Ethics Cody Bradley’s Argument that Ethics Requires God

Ethics and the Need for God

Ethics is widely used to refer to moral standards that guide people’s behavior while carrying out their various activities. The natural law of ethics provides the use of reasoning to study the social and personal nature of human beings in order to develop restricted moral behavior standards. Cody Bradley contends that God is required for ethics. It suggests that God is the one who naturally regulates people’s behavior, and that because He is a just God, He would only make people behave morally and uprightly. Cody asserted that God created man in His likeness and that objective morality in how people are treated is God’s intervention (Rose 9). Bradley gives a suggestion that intrinsic values can be assigned to people by letting them believe that they are created in the image of the Lord. Since God is highly respected, and human beings are created in the image of God, then people should also be accorded respect similar to the one given to God. This paper explores and evaluates Cody Bradleys’ argument that ethics requires God.

The Role of God in Moral Behavior

From Cody Bradley’s case, it is clear that without God, there is no moral behavior. Cody claims that God created man in His image and because He is a good God, the man should also behave morally. People do have both positive and negative ethics. The only kind of ethics that is required in the society where people live is the positive behavior (Braaten 14). Immoral behaviors among people are associated with the evil spirits from the rebellious angel, Satan. Satan had gone against the Lord, and he is also struggling to win the hearts of people to build his empire. The natural fight that Satan imposes on the innocent persons makes people have immoral behaviors. Therefore, for the individual to display a good behavior, he or she must seek the Lord first.

The Influence of Belief in God on Moral Values

The intrinsic moral values can only be assigned to people if they know that they are created in the image of the Lord. People can grow morally upright if they trust and believe in God. People can naturally honor and obey the moral principles if they obey and respect the Almighty Father. For instance, children do adopt the behaviors of their parents or guardians whom they continuously interact or stay with (Braaten 17). Such children tend to copy what their parents are doing as they take cautions on what they are told to be bad. Similarly, when people know that they are created in the image of God, they will tend to practice what God wants them to do. As people execute the will of God, they will develop an intrinsic value of good behavior in the community.

Respect for God and Respect for Others

Bradley argued that human beings require respect resembling the one given to the Creator. Respect itself promotes moral behavior in the society. God should be obeyed and respected because He is the sole Creator of the universe and its components. People should treat one another in the community in a similar way as they treat their Lord (Wright 53). It follows the fact that God created man in His image and likeness, God is omnipresent and omniscient. When people walk in this world, they do not meet God physically, but they only run into their fellow human beings with different characters and physical appearance. If God created man in his image and likeness, God is beyond human imagination, and the same God is present everywhere, then God is similar to the man who is present everywhere and is difficult to understand. Therefore, people deserve the respect that resembles that of God because human beings seem to God.

God’s Example and the Practice of Ethics

God practiced ethics in His work of creation to set a better example to people in their daily duties. After God had finished the creation process, he put a man in charge of everything in the Garden of Eden with some rules to obey. The man was forbidden from eating fruit from the middle of the garden. Satan sneaked into the backyard and deceived man to eat fruit from the forbidden tree (Rose 12). Adam and Eve realized that they had sinned and then hid from God. It implies that people only practice moral behaviors in the presence of the Lord. If God is not involved in whatever people execute in this world, then they can come up with strange habits that deprive others their rights. Therefore, for people to effectively practice good behavior in the society, they must involve God. They can involve the Lord through prayers and fasting, by praising Him, obeying and respecting Him. When one respects and obeys God, he or she will tend to respect other people because they are God’s creation.

The Role of God in Defining Goodness

Cody Bradley also argued that something is only good if God wills it. Everything in this world is only good if they serve the purpose of the Lord. God is always associated with good things that are positive ethics, and Satan dwells in negative ethics. The issues of ethics are discussed in the society when something bad happens. People do seek God to help them fight with problems. Therefore, God should intervene in every ethical issue to enable the community to have well stipulated moral principles that govern people’s behaviors (Yordy 21). God created everything in the universe except the bad behavior that hinders the well-being of His creation. He should be welcomed when dealing with various cases that violate the rights of other people. People’s behavior is controlled by God because harmful practices do not always victimize those who are spiritually stable in the society. The non-believers are always incarcerated with small cases of misbehavior because they view sinning as a normal behavior that anybody can commit. For instance, it is similar to the case of Sodom and Gomorrah where people who born in sin found it to be a regular activity.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Cody Bradley is right to argue that ethics requires God. Ethics is controlled by God because God’s creations practice it. God created the man who is prone to sin. People do commit sin by depriving others their rights and doing things that do not please God. Since God creates the things that are being mistreated and misused, people should seek the mercy of the Lord to restore their good behaviors.

Works Cited

Braaten, Carl E. Eschatology, and Ethics: Essays on the theology and ethics of the kingdom of God. Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2017.

Rose, Matthew. Ethics with Barth: God, metaphysics, and morals. Routledge, 2016.

Wright, Christopher JH. Old Testament ethics for the people of God. InterVarsity Press, 2013.

Yordy, Laura Ruth. Green Witness: Ecology, Ethics and the Kingdom of God. The Lutterworth Press, 2014.