Bible-based Values

Values are the standards or principles that govern an individual’s behavior and choices. People’s values may derive from society, religion, or self. When values derive from society, they may change as the laws and morals of society change.

This is very true in view of the notion of moral relativism. Moral relativism is the idea that there is no universal or absolute set of moral principles. Societies make their moral choices based on their unique beliefs, customs, and practices. People tend to believe that the “right” moral values are the values that exist in their own culture or based on their perspective of things. Some claim that changing situations make for changing morality—in different situations, different acts are called for what might not be right in other situations.

This kind of thinking is misleading, especially when it applies to making judgments about what is right or wrong. Whether we know it or not, the fact is that we are all born with a conscience, and we all instinctively know when we have been wronged or when we have wronged others. The positions of moral relativism, therefore, become unacceptable, in the light of the witness of conscience.

As Christians, we can’t go on living our lives based on shifting values. Our set of moral values go beyond society’s mores and selfish instincts. And more than the witness of conscience, the Bible, has been given to us as God’s word for learning and living. Our values should, therefore, derive from the Bible. We are called to be faithful in theory and praxis to the teaching of Scripture.

Scripture alone is authoritative for the faith and practice of the Christian. At every point, the thought and actions of Christian should be subject to the continuing authority of God’s written Word. The Bible serves as a critical instrument that discerns and judges the individual's thoughts, attitudes, and actions (Hebrew 4:12).

However, we shouldn't be unaware that our resolve to exhibit biblical values is under constant bombardment from current socio-cultural waves of thoughts, views, and lifestyles in this post-modern era. We, therefore, must acquaint ourselves with the content of the Bible in diligent study and meditation, assent to it as true and absolute in defining the choices we make and our behavior, and be intentional in reappraising our thoughts and lives in line with the imperatives of Scripture