When thinking about morals and what is acceptable, what’s the difference between the believer and the unbeliever?

Morals – a person’s standards of behavior or beliefs concerning what is and is not acceptable for them to do.

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I left work the other evening, and I gave someone I work with a ride home. Now the guy lives in the opposite direction of my apartment, so it is literally out of my way, but he lives no more than 5 minutes away, so it’s not far.

So the thought came to me, if didn’t have a relationship with God, would I still be giving this guy a ride home? Would I still be willing to go out of my way for someone that I really don’t know?

From a worldly perspective, I think I have good morals, that I’m an upright guy. But would I still do this favor or any other “good deed” if it caused me to go out of my way?

So for the unbeliever, what’s the obligation to be nice, to have good morals? Because my thought is that their isn’t any reason to be “good,” and there isn’t any standard either of what being “good” looks like. There are a few verses that touch on morals:

You must not live according to the customs (MORALS) of the nations I am going to drive out before you. Because they did all these things, I abhorred them. Leviticus 20:23

To this day they persist in their former practices (MORALS). They neither worship the Lord nor adhere to the decrees and regulations, the laws and commands that the Lord gave the descendants of Jacob, whom he named Israel. 2 Kings 17:34

And you will know that I am the Lord, for you have not followed my decrees or kept my laws but have conformed to the standards (MORALS) of the nations around you.” Ezekiel 11:12

All of those verses, the Bible is referring to how the people aren’t following God’s laws (morals), but are staying with or going back to the bad morals that they were born with. Doing what the world says is good and what they find pleasurable for themselves.

So how far can an unbeliever go having “good morals?”

For the believer, it’s obvious. We have to strive to adhere to the morals that God has put in place for us because that’s what our Lord has called us to do. We have a standard of what’s morally acceptable, the Bible. We have an obligation from the change He has produced in us and out of our love for Him.

So for the unbeliever, again, what basis do they have to do anything right?