« Review: "The Chronicles of Riddick" (4.5 moose) | Main | The Law of Nature »

November 22, 2004

Absolute Moral Standard

I saw this point of Alan's a while ago, and just haven't had a chance to respond to it until now.

...without God morals are relative, not absolute -- and how can absolute laws be based on a foundation of sand? Ultimately an atheist's source for absolute moral principles is himself/herself -- and I'd much rather trust God for those :-)

This is very strange reasoning. Ultimately EVERYONES source for absolute moral principles is himself/herself, it's simply a matter of who you feel like giving credit to.

The point begs the question - if God decided tomorrow, that Genocide was moral, would it be?

A Christian can answer this two ways.

1. No. Which would mean there is an absolute moral standard that even God seems to obey. An atheist isn't less subject to it than a Christian, and a Christian is more likely to get confused trying to interpret God's will than the absolute moral standard that God has based his rules on.

2. Yes. If God decided tomorrow that Genocide, rape, murder, anything, was moral and just, than it would be and I would do God's will.

Fortunately, Christians answer #1 far more often then they do #2.

Of course, it's doesn't seem to work on this forum to give a question with two possible answers. Yes and No. So, I'll offer a third answer.

3. God would never decide that rape was moral.

Which is a variation of answer #1, if you think about it.

At the end of the day, Christians are relying on themselves for the absolute moral standard the same as anyone else. They like to claim it's God's law, but they'll interpret God's law in accordance with the same absolute moral standard that can be found without God's involvement. So, what does God add?

Posted by tom at November 22, 2004 9:20 AM

Trackback Pings

TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.lonelywind.com/cgi-bin/mt/mt-tb.cgi/22

Comments

Ultimately God's character can be summarized by one word, "love." Like humans, God stays true to his character, so there is no way He would suddenly decide that rape, murder, etc. is okay (of course, staying true to our character, we do all of those and more). That does not mean there is some moral standard that He obeys -- the moral standard is His character. (And, any "What if God decided rape was okay?" type question would be like asking, "Can God make a rock that's too heavy for Him to pick up?" A contradiction can never be true.) ------ Ultimately you are right, "everyone's source for absolute moral principles is himself/herself" (short of direct inspiration from God). However, if there is a God, isn't it good that we mortals at least try to figure out what the "absolute moral authority" says about X, Y, and Z? If there is no God, then what is lost? Without an "absolute moral authority" all opinions are equal, whether based on secular or religious thinking. How can anyone say anything different, since there is no absolute standard to judge opinions by? ------ One final note, I didn't include "genocide" in my answer because, based on our definitions, the God of the Bible has seemed to "bless" it. I'm not saying I agree with that take, but it would be disingenuous of me to pretend otherwise...

Posted by: alan [TypeKey Profile Page] at November 23, 2004 9:42 PM