Who Decides What Is Right and Good?

In the beginning,  God created everything and saw that it was “very good” (Genesis 1:21).  God evaluated and looked at His creation and liked what He saw!  Unfortunately, the rest of the story is not as good as the beginning.   The enemy came to Eve in the form of a serpent and deceived her by questioning God’s standards and His authority.

In Genesis 3:6 we see that Eve “saw” that the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was “good” for food, “pleasant” to the eye, and “desirous” to make her wise.  She took of the fruit in direct rebellion to the Word and Will of God!  The standard by which she made choices had changed from the wisdom and words of God to what she “saw and perceived as good”. There was a new standard of deception set forth by the enemy!  The Bible tells us that satan deceives even today in the same way: as an “angel of light.” (2 Co. 11:12-15)  He deceives even many Christians to believe that what God’s Word says is wrong is really right, and what God’s Word says is right is really wrong!

Humanity has been creating, destroying and re-creating what they “see” as standards of good and right for thousands of years.  Ever since the fall of man, we have been trying to re-create God and His standards of right and good for ourselves in our own way!  Humanity has believed that what seems right and good or what “feels” right, must be good and right. The Bible says in Proverbs 14:12, "There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death."

You can find examples of all kinds of evil that was thought of as good and right in every generation and culture.  The ancient Greek military institutionalized pedophilia and homosexuality by joining twelve year old boys to a mature man as the boys “mentor”.  This practice would most often include sexual relations between them.  This was celebrated as good and right in many of the ancient writings of the time.  The Nazi’s of World War II Germany firmly believed that the racial cleansing and murder of millions in Europe was the right and good thing to do.  In our nation and culture today, many believe that it is right and good for us to have the right to murder the innocent unborn in the womb.  I even heard one Hollywood star brag about her abortion, saying she has never regretted it a day in her life! 

If right and wrong is based on popular opinion, then anything goes.  But if the standard of what is right is based upon the Word of God, then we understand the pedophilia, racial cleansing, and abortion are NOT RIGHT BUT ALL WRONG no matter what the popular opinion of a culture might be!

The Apostle Paul tells us in 2 Tim. 3:16, that it is God’s Word that gives us the true standards of life and good and right.  It is God’s Word that we are to judge right and wrong, good and evil, light and darkness by --  not our own feelings or standards.  What one generation tolerates, the next generation will accept, and the following generation will participate in!  DO NOT allow your standards of life and the choices you make be dictated by the spirit of this world, the opinions of others and the deception of satan!  Make the decision today to look to God’s Word and His Will as your standard of right and good in life!  God is GOOD!  My wife and I have found in our twenty years of marriage and ministry with our five children that God’s standards and His ways always bring about strength and stability!  Let God’s Word, His standard, strengthen you, heal you, and bring purpose and direction to your life today!