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2. Pondering the difference

So, you ask, what is morality and what is immorality?

Let’s start with the latter, the affliction, and consider these descriptions:

Immorality is any attitude or action that de-optimizes one’s own life and/or the life of another person or multiple individuals.

Immorality is any self-concocted rationalization for living dishonorably and disrespecting other people.

Immorality is anything that lessens your hope “to see God,” as Jesus put it in the Sermon on the Mount.

Immorality flows from “sinful desires that war against your soul,” as one of Jesus’ disciples, Peter, described it in the New Testament’s book of Peter, chapter 2, verse 11.

Immorality is any disdain toward ancient or contemporary writings that set forth guidance for honorable, wholesome living.

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Turning to morality, consider these descriptions:

Morality is an openness to turn toward a higher good for ourselves and for other people, even for a few moments. It is a concern that no one gets hurt.

Morality is an attitude or action that is unburdened by guilt or shame.

Morality is rooted in such historic junctures as the Ten Commandments as set forth in the Bible’s Old Testament in chapter 20, verses 1-17 of the book of Exodus.

Morality does not obstruct your view heavenward.

Morality helps you look at your soul and attempt to be real about its condition. Morality then helps you take the first steps into a journey toward an optimal heart.

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I have suffered from immorality.

I remember it vividly.

I remember times when my immorality, in any of its manifestations, small or large, de-optimized my personhood and when it hurt other people.

Daily, I am alarmed at immorality’s remnants. I work to eradicate them. The most effective antidote to immorality’s remnants seems to be a wholesome dose of morality, of godliness. Whenever the high value of living honorably comes to mind, Jesus’ statement, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God,” often nudges me toward additional antidotes in Scripture that the Holy Spirit has used to help derail my soul from immorality.

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Morality and immorality may seem like nebulous concepts. Granted, they have dictionary definitions, but they seem most clearly defined in other ways:

-- through the attitudes and actions of each person on earth.

-- through mankind’s noble aspirations.

-- through divine revelation.

Difficulties arise with each of these:

-- While the morality of some individuals can have positive effects for a person, a community, and a nation, the immorality of other individuals can have sorrowful or tragic effects. Think, for instance, of Adolph Hitler’s immorality and the unthinkable toll it exacted on humanity during the 1930s and 1940s. Think of a pornographer’s immorality and the unthinkable toll it extracts on women and children who are raped and molested by men fueled by the pornography industry.

-- Mankind’s noble aspirations, often manifested in great works of philosophy, literature, music, and art, likewise can be broadly influential. Oftentimes, however, its appeal is fleeting, akin to the phrase “in one ear and out the other.” Or a person may forget the noble message amid the pressures of daily living or a nation may stray from it amid the inevitable cultural battle between morality and immorality.

-- Divine revelation, meanwhile, can yield a consistency of honorable intentions and actions because it is rooted in the concept of a supreme being or an otherworldly milieu beckoning a commitment of one’s soul to its core beliefs. Sadly, divine revelation also can be ignored, debated, misunderstood, or misapplied, sometimes with tragic consequences.

If you’re wary of a supreme being or an otherworldly milieu, you’re far from alone. If, however, you are drawn beyond the inner workings of the human brain, you are among those who, throughout recorded history, have found the pursuit of morality to be compelling and even glorious.