by Terry Wane Benton<\/p>\n
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. Take accountability to God out of your picture, and nobody <\/b>has the right to tell you what to do. Not parents, not teachers, not the police! We’ve allowed ourselves to get hoodwinked into the notion that the universe got started without God, does not need God, and neither do we.<\/p>\n
With that foundation of indoctrination, where would moral decisions of right and wrong come from? Each person creates their own rules, and that is the reason for the anarchy that flourishes within a family, a city, or a nation.<\/p>\n
The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom and knowledge (Proverbs 1:7), and without that beginning point, you find no self-motivation to hold yourself accountable and answerable to anyone. Failing to seek God and teach our children to seek God is setting out on dangerous waters without a sail, compass, or rudder. It never ends well! Seek God, grope for Him, and find Him (Acts 17:21ff). That gives you purpose and direction, and then you start to see reasons to treat others with love and respect. More importantly, you set a definite course to obtain the great rewards God has promised to the faithfully obedient.<\/p>\n
Where do your morals come from?<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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. Take accountability to God out of your picture, and nobody has the right to tell you what to…<\/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,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[38],"class_list":["post-87804","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-morality"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":26366,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-age-of-accountability-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":87804,"position":0},"title":"The Age of Accountability (Overby)","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 9, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0by Ben Overby The Bible is clear in teaching that we are made in the image of God (Genesis 1:26). Therefore, to suggest we are born sinful is to say that God is sinful.\u00a0 We know that God is sinless, therefore, when we begin our journey in this world we\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":87804,"position":1},"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":84617,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/standards-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":87804,"position":2},"title":"Standards (Moyer)","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 15, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Doy Moyer Standards are common. The term can refer to a commonly accepted value, a recognized authoritative model, or something acceptable though not top quality (dictionary). In all these cases, there is a recognition that expectations of some kind are to be met and accepted by more than just\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":93437,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-do-we-all-believe-in-right-and-wrong\/","url_meta":{"origin":87804,"position":3},"title":"Why Do We All Believe in Right and Wrong?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 24, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"by Doy Moyer via InLight Media Across cultures, times, and worldviews, humans share a deep sense of moral obligation-a feeling that some things ought to be done and others ought not. But where does that sense come from? Is morality something we invent as societies\u2026 or is our conscience discovering\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Video"","block_context":{"text":"Video","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/video\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":28000,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-source-of-morality\/","url_meta":{"origin":87804,"position":4},"title":"The Source of Morality","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 29, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Romans 2:12-16 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Where does the concept of right and wrong come from? \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Why are some things \u201cright\u201d and other things \u201cwrong?\u201d \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Paul points out that the Gentiles were able by nature to know right from wrong - Romans 2:14-15 II.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Where morality doesn\u2019t come from\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":74139,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/morality-from-molecules\/","url_meta":{"origin":87804,"position":5},"title":"Morality from Molecules?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 13, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton Atheists have a sense of right and wrong; as skewed as it is, it is an issue they cannot explain. Where did this sense of ought, moral right and wrong, come from? Do men get to make it up from within their own molecules? If so,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/molecule-300x240.avif","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87804","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=87804"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87804\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=87804"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=87804"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=87804"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}