What is wrong? Wrong is evil. But what makes it evil? Wrong is disobeying the Law of God. But which Law of God? Jesus accused the Pharisees of using the law to their advantage, obeying the law that allowed them to dedicate a portion of their goods to God, and by doing so relieving themselves of the responsibility of taking care of their parents. Law can be interpreted to suit oneself. And there are times when what is lawful isn't necessarily right. So it mattters how we define wrong.
I think wrong is wrong because it injures someone or something in God's creation. Wrong causes someone harm, either the one who does wrong or another victim. Obviously, such things as murder, theft, assault and the like are wrong (in almost all cases). So is smoking, which damages the lungs of the smoker, the smoker's family, and anyone near the smoker. The idle bit of gossip, which damages someone's reputation and can cause intense pain to the victim, is wrong. Doing wrong damages Creation. The wanton destruction of the vast herds of buffalo was wrong. The pollution of the air and the water around us is wrong.
What is the role of moral rules in the equation? Moral rules area sort of short-hand for right and wrong. The rules will tell us nine times out of ten (or ninety-nine times out of a hundred) what is the right and wrong thing to do. But there is that one time in a thousand, in ten thousand, when the rule is incorrect. Wrong is not wrong because a rule is violated; wrong is wrong because someone or something is harmed. Every now and then in this messy life we live it is right to tell a lie, right to steal, right to violate a rule. And many times in life, we do harm no matter what choice we make, and we have to decide what we think is more right or more wrong. Morality is not an exact science; it is an inexact art.
How then shall we make our decisions and act upon them? The rules will help; most often they are right. Some very few times we may see that we need to violate a rule to avoid doing harm (or to seek the least harmful way), Then we need to make our choice and accept responsibility for the consequences.
Some times we will get it wrong. Then we need to celebrate that we have a God of grace. If our hearts are truly in the right place, God will forgive our mistakes. (If our hearts are not in the right place, then we need to consider the condition of sin.) For our desire to do right comes from our love for God, for life, for people, and for God’s Creation. We will seek to do what is right because we love, and wish to do no one harm.
