| Subject: But what kind of morals? |
Author:
Biff
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Date Posted: 07/23/02 6:59pm
In reply to:
Damoclese
's message, "Why morals will always be around without the Christian God" on 07/20/02 12:46pm
>Heated discussion over morality is often the subject
>of talk shows and theological discussions. The debate
>continues to rage over whether action A is morally
>acceptable as opposed to action B. Perhaps the lines
>of morality are so grey for people because it is an
>abstract concept of which without societies cannot
>function under a set of standardized rules?
>
>The fundamentalist Christian attitude towards morality
>is that without the Word of God which informs us of
>God himself, we would be some depraved society in
>which no sort of moral code would apply; chaos would
>ensue. However, it is generally known that the
>Christian God was essentially "off the scene" for a
>number of years.
I don't think this is necessarily true. I assume you're refferring here to the period between the flood of Noah and the call of Abraham. During this time, people were very spiritually aware, and while they may not have recognized the "Christian God" by name, they still had knowledge of the existence of a supreme being. I'm inclined to think that they even communicated with him regularly. You'll note that when God called Abraham (or Abram, as was his name at the time), Abram did not respond with shock as in "Who's speaking? Am I going nuts?" He simply did as he was told.
The question is, did chaos
>really ensue when people where unaware of the
>Christian God?
>
>The answer to this question is a resounding "no",
>unless one defines moral chaos as anything that is
>contrary to what the Bible puts forth. Socities like
>ancient greece forewent the notion of human life being
>something sacred, yet their society thrived. The
>christian values of morality imposed on society today
>were not applicable to many societies before the Bible
>ever came about; and we find that those societies did
>not fall into moral chaos; rather, they formulated
>their own laws and senses of justice without the need
>for any intervention from the Bible's behalf. What's
>more, many of the laws that were adhered to were
>similar to those of the Bible such as the code of
>Hammurabi.
True. And again, the Hammurabi Code came about in a society that had an awareness of God, even though they may not have recognized him by the name we associate today.
One explanation of this is that the code
>set forth in the Bible has pieces that are necessary
>for any society to still function. A society cannot
>function if people who perform key functions are
>killed regularly. It cannot function economically if
>people regularly steal.
Yes, and when we have the benefit of living in a relatively moral society, it seems reasonable to assume that humans would naturally develop this knowledge and that the majority would live by it. But I would argue that because we live in a moral society, our perspective is skewed.
This is an interesting discussion in that neither perspective is provable. There is presumably no one on earth who does not live in a society of some sort. Thus, it is not possible to put together a group of people who have no concept of society or morality on a deserted island and observe what develops.
But I submit that even if a new society were to develop rules of order, there's no reason to believe those rules would be fair or just. If, for example, a society were formed by neo-Nazis, you might be treated well as long as you were white Anglo-Saxon. If a society were formed by masogenists, women would likely be held as subjects, and so on. In fact, I think the more logical route for a society to develop would be for the strong members of the group to dominate the weak.
The fact that we are able to live in a moral society, and that that society has been built on Christian values is testament to the justice of the Bible. Yes, there have been unjust acts committed in the name of Christianity, but an examination of the Bible shows that it does not support those acts. The society that we have built is much closer to what the Bible intends.
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