Episode 1086: Merely Catholic

Key idea 1
All human beings have an intuitive knowledge of the universal moral law.
When humans have disagreements with one another – which happens a lot – how do we resolve them?
Do we fight it out like animals? Well, sometimes, sure. But, usually, we avoid physical altercations by using our words. To put it another way, we quarrel with one another. Quarreling is a distinctly human activity. We all do it.
Children quarrel all the time. They say things like "that’s not fair" and "but mum, you promised!"
And it’s not just children – adults are just as prone to petty quibbling. They say things like "Hey, I was there first," or "I helped you out, so you owe me." And, of course, lovers are wont to make the accusation
you’re lying." So, just what does this love of quarreling say about us?
The key message here is: All human beings have an intuitive knowledge of the universal moral law.
What’s common to all these examples is that the offended party appeals to some kind of moral principle such as fairness or honesty. What’s more, they always expect their opponent to adhere to the same principles.
In practice, that’s exactly what we find. Conflicting parties rarely disagree about the moral principles. When someone is caught having done something wrong – maybe they stole something or lied to their partner – they’re unlikely to argue that the victim’s moral standard is at fault, that actually stealing or lying are good things. No, instead they’re anxious to provide excuses as to why they should be exempted in this particular case. They might say, "I’m hard up for cash right now" or "Sorry, I had a lapse of judgment."
So, even when people break the standards of decent behavior, they still feel, on an intuitive level, that they’ve actually done something wrong.
This intuitive aspect of morality is key. We might provide perfunctory reasons for our actions, but ultimately, all of us – children and adults alike – feel intuitively when something is right or wrong, fair or unfair.
The author calls this the law of nature – a universal standard of good and decent behavior that’s felt by all human beings.
Of course, this moral law of nature differs from what we ordinarily understand as a law of nature. You can’t exactly break the law of gravitation, say, but you are free to break or ignore moral rules. Even so, we should still think of morality as a law because it’s by no means an arbitrary human invention – all humans at all times have felt the same moral impulses.
Key idea 2
Moral values are largely consistent across different times and cultures.
We’ve just discovered that the author believes in a universal moral law that all humans share. But not everyone agrees with him. Those who disagree that a universal moral law exists are known as cultural relativists.

They believe that we learn rules about right and wrong from the society we live in, and different societies have different rules depending on their customs and culture.

Cultural relativists argue that standards of behavior are not intuitively known from birth. Instead, children have to learn how they’re expected to behave from their parents and teachers. Any parent who’s had to discipline their misbehaving child probably agrees with the cultural relativist here. But is it right?

The key message here is: Moral values are largely consistent across different times and cultures.

The fact that we have to teach children standards of decent behavior by no means shows that those standards are just made up; just as the fact that we have to learn the multiplication table in school doesn’t mean the equation three times three equals nine is not a true fact of the universe. Moral truths are much like mathematical truths – they’re not arbitrary and they’re true for everyone.

Another common objection made by relativists is that throughout history many cultures seem to have had different moral systems. Just think, the Romans used to enjoy watching Christians being fed to the lions, but such a spectacle would be abhorrent to modern eyes.

History is, undeniably, full of examples like this where a society behaves in a way that seems contrary to our deepest moral intuitions. But is this really evidence that the people of Rome had different values to us? Wouldn’t it be simpler to say that they were just behaving immorally in this respect?

At any rate, relativists are guilty of blowing cultural differences out of proportion. In fact, if you really attend to history, you’ll find that the values of different cultures have far more in common than they differ. Nowhere in the world, for example, will you find a place where lying is upheld as a virtue and cowardice is praised.

By casting an eye to history, and to anthropology, you’ll find more to support the notion of a moral law than to undermine it.

The moral law is not an arbitrary human invention; it's a timeless, real thing.
Key idea 3
The existence of moral law is evidence for theism.
So, we’ve seen the case for the existence of a moral law of nature. So what? Why does it matter?

Well, it matters because this doesn’t sit well with a purely materialistic understanding of the universe.

The key message here is: The existence of moral law is evidence for theism.
Theism is the belief in the existence of a god or gods, especially belief in one god as creator of the universe, intervening in it and sustaining a personal relation to his creatures.

Fundamentally, there are really only two ways to understand the universe. There’s the materialist picture which posits that the universe is the chance product of random encounters between bits of matter over a long time. In contrast to this view is the spiritual picture. From this perspective, the universe isn’t the product of chance at all but has been guided by some underlying intent or design.

So, which is it?

The first thing to note is that this question cannot be answered by science. That’s not to say that the scientific method is wrong or flawed. It’s just that science is ill-equipped to answer fundamental why questions. In other words, while science is great at observing and describing how the universe behaves, it can’t tell us why the universe behaves the way it does.

If we are ever to get a sense of this why, then, it’s not going to be through scientific means. But by what, then? Or are we doomed to be forever ignorant?

Well, there is another method. We can sense what causes us to behave the way we do by introspection, and what we find is that we’re compelled by a powerful, uniform force: the moral law. We can literally feel this law acting on us and informing how we behave.

We know that this law isn’t a physical law because it doesn’t determine human behavior. We also know that it’s entirely concerned about the way humans treat one another, and what’s more, that they treat each other well.

Now, the question is, can the cold, arbitrary universe of the materialist worldview account for this? It’s hard to see how this kind of universe could care about human beings. The existence of the moral law sits far more comfortably with the notion of a mind or consciousness behind the universe. And, moreover, one that seems to care about us.

The existence of moral law, then, if not proves, at least highly suggests the existence of some kind of moral being. While this doesn’t necessarily prove the existence of the Christian God per se, it does show that there are facts about the universe that science can’t explain whereas Christianity can.
Key idea 4
Of all the logical possibilities, the most likely is that Jesus really was, and is, God.
If you’re not convinced of the truth of Christianity quite yet, This argument comes in the form of a trilemma.
A trilemma is a situation in which a difficult choice has to be made between three alternatives, especially when these are equally undesirable.

Lewis’s trilemma centers on Jesus’s claim, in the New Testament, to be divine.

The key message here is: Of all the logical possibilities, the most likely is that Jesus really was, and is, God.

Now, logically, we can only interpret Jesus’s claim in one of three ways: either Jesus was telling the truth and he really was, and is, divine; he was consciously lying to his followers knowing full well that he was only a man; or he genuinely believed himself to be divine but wasn’t really, which would make him utterly delusional, on par with the man who claims to be a poached egg.

These are the three prongs of the trilemma. It’s a trilemma because each prong is, in its own way, difficult to swallow. You might think that it’s easier to believe that Jesus was just a man than divine, but even then you’d have to admit that he represents a degree of villainy or delusion that’s just as unheard of among humans.

Some people claim there’s another option. They admit that, OK, Jesus probably wasn’t divine, but he was still a tremendous moral teacher worthy of veneration. This is an unacceptable option for the author since if Jesus really wasn’t divine, then he must have been either a monstrous liar or delusional, neither of which are morally admirable. So, we must either accept that he really is the son of God or reject him entirely.

So, what are we to believe?

Well, the first of the three options – that Jesus was divine. Why? Because this is the most likely based on everything we know about Jesus – the life he led, his character, and his teachings.

For a start, he lived an extremely modest life, which counts against the notion that he might be intentionally manipulating people for personal gain. He also preached the virtues of humility and honesty. Only an incredibly arrogant and proud man could claim to be divine when he really wasn’t.

As for the possibility that he was delusional, well, in every other aspect of his life, Jesus exhibits great sense and intelligence. There’s no indication that he wasn’t in his right state of mind. Is it really likely that he was deluded in only this one specific area?

As strange as it might sound, the most likely option is that Jesus really was divine.
Key idea 5
The cause of evil in the world is human free will.
In this blink, we’re going to tackle an objection commonly leveled against Christianity – the problem of evil.

The objection usually goes something like this. If there is a benevolent and all-powerful God, he would have both the power and the will to eradicate suffering from the world. Yet the world is full of suffering. Thus, there cannot be a benevolent and all-powerful God like the scriptures proclaim.

In response to this argument, the author presents a theodicy – an argument designed to reconcile the existence of a just God with the existence of evil. But to begin with, we need to get clear on the relationship between good and evil.

The key message here is: The cause of evil in the world is human free will.

So, which is better – good or evil? Which side do you root for?

OK, that’s a silly question. We all think good is better than evil. But why? Because good is good, and bad is bad? That doesn’t get us very far. We want to know what it is about goodness that makes it better than evil.

Well, the very concepts of good and evil show that good is superior. Goodness is primary and self-sufficient, whereas evil is always secondary and parasitic upon the good.

What this means, in more concrete terms, is that it’s possible to do good things for the sheer sake of doing good, but it’s impossible to do bad things for the sheer sake of doing bad. Bad things are always done for the sake of good things. Whether we enjoy a good thing to excess, or we pursue a good thing through ill-means, badness always involves corrupting something good.

So, evil is inferior to good because it’s always just a corrupted version of a good that could be purer.

This is essentially the Christian understanding of good and evil. It's not a coincidence that the devil is a fallen angel. In Christianity, evil consists of good that has been corrupted.

So, finally, we can answer the original problem. How can a just God allow evil in the world? The answer is that when God created the world, it was perfectly good. But the world has since been corrupted through the actions of human free will.

You might be wondering then, why did God give us free will if we were only going to abuse it? And why doesn’t he intervene?

Well, if humans didn’t have the genuine freedom to behave immorally, they could never behave morally either. To understand why we’ll have to wait until the next blink.
Key idea 6
Christian morality is focused on inward character and intention.
A lot of people imagine God as a sort of Grinch-like figure who doesn’t like it when people enjoy themselves. That’s why he came up with all those prohibitive rules, right? They’re designed to limit our pleasure and happiness.

This is an unfortunate misrepresentation of Christian morality. It’s based on the false idea that morality is principally about following rules.

To see why morality can’t only be about following rules, imagine a man whose behavior, by all accounts, is highly commendable, but who only acts morally so he can get into heaven. On the surface, this man is extremely polite and affable to everyone he meets, he volunteers his time to good causes, and he even donates a lot of money to the poor. However, on the inside, he’s extremely cynical, doesn’t really care about the people he’s helping, and resents giving money away.

This man seems to be missing something important, right? He doesn’t have the appropriate moral character. He’s doing good things but for the wrong reasons. So what does all this mean?

The key message here is: Christian morality is focused on inward character and intention.

As this example shows, there’s a big difference between outward moral behavior and inward moral character. Clearly, genuine morality means more than just acting morally, it means being moral.

That’s why it’s wrong to think that the rules and dictates of Christianity are all that there is to its morality. These rules and dictates are really only meant as a sort of framework that guides us in the right direction but becomes unnecessary once we’ve incorporated them into our character. This, then, is the true purpose of Christian morality – the radical transformation of our very person.

Self-improvement is therefore crucial to Christianity. It's about improving the nature of the innate self, or soul, by filling it with love and goodness.

We shouldn’t think of morality as purely restrictive or limiting because being moral ultimately helps us to grow into more mature, more fulfilled people. And, most importantly, it just feels really, really good to be moral.

What’s more, if the state our soul is in when we die will be the condition we have to endure for eternity, then the work we put in to improving our soul here on Earth is essential preparation for the next life. To enter heaven in the next life means nothing less than to make our souls heavenly here on Earth.
Key idea 7
Christians worship Christ because he’s the exemplar of human virtue here on Earth.
Humans are capable of leading two very different kinds of life.

One, base and material, has to do with the desire of earthly things. This is the default mode of existence for human beings – it’s inherently selfish, concerned only about personal gain and survival.

The other way of life is spiritual and has to do with the pursuit of moral ideals.

Ironically, the objects of our earthly desires, like sex, money, and power, are ephemeral goods, apt to leave our possession as fast as we acquire them. Ideals, although spiritual in nature, are steadfast and eternal, and thus better to provide long-lasting satisfaction.

The key message here is: Christians worship Christ because he’s the exemplar of human virtue here on Earth.

The Christian journey begins the moment we recognize just how far our unsatisfying, material existence is from the joy of the truly moral life. Christianity, therefore, begins with a deep sense of dismay, not of comfort. It begins with the nauseating realization that we’re living wrong.

But, it doesn’t have to be this way.

By living the Christian life, we can transcend the innate selfishness of our material existence and achieve a higher mode of being. The further we travel down the Christian path, the further we depart from the other animals, and the closer we come to resemble God.

But, come on, how can a person resemble God? He’s perfect, and so very unlike human beings.

Well, this is why Christians love and worship Christ because, in the figure of Christ, we find the ideal confluence of human and divine qualities. In fact, the very reason Jesus descended to Earth was to show humans, by example, how to live a truly moral life. Christians worship Jesus because he’s the perfect exemplar of virtue.

In life, Jesus embodied the cardinal virtues – prudence, temperance, justice, and fortitude. And, even in death, he showed us what perfect atonement looks like.

The only way to be a Christian is to love and worship Christ. But, that’s because worshipping Christ and striving to live the most virtuous life possible is one and the same thing.

It’s only by emulating Christ, that we can transcend our material life and approximate Divine virtue.
Key idea 8
Virtue helps us to transcend our base, material existence and achieve spiritual perfection.
So, we’ve seen that following Christ’s lead and living more virtuously can help improve our souls.

But, how exactly, does living a more virtuous life improve the soul? Or, to put it another way, why are the Christian virtues good for us? That’s the question of this blink.

To answer it, we’re going to consider the three principal virtues of Christianity: hope, faith, and charity.

The key message here is: Virtue helps us to transcend our base, material existence and achieve spiritual perfection.

First, let’s take a look at hope. For a Christian, hope means to look forward to the eternal joy that awaits us beyond the travails of earthly life.

Now, many nonbelievers object that Christian hope is nothing but a form of escapism and denial of this world in favor of the next. They claim the concept of salvation in another world is a kind of wishful thinking that distracts us from enjoying the lives we already have.

But this is naive. In fact, people who have hope and who look forward to the future are precisely the people who live life on Earth with the greatest zeal and least worry. These are people who don’t let the struggles of life overcome them because they know, however big their problems may be, they will soon give way to something better.

Now we come to the second theological virtue – faith. Faith refers to our ability to allay doubt and remain steadfast in our belief of the Christian doctrine.

But, surely, it’s not a virtue to believe in something blindly, is it?

Well, the notion that faith is blind is a misrepresentation. Nonbelievers present faith as if it’s the diametric opposite of reason, and then accuse anything that’s believed by faith of being irrational. But faith is not the opposite of reason, it’s the complement to it.

Faith is a kind of strength to stick to beliefs that we’ve already arrived at through reason. Without faith, none of our beliefs would survive the fluctuations of our changing moods and circumstances. This is exactly why people who don’t have faith often end up plagued by doubt and have weak convictions.

Finally, we arrive at charity, which is all about respecting and supporting other people who need help. Charity can be a challenging virtue as it requires us to be respectful and loving towards people who we don’t necessarily like.

However, there’s a secret reward to be had in charity: when you continuously act as though you love someone, eventually you’ll end up loving them for real. The importance of this truth cannot be overstated. Through charity, we fill our soul with genuine feelings of love and goodwill.
Key idea 9
Christianity represents an evolutionary step forward in the history of mankind.
When the theory of evolution by natural selection was first formulated, it sparked outrage and vehement reactions from the Christian community. Even today, many Christians believe the idea of evolution to be entirely at odds with the Christian doctrine.

This isn’t true. Christianity and evolution are not opposed at all, in fact, they even complement one another. The advent of the Christian religion is just another step in the process of evolution that has given humans an advantage and helped them to survive.

The key message here is: Christianity represents an evolutionary step forward in the history of mankind.

According to the theory of natural selection, useful physiological traits that develop in organisms by chance end up getting reproduced from generation to generation because the trait helps the organism to survive and go on to produce offspring.

Well, the Christian religion represents one such useful trait that has helped humans to survive. Although, this time we're not talking about a physiological trait, but a spiritual one.

To draw an analogy, just as certain as our ancestor’s cells developed to be sensitive to light which enabled them to see the physical realm, so the spirit in humans has developed to be sensitive to the light of God which has enabled us to sense the spiritual realm – specifically, the moral law.

Remember, moral law essentially sets out the best practices for harmony between human beings. This is why the Christian religion, which upholds the moral law, has been so successful in reproducing itself throughout the world. The values of the Christian religion have extreme practical value for the individuals and communities that practice them which has helped them to survive and flourish. For example, Christianity emphasizes unconditional support between community members, even when giving support might not be personally profitable.

This is, essentially, a spiritual version of the concept of ‘survival of the fittest’ – individuals and communities which embrace these values are in a sense more fit for the challenges of life.
Final summary

Not only is it perfectly rational to believe in the Christian doctrine, it’s also good both for you and society to be a Christian.

Today, Christianity is being lambasted by skeptics who claim it to be irrational and anti-science. But this is a grave misrepresentation. Christianity is by no means in competition with the scientific project. It simply fills in the gaps where science has proven ill-equipped to provide answers. Questions like, why does the universe exist? or why do humans all feel moral principles? can be explained by Christianity where science is lacking. What’s more, science doesn’t provide any wisdom when it comes to how we ought to live and what values we ought to live by. Christianity, by contrast, lays out the blueprint for the most rational way of life – the one that’s best for our souls and for the community.