"Bad Company Corrupts Good Morals","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 21, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"by Doy Moyer Most are familiar with Paul's argument in I Corinthians 15, that if Jesus was not raised, and there is no resurrection, then our faith is vain, preaching is vain, and we are to be pitied for believing it all. Another argument that we often make has to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":29555,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/negotiable-morals\/","url_meta":{"origin":45325,"position":2},"title":"Negotiable Morals","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 5, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton Do we, mere humans, get to negotiate with each other what morals, standards of right and wrong, should be? Can we negotiate changes over time? If so, the people of Sodom and Gomorrah were treated wrong. They negotiated their standard and their negotiations brought them to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/railings-300x225.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":92271,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/nine-types-of-atheism\/","url_meta":{"origin":45325,"position":3},"title":"Nine Types of Atheism","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 20, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Perry Hall Emotional Atheism: Many have experienced personal harm in their lives. They are dealing with the \"problem of evil\", not from a philosophical perspective, but from daily pain. For example, the loss of a child, parent, or spouse. Hypocritical Religious Atheism: This paradox in terminology comes from their\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":94431,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/starting-point-of-reference\/","url_meta":{"origin":45325,"position":4},"title":"Starting Point of Reference","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 9, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton If I start with the premise or foundational belief that there is no Creator and Judge, then my outlook would lead me to believe that we got here by accident and that morals are just what we want them to be. Nothing absolute, and no accountability\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":87804,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/where-do-your-morals-come-from\/","url_meta":{"origin":45325,"position":5},"title":"Where Do Your Morals Come From?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 15, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton What is wrong all over the news in our country is that we shoved even mentioning God out of public life, and that leads to a decline in governing yourself with moral accountability. 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