Vertical and Horizontal Morality

I was recently listening to the “Ben Shapiro Sunday Special” where he interviews interesting guests on a variety of topics. This episode featured Ravi Zacharias, the famous Christian apologist (someone who defends the faith with logic, philosophy, reason, the Bible, etc.) One of the things he mentioned caught my attention. They were talking about morality and the prevalent notion in modernity of relativism: the idea that my morals are true for me and yours are equally true for you. In other words, everyone is free to come up with their own equally valid moral framework. 

Obviously this is problematic from a biblical perspective, but Zacharias made what I thought was an even more fundamental point. We make morality something that is horizontal, rather than vertical. In other words, morality in our culture is viewed as being between person A and person B. If A wrongs B, A did something immoral. A’s morality hinges on A’s treatment of B, and whether a specific action of A’s is moral depends on whether it negatively affects B. Our morality is therefore horizontal in the sense that it is fundamentally person to person.

We have taken God out of the equation. It is so natural at this point, I think even for most Christians, that we don’t realize it. But how often do we worry, first and foremost, about having wronged someone or the moral implications of our actions against other people, without first considering God? We see this constantly in our society with so-called victimless crimes. A relatively recent example, pirated music, comes to mind. I have heard the argument repeated over and over that a given person’s illegal music downloads don’t hurt anybody as a means of justification. But does this make it moral? If morality is purely horizontal, maybe (excluding the possibility of a cumulative effect of lost revenue from piracy on music companies and artists). 

However, if morality is indeed vertical, do the words “thou shall not steal” ring any bells? After David commits his great sin with Bathsheba, he writes “Against You, You only, I have sinned” (Psalm 51:4 NASB). Obviously, he is speaking to God. Keep in mind, he has just had Uriah killed for the express purpose of taking his wife. He has brought immorality into the life of Bathsheba herself. Who is his primary apology towards? God. Morality is not about interpersonal interaction, but our interaction with Him who created it and us. Of course, our actions towards others matter, but they do not define right and wrong. My prayer is that we would live like that.