Is good and bad relative?

Richard Dawkins is one of the brilliant scientist yet an atheist commented on the reality of good and evil in his book River out of Eden: “Humans have always wondered about the meaning of life. . . Life has no purpose than to perpetuate the survival of DNA . . . Life has no design, no purpose, no evil and no good, nothing, but blind pitiless indifference.”. How does a person ultimately resolve what is good or bad, what is moral or immoral? Some, like Dawkins, believe there is no true concept of good and bad and it is relative.

Who is defining what is good and bad by the way?

In some cases, individuals who hold the highest status like Dawkins or for that matter the celebrities define what is good or bad today based on their convenience, personal views and choices they make and influence others with the same. 

Then comes the Culture existing in a particular community or people group define good and bad. Each culture has their own practices, it may look perfect for them but can be extremely cruel and harmful to another people group or to a nation. Examples of harmful practices: crime against women, male dominant society, child marriage, Honor killing etc.

Finally, the Religion whose demands and requirements varies. Most of the people dare to kill and obliterate people in the name of religion. Some of the practices that people want to connect with religion. One example, In India in some of the mountain belt polyandry (where woman can have 2 or more husbands) is practiced and they use religion as a basis and support it with culture. How do we take it?

God demands you to be good.

God has designed a moral framework and secured it to human hearts, but unfortunately people use it based on their convenience and what makes them happy.  Honest atheists like Nietzsche who admits that, without God, there can be nothing called “good,” nor can there be anything called “evil.” 

C. S. Lewis essayist, apologist, comments this way: “My argument against God was that the universe seemed so cruel and unjust. But how had I got this idea of just and unjust? A man does not call a line crooked unless he has some idea of a straight line.” The Bible declares, “No one is good but God alone”. Good is grounded in the very nature of God, and what He wills is good because He is good. Many things may have some good in them, but there can only be one thing that is good. And this good God invites everyone to “taste and see that He is good”.

Reference:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyandry_in_India

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