Moral Outrage without Morality

Over the past few weeks we have seen most of America respond to the Donald Sterling situation with disgust. The point of this blog post is not to discuss that actual event; it has been discussed by many others. The point of this article is to stimulate our thinking as it pertains to what it means for morality and Christians.

To be honest, I wasn’t surprised by the NBA’s response to the situation. The response of the majority of people seemed to follow the typical pattern. Person says dumb racist comment, world screams for justice. Racism should have no place in the world, our society, and especially the church. We should be offended when people act this way. But Christian, are we offended or are we pointing people to the Gospel?

After I watched several news conferences, interviews, and read a bunch of various comments, I came away with one question: on what basis does anyone of these people say what is moral? Is it based on society? Based on preference? Based on laws?

If we remove the Bible as the source for standards and morality, what becomes the defining standard? What if no one was angered by his comments, would that have made them ok? The Bible states that we are all created in the image of God, so to me it doesn’t matter how others respond, God already has. In a country where half of every marriage ends in divorce, we kill unborn babies, where drunkenness is rampant, profanity is everywhere, adultery is accepted, and immorality has no limits, why is racism not allowed? In a country where morality is almost always left to the individual (you can’t tell someone they are living wrong, period.) how do we then tell someone he is living wrong? On what basis do we make those statements?

As a Pastor, the angered response of so many people reminds me that God has placed inside each of us a divine conscience that constantly points us to our Creator. People are offended because they know that human life has value, it means something. What they don’t know is why they have these internal feelings and thoughts. The discussion of racism, morals, and society is a perfect chance to point people to the designer and perfect moral compass.

May we point people to the Gospel more often than we point out the problems of this world.