Murder, rape and theft are heard about incessantly.
This brings up another fundamental question pertaining to the meaning of life.
Of course there is not always a right and a wrong answer in a given situation. But this post looks at our awareness of right and wring and some possibilities of where the sense came from.
Where Did Your Sense Of Right And Wrong Come From?
1. Family
For example, convicted Cleveland kidnapper Ariel Castro said he was abused as a child. From his perspective it might have seemed more acceptable to do the same thing to someone else. He might have thought that he suffered the same way. In an interview he reportedly said he knew what he was doing was wrong, yet he continued to do it.
How you grew up is your "standard", so to speak. It is what you compare things to.
2. Environment - imitation
Who you spend time around can tell you something about how much you accept certain things. If you are around people who break the law a lot it might not seem as unusual or "out of place" to you.
The media probably also plays a role in this indirectly. A premise of these posts is that your happiness and sense of the world comes from your thoughts. If certain thoughts are put in your mind more they might become easier to accept over time.
3. Soul
This is more difficult to recognize. If identical twins have similar genes and a similar environment, then why do they react to things differently? If right and wrong only came from genes and environment they would act the same.
Some people call this soul and some call it conscience. If you know what you are doing is wrong does it bother you? As it was mentioned above, do you continue to do what is wrong.
Something Deep Down
Jesus tried to emphasize the difference between the LETTER of the law and the SPIRIT of the law with the Pharisees. The Pharisees insisted the law was not to work on the Sabbath Day. However Jesus tried to demonstrate how the law also involved something DEEP DOWN. You can call it spirit or soul or conscience, etc.
A Christian might say the Holy Spirit is working through you. Indeed at Pentecost Jesus said he would not leave believers as orphans, but send the Spirit to do his work.
As in the example at the beginning of this post people might think it is widely known that murder, rape and theft are wrong. But in everyday life we are faced with a lot of "smaller" choices that are not as obvious. Debating free will and the work of the Holy Spirit is a post to itself.It seems the answer to where humans get right from wrong is more relative than absolute. It also varies over time and situations.
Do YOU know when you are doing right and wrong?
Please note: There are many more and different theories on where people get their notion of right vs. wrong. This post is an introduction to the subject. More in depth reading can be found below.
Further reading on the topic can be found at:
Is Morality Innate And Universal?
How Do We Know Right And Wrong?
Right And Wrong In The Christian Context
Author: Albert Wagner
