Worldview Wednesday: Understanding the Moral Law

On March 1, 1974, Chuck Colson was indicted for conspiring to cover up the Watergate burglaries. As Special Council to then President Richard Nixon, Colson was known as “Nixon’s hatchet” and even described himself as “ruthless” in getting things done. Before he was arrested, a friend gave him a copy of Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis, and Colson became a Christian. After he was released from prison, Colson founded Prison Fellowship in 1976, an organization that promotes prisoner rehabilitation and prison reform. 

Mere Christianity is a small and concise book that points out undeniable human realities and their inescapable logical extensions. For example, Lewis reminds us that we believe in a moral law, and even if we deny it, we will demand that others keep it. That moral law requires a law giver, and it shows that we have a big problem since we know we have broken the laws. It’s easy to see how Colson was convicted of breaking the law (since he was literally being convicted of breaking the law), but this principle applies to every human being.

There are two main arguments we use to prove the existence of God. One is the design of the universe, and the other is the presence of the moral law. Though our culture has rejected God, we still retain an awareness of the moral law in many areas. We cry injustice when people are mistreated, and we judge politicians and businessmen for dishonest and selfish practices. These are issues that we can use, if we understand them well, to point people to the Law Giver.

Parts of Mere Christianity and other works by Lewis are available on a doodle video series, all of which are engaging and instructive. You can watch the first part of Mere Christianity here.