Can morality exist outside of Christianity?

The short answer? In its purest form - one with depth, substance and longevity - no.

Can you be a good, moral person outside of Christianity? Yes. But I ask: by whose standard?

I often hear people say, “Why do good things happen to bad people?” or “That person was such a good person”. I’ve always questioned. How do we know? How do we truly know that person was a good person?

In the Bible, we read: “You can identify them by their fruit, that is, by the way they act” - (Matthew 7:16, NLT). 

By this scripture, you can often discern good behaviour from bad, as a good tree will produce good fruit and a bad tree will produce bad fruit. They say the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. Naturally, we turn to people’s actions to discern who they are and what type of person they are. Are they giving? Do they act selflessly? Are they kind? How do they treat people who cannot do anything for them? What are they like when things don’t go their way? What’s their lifestyle like? Where do they place their morals and values? With time, these actions become clear as day, giving us a foundation for understanding the makeup of who a person truly is.

However, actions alone don’t always determine the root of who a person is. Someone can be a law-abiding citizen who follows rules and guidelines well, yet their intentions and heart can still be in the wrong place. When we examine what motivates us to do good things, even what we believe to be the purest intentions can sometimes be rooted in selfish ego. When you give to charity or help the needy, for example, is it out of genuine compassion, or is it to be seen, affirmed, or made to feel morally superior?

When studying the definition of morality, Google states it as: principles concerning the distinction between right and wrong, or good and bad behaviour. My question is, whose principles are we going by?

Italian Renaissance political philosopher Niccolò Machiavelli once wrote, “Of mankind we may say in general they are fickle, hypocritical, and greedy of gain.” His writings suggest that effective governance requires a pragmatic, and at times ruthless, understanding of these inherent human weaknesses, rather than an idealistic belief in human goodness.

When we rely on our own standards of what is good and bad, we risk the moral goalpost shifting. For example, consider someone who steals to feed their family. Is this wrong, or should it be classified as bad? The act itself remains objectively wrong; stealing does not become good simply because of the circumstances. However, subjectively, it is reasonable to acknowledge that the person’s intentions were morally understandable.

One of the reasons I admire Jesus’ mission on earth was due to dealing with the matter of the heart. The Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:1-17) state:

Don’t murder (The Act/Law)

Jesus expands on this by saying: “If you hate your brother, you’ve already committed murder” Matthew 5:21-22 (The Root) 

Jesus came to fulfill the law by confronting its root cause: hatred is what ultimately leads to murder. This shows the importance of taking our thoughts and feelings captive, as they shape our actions.

Thoughts become words.

Words become actions.

Actions become habits.

Habits become character.

Character becomes your destiny.

Proverbs 4:23 states, “Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life”. 

Secular morality may tell us not to commit murder, but what power is strong enough to consistently restrain the violent and destructive urges rooted in the human heart? Jesus offers a power stronger than our own impulses.

Anarchy has existed before and can exist today as a result of human selfishness; everything begins with a thought. This idea echoes a point I encountered in a YouTube discussion: that our natural responses are often driven by primitive instincts. Neuroscience shows that structures such as the limbic system govern our “fight, flight, or freeze” response. This suggests that the capacity for rage and destruction exists in every one of us, it is part of our biological default. What often separates us from those who go a step further is the degree of restraint we exercise over these impulses.

Christianity offers a framework that enables continual self-examination by governing our thoughts and addressing the condition of the heart, giving substance and consistency to moral living. Secular morality, by contrast, tends to focus primarily on outward actions, often without addressing the underlying motives behind them.

Christianity also offers an objective moral standard rooted in God’s nature. Without that kind of foundation, morality easily becomes subjective, shaped by culture, personal opinion, or whatever happens to be acceptable at the time.

C O N S I D E R . . .

Mind -  Ask yourself, what are my principles governed by?

Body - Is this action I'm about to do self-serving or selfless?

Soul - Take every negative thought captive