Inside every person’s heart is a moral compass. This belief in right and wrong leads to the development of the moral argument of God’s existence. In other words, the existence of a moral compass in man’s heart is best explained by the biblical account of being created in God’s image. Man’s belief in objective right and wrong is a remnant of what was once a flawless humanity created for a good purpose.
Yet, what man finds troubling is his complete inability to return to his previously greater self. He is reduced to living a life wrought with frustration only to end in the icy fingers of an ominous death. And this introduces the anthropological argument for God's existence.
Blaise Pascal, in Pensees, described man as “deposed royalty,” seeing a wretchedness he cannot escape, and a death he cannot avoid. “Being unable to cure death, wretchedness and ignorance, men have decided, in order to be happy, not to think about such things.”
Man works hard to keep his mortality and sinfulness far from his thoughts. He gives his heart and mind to diversions, distracting himself from a plight too grim to stare in the face. According to Pascal, man’s obsession with hobbies, entertainment, and prestige are attempts to escape the truth of his own miserable condition.
When man looks honestly at his predicament, he sees a moral standard existing in his heart, yet nothing in this world can help him achieve that standard. Death looms on the horizon like the uncle no one mentions in polite company, yet nothing in the world provides an alternative. Man suspects he was made for greater purpose, but something went terribly wrong, and possessing the pleasures of this world offers no remedy.
This peculiar trait of humanity shackles him to a monumental dissatisfaction crying out for an explanation. C.S. Lewis, in his essay The Weight of Glory, offers one such explanation:
"Creatures are not born with desires unless satisfaction for those desires exists. A baby feels hunger; well there is such a thing as food. A duckling wants to swim; well, there is such a thing as water. . . If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world." (emphasis mine)
Philosophers have long recognized man as a very peculiar being, capable of great personal sacrifice and great selfish evil. He longs for purpose and meaning transcending his existence, yet finding only despair in the end.
If a worldview is to be of any value, it must at least explain man’s pitiful existence. Christianity not only provides an explanation, but spectacular hope.
My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness, And my mouth shall praise You with joyful lips. Psalms 63:5 (NKJV)
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