What good is it to teach that a person should or shouldn't do this thing or that thing if there is no basis for it? What if you can't answer the question: Why? Would you expect the people you teach this morality to to follow it? Whether you expect it or not, they're probably not going to follow it.
Morality must have a basis for it. Morality must be filled with something, something to motivate people to follow it. This has been the problem with so many Christian churches over the years. Christians have had the idea that all that needs to be taught is the rights and the wrongs. But without teaching the more important stuff, like why something is right or wrong, this results in an empty set of rules that younger generations are inevitably going to rebel against. The unfortunate thing is that they rebel against Christ at the same time. The really unfortunate thing is that the rules which are taught are hardly ever the rules that Christ would have taught. So younger generations rebel against religion, specifically Christianity, without even knowing that its not Christianity that they're rebelling against. Its a hollow morality that makes young atheists. Its a morality that is insufficient and barely even conforms to Scripture. Its pastors focusing on insignificant things while ignoring the most important things. In most churches it would be better if the pastor just got up and read Scripture and nothing else.
Now what should morality be based on? The answer is obvious and easy, but the reason is something that many Christians may not have thought of. Morality must be based solidly on the Bible. I say that and I mean that. If someone says something is wrong but has no Scripture to back it up, I say bullhonky. We must read the Bible. We must believe the Bible. We must understand the Bible, and teach the Bible just as it is, not subtracting or adding anything. The reason the Bible must be the basis for a real morality, that people really will follow, is that its possible to get a person to believe the Bible. Nobody really believes the Koran, not even Muslims. Nobody really believes Confucius or any eastern philosophy, not even easterners. Good luck trying to find one fundamentalist atheist. But the Bible - that is something that a skeptic can believe. Really, an honest skeptic who does an honest search for truth, is forced to believe the Bible. Apologetics is what I'm talking about. You can get someone to fully believe the Bible by appealing to their interest in facts and their love for reason. Facts, reason, a convincing argument - these are ideals that every human being seeks in searching for an answer. There is no need to do the gimmicky religious stuff, or make use of unreasonable fear. You could scare someone into searching for the truth, but that's all it takes. You do not need to scare someone into blindly believing a Christian (though often "Christian") set of doctrines. You simply need to show them that the Bible really is true, which isn't that hard to do. From there its a simple matter of teaching morality based on the Bible. Simple. Really it is simple.
Morality must have a basis for it. Morality must be filled with something, something to motivate people to follow it. This has been the problem with so many Christian churches over the years. Christians have had the idea that all that needs to be taught is the rights and the wrongs. But without teaching the more important stuff, like why something is right or wrong, this results in an empty set of rules that younger generations are inevitably going to rebel against. The unfortunate thing is that they rebel against Christ at the same time. The really unfortunate thing is that the rules which are taught are hardly ever the rules that Christ would have taught. So younger generations rebel against religion, specifically Christianity, without even knowing that its not Christianity that they're rebelling against. Its a hollow morality that makes young atheists. Its a morality that is insufficient and barely even conforms to Scripture. Its pastors focusing on insignificant things while ignoring the most important things. In most churches it would be better if the pastor just got up and read Scripture and nothing else.
Now what should morality be based on? The answer is obvious and easy, but the reason is something that many Christians may not have thought of. Morality must be based solidly on the Bible. I say that and I mean that. If someone says something is wrong but has no Scripture to back it up, I say bullhonky. We must read the Bible. We must believe the Bible. We must understand the Bible, and teach the Bible just as it is, not subtracting or adding anything. The reason the Bible must be the basis for a real morality, that people really will follow, is that its possible to get a person to believe the Bible. Nobody really believes the Koran, not even Muslims. Nobody really believes Confucius or any eastern philosophy, not even easterners. Good luck trying to find one fundamentalist atheist. But the Bible - that is something that a skeptic can believe. Really, an honest skeptic who does an honest search for truth, is forced to believe the Bible. Apologetics is what I'm talking about. You can get someone to fully believe the Bible by appealing to their interest in facts and their love for reason. Facts, reason, a convincing argument - these are ideals that every human being seeks in searching for an answer. There is no need to do the gimmicky religious stuff, or make use of unreasonable fear. You could scare someone into searching for the truth, but that's all it takes. You do not need to scare someone into blindly believing a Christian (though often "Christian") set of doctrines. You simply need to show them that the Bible really is true, which isn't that hard to do. From there its a simple matter of teaching morality based on the Bible. Simple. Really it is simple.
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