Summary
Rev. Wan takes the question at full strength, acknowledging that
people are rightly suspicious after seeing religious authority
abused.
Drawing on C.S. Lewis's argument in Mere Christianity,
he notes that people across cultures and history appeal to a real
standard of fairness. If morality were only preference, "unfair"
would just mean "I don't like it."
Christian theology says this moral law reflects God's character
(Deuteronomy 32:4), and that we were made in His image
(Genesis 1:27) so His ways lead to our flourishing
(Psalm 19:7–8).
Treating our own preferences as ultimate has justified slavery
and genocide. He admits that much injustice has been done in
God's name, and says the answer to bad theology is better theology,
tested against Jesus.
He recalls a sceptical friend: instead of arguing, he asked where
his certainty that those wrongs were truly wrong came from.
FULL TRANSCRIPT
Why should we subscribe to God's standards of fairness?
00:00
Here's another question: "We all have our standards of what's
fair and unfair. Why should we subscribe to God's standards?"
00:12
This is a sharp, honest question, and I respect it. It's
essentially asking: why should I trust someone else's definition
of right and wrong over my own? That's not rebellion. It is the
kind of question anyone who's watched religious authority misused
should ask. Maybe you have seen God's standards invoked to
justify things that felt genuinely unjust, and that makes you
rightly suspicious of the claim itself. Maybe you have seen on
TV and heard about pastors abusing their authority based on what
they claim to be God's standard.
01:08
Let's take the question at full strength rather than dodge it.
Here's a core Christian claim: our sense of fairness itself —
the very instinct we are using to evaluate God's standards —
has to come from somewhere. Don't you agree? C.S. Lewis made
this argument in Mere Christianity. The fact that we
consistently appeal to a standard of fairness at all, across
cultures and across history, suggests we are all referencing
something real, not merely inventing preferences.
01:48
If morality were just personal or cultural preference, "unfair"
would mean nothing more than "I don't like it." And yet we act
as though real injustices exist, objectively, even when it's not
happening to us. That instinct points toward a moral law beyond
individual opinion.
02:14
Christian theology says that law reflects the character of the
lawgiver, God himself, whom Scripture says is fundamentally just
and right — we read about this in Deuteronomy 32:4 — and whose
nature, not arbitrary decree, defines what fairness actually is.
In other words, fairness is defined in God's character.
02:47
Here's the deeper claim. God's standards aren't external rules
imposed on us from a distance, like a landlord's list of
restrictions. Historically, Christian theology holds that we
were made in God's image specifically to reflect his character,
meaning his standards are not foreign to human flourishing —
we were made for it (Genesis 1:27). Psalm 19:7–8 says that his
law revives the soul and makes wise the simple.
03:31
When we substitute our own standards entirely, we're not
becoming freer, are we? I would say that we are cutting
ourselves off from the very source that defines good and fair
in the first place. We are created in God's image, and that's
why we have a way of thinking about good and fair. Without God,
it is subject only to our own limited, biased and self-interested
perspective — which history shows can justify almost anything,
from slavery to genocide. In other words, if we treat our own
preferences as ultimate, we are at risk of making ourselves God.
And we are not.
04:31
None of this means every application of God's standards
throughout history has been correctly understood or applied by
sinful human beings. Plenty of injustices have been done in
God's name, and we Christians should all be ashamed of it —
misreading or twisting Scripture. That's a real and fair
critique, and Christians should own it honestly rather than
deflect it.
05:09
But the answer to bad theology and misuse of God's standard
isn't no standard at all. It is better theology, tested against
the full biblical picture of God's character, especially as
revealed in Jesus Christ, who consistently defined fairness in
terms of mercy, inclusion of the marginalised, and self-giving
love, rather than the power of the self-interested. In other
words, if we abandon God's standard and only use our own, we are
in danger of preferring self-interest to the interest of others.
06:04
I once had a long conversation with a friend who was deeply
sceptical about any eternal moral authority, citing how much
harm had been done by people claiming divine authority or divine
sanction. I listened to him, and inside I was grieved and
saddened that there are in fact so many examples of bad Christian
behaviour, leading people like him to see God's standards as
useless — as though they were only as good as the people claiming
them.
06:44
I didn't try to win the argument outright. Instead I asked him
a simple question: "When you say that these actions were wrong —
genuinely, objectively wrong, not just against your personal
taste, but universally wrong — where does that certainty of
wrongness come from? Does it come from outside of yourself, or
from inside you?" He paused for a long time. Thank God he is an
honest and honourable man, and he admitted the question mattered
more than he had let himself consider.
07:31
Sometimes the goal isn't to win the debate in one sitting. It
is to help someone notice the weight of his own moral conviction
honestly. He understood my point. The point is: if he thinks
he's got the answer from inside him, and there are so many human
beings on earth, what makes him think that his answer is better
than anybody else's, if there is no higher authority outside?
08:05
So what you can do. First, when discussing this with someone
sceptical, don't lead with "because the Bible says so," as though
that alone settles it for someone who doesn't yet trust biblical
authority. Instead, explore the deeper question by asking where
their own sense of fairness comes from, and let that open the
door to a bigger conversation.
08:34
Hold your own conviction with humility rather than certainty
about every application. Be quick to acknowledge where God's
standards have been misused by flawed people throughout history,
including people within the church. Honesty about our own
failures makes the actual case for God's character credible.
We don't need to defend those who have failed God. We need to
ask the question about where this sense of right and wrong comes
from. If it comes from each person alone, then it can also come
from all other people — including Hitler, who had a completely
different sense of what is right and wrong. Then why should I believe him instead of Hitler?
And that is the question.
