I will attempt to keep this short and to the point:

Morality does exist.

I know this is not a radical statement. Many people would agree with it. Obviously people disagree on where morality comes from, but only a minority deny the existence of morality.

At least explicitly deny the existence of morality. These people usually ascribe to some form of Moral Relativism.

(Moral Relativism is a philosophy that essentially states that morality is situational, based on the individual, denying the existence of moral absolutes etc.)

This philosophy has many critics, and rightfully so. I am not going to spend time defeating the philosophy, I just recommend you do some research on your own if you are interested.

I have made an observation that troubles me- Many Christians ascribe to a form of Moral Relativism. Maybe not explicitly, but implicitly.

Consider these statements that I have heard or read in the last year:

“The Bible and the theory of Evolution can co-exist”
“I am against abortion, except in cases of rape and incest”
“It is not the governments responsibility to enforce morality”
“Although I am against homosexuality, it is not my place to prevent homosexual couples from getting married.”

(And I can already hear you preparing to call me a hypocrite, and thats fine because I am.)

Now hear me out. I know I touched on some of the most controversial issues of our day. I probably struck some nerves. I get that, be mad at me.

But listen, here is the issue I have with all of those statements-
They deny the truth of the Word of God.
And why is this important?
Not because of politics
Not because of society
Not because of equal rights
Not for any of those reasons.

Do you see the connection? Do you see why this is so important?!

If parts of the Bible can be discarded, or regarded as untrue.. Then the implications of this are huge. You can completely undermine the Christian faith!

I encourage you to ask this question: Have I exchanged the truth of God for a lie?

Grief.

For 22 years of my life, I rarely became acquainted with the idea.
In the last 18 months, grief has become one of my best friends. A constant companion almost.
As you may or may not know, I lost my Mother on June 3rd, 2011 after a lengthy battle with cancer. It was at this point that I became very familiar with grief and the process of dealing with grief.

Over the last few months, several people that I love and respect have lost loved ones and they too have become familiar with grief. These events have caused me to think deeply about my grieving process, and also the lessons that I learned through the process. I felt now was a good time to share this insight, so here it goes.

1) Grief is different for everyone:

 One thing we have to realize about grief is that the process is not the same for everyone. I chose to put this point first, because it is important to view the subsequent points through an individual lens. What I share about my experience may not be the same as what you are experiencing right now. With that being said, this is important because it helps us focus on the people around us. When someone close to you dies, it is likely that you will know other people who are also affected by the death of that person. For example, my immediate family. My dad lost his wife and best friend, my sister lost her mother, etc. We all experienced loss at the same time, and we all were dealing with grief at the same time. Looking back, I can see two major mistakes that I made during this time: I was insensitive to the grieving process of my family members, and I viewed them through the prism of my grieving process (Essentially I expected them to grieve as I did).

2) Grief must be engaged:

Grief is a process. In every sense of the phrase, it is a process. There are phases that you will go through. Progress you will make. Back and forth, up and down. Essentially an emotional roller coaster. But here is the key, you MUST engage in the process. You must engage the emotions, the memories, the pain, and also the joy. Believe it or not, joy does exist in the process. It is by engaging the process that healing will come about.

3) Grief leads to growth:

The grieving process is a unique opportunity for growth. It cannot be recreated. It is not something you can learn by reading a book or watching a movie. It is an environment where God can do a wonderful work in your heart and grant you a powerful perspective on life and on Him. Let me put it this way: I learned more about life in the year following my Mothers death, than I did in the previous 22 years of living.

Death is a certainty. If you live long enough, then you will likely experience the death of a loved one. And the longer you live, the more it is going to happen unfortunately. I hope my experience helps you in the future. And know this, although the grieving process is difficult, healing WILL come.