1. Welcome to Central Teaching Please silence your cell phones!

2. A Study of Romans

3. Last Week: – All people have exchanged God for an idol
Last Week: – All people have exchanged God for an idol. God responds by giving us over to pursue our idol so that we will choose to come back to Him.
A Study of Romans

4. We won’t stop chasing until we catch “it”

5. Is there a basis for morality? Romans 1:24-32
May 1, 2016

6. Romans 1
24 Therefore God delivered them over in the cravings of their hearts to sexual impurity, so that their bodies were degraded among themselves. 25 They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served something created instead of the Creator, who is praised forever. Amen. 26 This is why God delivered them over to degrading passions. 

7. Romans 1
Human history demonstrates that idolatry tends to lead to sexual immorality. Without God, humans tend to glorify the sex act, but usually at the loss of their humanness.
24 Therefore God delivered them over in the cravings of their hearts to sexual impurity, so that their bodies were degraded among themselves. 25 They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served something created instead of the Creator, who is praised forever. Amen. 26 This is why God delivered them over to degrading passions. 

8. Romans 1
For even their females exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. 27 The males in the same way also left natural relations with females and were inflamed in their lust for one another. Males committed shameless acts with males and received in their own persons the appropriate penalty of their error.

9. Romans 1
For even their females exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. 27 The males in the same way also left natural relations with females and were inflamed in their lust for one another. Males committed shameless acts with males and received in their own persons the appropriate penalty of their error.
Yes, this text is about how rejecting God leads to unnatural sexual actions. Specifically, it is about how it can lead to homosexuality.

10. Romans 1
For even their females exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. 27 The males in the same way also left natural relations with females and were inflamed in their lust for one another. Males committed shameless acts with males and received in their own persons the appropriate penalty of their error. 28 And because they did not think it worthwhile to acknowledge God, God delivered them over to a worthless mind to do what is morally wrong. 

11. Yes, this text is teaching that homosexuality is morally wrong.
Romans 1
For even their females exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. 27 The males in the same way also left natural relations with females and were inflamed in their lust for one another. Males committed shameless acts with males and received in their own persons the appropriate penalty of their error. 28 And because they did not think it worthwhile to acknowledge God, God delivered them over to a worthless mind to do what is morally wrong. 
Yes, this text is teaching that homosexuality is morally wrong.

12. What are you feeling right now?
Romans 1
For even their females exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. 27 The males in the same way also left natural relations with females and were inflamed in their lust for one another. Males committed shameless acts with males and received in their own persons the appropriate penalty of their error. 28 And because they did not think it worthwhile to acknowledge God, God delivered them over to a worthless mind to do what is morally wrong. 
What are you feeling right now?

13. Romans 1
29 They are filled with all unrighteousness, evil, greed, and wickedness. They are full of envy, murder, quarrels, deceit, and malice. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, God-haters, arrogant, proud, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents,31 undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, and unmerciful. 32 Although they know full well God’s just sentence—that those who practice such things deserve to die—they not only do them, but even applaud others who practice them.

14. Romans 1
29 They are filled with all unrighteousness, evil, greed, and wickedness. They are full of envy, murder, quarrels, deceit, and malice. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, God-haters, arrogant, proud, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents,31 undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, and unmerciful. 32 Although they know full well God’s just sentence—that those who practice such things deserve to die—they not only do them, but even applaud others who practice them.
We’re all in the same boat, we’re just using different paddles as we row the boat in circles!

15. Romans 1
29 They are filled with all unrighteousness, evil, greed, and wickedness. They are full of envy, murder, quarrels, deceit, and malice. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, God-haters, arrogant, proud, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents,31 undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, and unmerciful. 32 Although they know full well God’s just sentence—that those who practice such things deserve to die—they not only do them, but even applaud others who practice them.

16. Romans 1
29 They are filled with all unrighteousness, evil, greed, and wickedness. They are full of envy, murder, quarrels, deceit, and malice. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, God-haters, arrogant, proud, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents,31 undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, and unmerciful. 32 Although they know full well God’s just sentence—that those who practice such things deserve to die—they not only do them, but even applaud others who practice them.

17. Romans 1
29 They are filled with all unrighteousness, evil, greed, and wickedness. They are full of envy, murder, quarrels, deceit, and malice. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, God-haters, arrogant, proud, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents,31 undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, and unmerciful. 32 Although they know full well God’s just sentence—that those who practice such things deserve to die—they not only do them, but even applaud others who practice them.
Yes, this text is teaching that these “normal” things are morally wrong.

18. Romans 1
29 They are filled with all unrighteousness, evil, greed, and wickedness. They are full of envy, murder, quarrels, deceit, and malice. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, God-haters, arrogant, proud, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents,31 undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, and unmerciful. 32 Although they know full well God’s just sentence—that those who practice such things deserve to die—they not only do them, but even applaud others who practice them.
Yes, this text is teaching that these “normal” things are morally wrong.

19. Is there a basis for morality?
Morality is the subject of what “should” or “ought to be.
If there is no God, is it even possible to have objective morality?
Theists say no.
Most atheists say no!
The Big Bang is non-moral
Evolution is non-moral
Toenail fungus “morally” equal to human life

20. Is there a basis for morality?
Morality is the subject of what “should” or “ought to be.
If there is no God, is it even possible to have objective morality?
Theists say no.
Most atheists say no!
The Big Bang is non-moral
Evolution is non-moral
Toenail fungus “morally” equal to human life
A non-moral cause and a non-moral process can’t create a moral product!

21. Is there a basis for morality?
Morality is the subject of what “should” or “ought to be.
If there is no God, is it even possible to have objective morality?
Theists say no.
Most atheists say no!
The Big Bang is non-moral
Evolution is non-moral
Toenail fungus “morally” equal to human life
“How come, when it’s us, it’s an abortion? And when it’s a chicken, it’s an omelet?”
-Atheist comedian George Carlin

22. How do you respond to this?
Three Bosnian Serbs stand trial for creating and managing “rape factories” where Muslim women, some as young as twelve, endure unimaginable horrors. Victims tell of being savagely beaten, gang raped and tortured. The three Serbs state that they do not condone rape in general but argue that these particular women deserve it due to their ethnicity.

23. How do you respond to this?
A mother in South Carolina secures her two children in their car seats and then drives the family car into a lake, drowning both. She tells authorities she did it to win back her boyfriend, who didn’t want children.

24. How do you respond to this?
The website Ku Klux Klan for Kids teaches young readers to be racists through cartoons, interactive games, puzzles and bedtime stories that portray people of color as inferior and dangerous. Creators of the website argue that they are merely doing what any good parent would do – passing on truth, values and convictions.

25. How do you respond to this?
The website Ku Klux Klan for Kids teaches young readers to be racists through cartoons, interactive games, puzzles and bedtime stories that portray people of color as inferior and dangerous. Creators of the website argue that they are merely doing what any good parent would do – passing on truth, values and convictions.
Where does the, “That is horrible!” response come from?

26. Possible explanations for morality
Morality is a misfiring of evolution – each have different values wired in our brain.
Morality is determined by the powerful.
Morality is determined by culture.
Morality is determined by the individual.
Morality is determined by a good God.
Let’s try a test case…

27. Test – The Morality of the Holocaust
Morality is a misfiring of evolution – each have different values wired in our brain.
Hitler and his cronies had anti-Semitism and violence wired into their brains.

28. Test – The Morality of the Holocaust
Morality is a misfiring of evolution – each have different values wired in our brain.
Hitler and his cronies had anti-Semitism and violence wired into their brains.

29. Test – The Morality of the Holocaust
Morality is determined by the powerful.
Hitler and his cronies were in power so whatever they said was moral was fine.

30. Test – The Morality of the Holocaust
Morality is determined by the powerful.
Hitler and his cronies were in power so whatever they said was moral was fine.

31. Test – The Morality of the Holocaust
Morality is determined by culture.
Hitler and German culture in the 1930s and 1940s created and embraced a culture in which it was acceptable to deport Jews.

32. Test – The Morality of the Holocaust
Morality is determined by culture.
Hitler and German culture in the 1930s and 1940s created and embraced a culture in which it was acceptable to deport Jews.

33. Test – The Morality of the Holocaust
Morality is determined by the individual.
Hitler decided that what was best for him and Germany was the extermination of the Jews.

34. Test – The Morality of the Holocaust
Morality is determined by the individual.
Hitler decided that what was best for him and Germany was the extermination of the Jews.

35. Nuremberg Trials (1945-49) This line of reasoning halted the trial!
The most effective defense offered by the accused was that they had simply followed orders or made decisions within the framework of their own legal system, in complete consistency with it, and that they therefore could not rightly be condemned because they deviated from the alien value system of their conquerors.
This line of reasoning halted the trial!

36. Nuremberg Trials ( )
The chief counsel of the United States, Robert Jackson, came up with an answer. The only way to judge any culture, he argued, was to appeal to a “law above the law.” A “law above the law” transcends culture and applies to both the winners and losers of the war. The trial continued and justice was served. But where did this “law above the law” or sense of “justice” come from?

37. Possible explanations for morality
Morality is a misfiring of evolution – each have different values wired in our brain.
Morality is determined by the powerful.
Morality is determined by culture.
Morality is determined by the individual.
Morality is determined by a good God.

38. Possible explanations for morality
Morality is a misfiring of evolution – each have different values wired in our brain.
Morality is determined by the powerful.
Morality is determined by culture.
Morality is determined by the individual.
Morality is determined by a good God.
The real question: “Is there a God?”

39. Romans 1
29 They are filled with all unrighteousness, evil, greed, and wickedness. They are full of envy, murder, quarrels, deceit, and malice. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, God-haters, arrogant, proud, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents,31 undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, and unmerciful. 32 Although they know full well God’s just sentence—that those who practice such things deserve to die—they not only do them, but even applaud others who practice them.
We’re all in the same boat, we’re just using different paddles as we row the boat in circles!

40. Conclusions
Nobody should care what the Bible says about morality if there is no God
Without morality, social activism is useless
Without morality, moral outrage is baseless
Without morality, society will crumble
God loves for us to investigate these issues
The Bible says we’ve all morally-offended God, and we all need a savior

41. NEXT CT
Why God hates religion

42. Questions?
Comments?

43. Thanks for coming out to Central Teaching
See you next week!