“Lost” and Moral Absolutes

So I watched the season finale of Lost tonight and loved it. Others did not, but we all have our reasons for watching Lost. I like the moral objectivity of the characters.

Most of the characters deal with guilt. That Benjamin guy doesn’t, but he’s crazy. When most of them do wrong or believe they’ve done wrong, they feel guilty. This season we have seen Michael, Jack, and even Sawyer deal with remorse and a deep sense of guilt.

Why do I think that is a good thing? Because in the real world guilt is real. Guilt is not real for mentally disturbed people who are out of touch with reality. For people who have a sense of what is “normal” guilt is a part of life as a sinful creature.

There are some in our society who want us to believe there are no moral absolutes. A lot of people are buying it. I spoke with a professor at Western Kentucky University who polled his class last fall about the 911 terror attacks. Over 50% of them said it was ok that the terrorists bombed the US. About 40% said it was wrong. And a few said it was right or weren’t sure. That is frightening.

The reason the students gave for believing the terrorist attacks were either ok or right was because the terrorists believed what they were doing was right. In essence these confused kids are saying that because the terrorists believed it was right for them that their personal belief makes their killing of others either ok or right. In other words these students have bought the lie that there are no moral absolutes.

I pray that they and the others (a little lost humor) that have been duped with this lie will wake up. Some will wake up once or if they ever become parents. If that blessed day comes for them, they will not allow that child to do what the child feels it wants to do. They will train the child to know the difference between right and wrong. They will teach their child moral absolutes.

Why won’t these students and people in our society accept moral absolutes someone might ask. The answer is simple. If you ever come to a place where you say there is such a thing as right and wrong, you have to ask, “Who says?” Once you start asking that question, you will find God with His hand raised. It will have nail prints in it and with those scars the story of redemption. Soon you will see that the only hope in life is grace through faith in Christ alone. A lot of people are committed to not believing that. In a nation of tolerance there are many who believe Jesus is intolerable.