This booklet is written on the premise that God does exist and that he is interested in our behaviour and that any ideas of "morality" that do not take him into account are doomed to failure. Robert Kane, a secularist, in Through the Moral Maze: Searching for Absolute Values in a Pluralistic World, recognises the problem:

We simply do not know enough to ground ethics necessarily in human reason and knowledge alone; and centuries of failure in trying to do so have led many to relativism, scepticism, and nihilism.

However, if God does exist, if he has created us for some purpose, and if he is ultimately going to judge us by some criteria of his choosing (more of that later), then it is obviously important to find out what he thinks about it all. The purpose of this booklet is to spell out clearly the Christian view as to why it matters how we live, as it is presented to us in the Bible. This book has always been regarded as the authoritative revelation on what Christianity is all about (2). I won't be looking at specific issues that society is wrestling with today, such as justice, poverty, care of the environment, homosexuality, abortion - all of which, though important and pressing issues, would need a booklet in themselves. Rather, I will be looking at more basic questions, such as: Is there any firm basis for deciding what is good and what is bad? Will it matter if I decide to be "bad" rather than "good"? What happens if I try, but fail? What is life meant to be about, anyway?

You may be sure of one thing. What you will find in these pages you will not get from the TV, the newspaper or the movies. We are told that in this modern world we receive something like 16,000 value messages a day from one source or another. It is very unlikely that many of these will correspond clearly with what is taught in the pages of the Bible. It is very likely (unless you are one of the minority of people who read the Bible regularly, listen to Radio Rhema, or attend a church regularly where these things are clearly taught) that you will have distorted ideas about what Christian morality is all about.

My challenge to you is to read this with an open mind. If you don't like it, can you come up with a better reason for expecting people to behave in a certain kind of way? And just one point for clarification - I make no distinction between "morality" and "ethics". Some might do so, but I stick with popular usage which generally does not.

C. S. Lewis, in Mere Christianity, gives a very helpful illustration. Imagine we are a fleet of ships sailing in formation to a particular destination. Now if the fleet is going to arrive safely without mishap, three things are necessary. First, the individual ships must be seaworthy. Their insides must be in good working order so they can keep afloat, steer well and have the motive power to make the journey. Second, they must be aware of the other boats so they don't bump into one another and so cause harm to themselves and others. Third, they must have some idea about where they are heading - why they are afloat in the first place. It will be of no used if, after a good journey, they end up in Calcutta when they were supposed to get to New York.

The first of these we could describe as individual morality - virtues, vices and character building, which we don't hear much about from our modern ethical philosophies. We have got to keep ourselves shipshape for the journey. The second we could call social ethics - how to get along with one another and help, rather than hinder, others on the journey. The third issue is - why are we here at all and where are we supposed to be going? Many modern philosophers avoid this issue as they have no answer to it. And yet this is the most important question of all. For morality to be of any use there must be some point to it all. We have got to know our destination.

Christianity, rightly understood, provides the answers to these three basic questions. It gives clear guidance as to how to keep ourselves in good working order. It gives very clear instructions on how we should relate to one another and why. More than that, and most importantly, it gives us a clear purpose for making the journey in the first place, a purpose that reaches well beyond the confines of this brief earthly existence. In addition, it tells us how to get aboard the fleet and how to deal with calamities along the way. In this journey, no shipwreck need be final. Finally, it gives the motive power to see the journey through to the end, an end which is only a greater beginning.

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(2) If you have doubts about the reliability of the Bible to give us a true picture of who Jesus is (the founder of Christianity) and what he did, may I commend to you the titles Can We Trust a Book Written 2,000 Years Ago? and Did the Writers of the New Testament Get Their Picture of Jesus Right? in this series.