Fr. Barron comments on "The Difference God Makes"

Another part of a video series from Wordonfire.org. Father Barron will be commenting on subjects from modern day culture. For more visit http://www.wordonfire.org/

Category:

People & Blogs

Tags:

• Fr. Robert Barron
• Word On Fire
• Cardinal Francis George
• Catholicism
• Christianity
• God
• Jesus
• The Difference God Makes

[thoughtadventure]

I've met so many people who were moral relativists until they found points of view that contradicted things they thought were important. Then they became absolutists really fast.

[wordonfirevideo]

@jontv No. Damn near everything is done, but if religion is allowed to speak, you can't say that everything is permitted. And I agree with you that most people do not commit atrocities,but I would say that this is because most people are religious and they have a keen sense of God's demand. The problem with your position is that when people commit atrocities, you would have no coherent way of arguing that they are wrong.

[auradiana]

xoxoxoxo cutest geek priest

[zhangruyi]

I fully agree Fr Robert that we as Catholics called to evangelize to the people God put in front of us and the Church is not called to accommodate the world. Unfortunately, the later has prevailed and hence the Catholic Church is rather wishy washy about evangelization and fail to proclaimed the good news of the resurrected Christ to others.

[mdleavitt2112]

This is Powerful!

[theclarinet1234]

"If people are good only because they fear punishment, and hope for reward, then we are a sorry lot indeed. " and "The foundation of morality should not be made dependent on myth nor tied to any authority lest doubt about the myth or about the legitimacy of the authority imperil the foundation of sound judgment and action." Albert Einstein. . For Einstein, organized religion was but "childish fantasy," beneath the level of a mature adult. For him, the mature person relied on evidence and reason.

[bheadh]

@wordonfirevideo Bravo for you! Here is another "thought experiment" If humanity ultimately arose from some "mud puddle struck by lightning" then the atrocities commited by Hitler, Stalin..etc mean nothing more than "wiping mud off ones shoes". But, if we were "created" and have moral choices, than these things are rightly horrific. Nothing would have real meaning if we were "just an accident of nature".

[chess12345789]

@Chaaarge Remember right and wrong is different from good and bad. If you don't get what I mean read Aristotle's ethics.

[Chaaarge]

@wordonfirevideo and science doesn't make the claim that is has the explanation for everything, and of course there are philosophical questions and answers, but if an objective moral standard exists, then it must come from somewhere, and the question: "Does x exist?" is something that can be adressed scientifically. An objective morallity would mean that morallity is "a thing". I liked your video on "scientism though". you made some great points

[Chaaarge]

@wordonfirevideo But I haven't even heard a clear definition of "right" and "wrong"(again, I'm talking about morals). Is wrong, being against society? Hurting other people? if so, is everything else ok as long as it doesn't hurt other people? Right and wrong seems to simply be labels that we put on actions we like and dislike. And different people like and dislike different things. Maybe I'm just turning this into a semantics issue though.

[wordonfirevideo]

@Chaaarge How do you show "scientifically" the difference between right and wrong, the nature of the beautiful, what makes a society just, why there is a universe at all? Science is great, but there are other ways of knowing. I have actually offered a proof for God's existence--the argument from contingency. It belongs to a philosophical or metaphysical way of knowing. Take a look at my video on the four YouTube heresies and pay close attention to my discussion of "scientism."

[Chaaarge]

@wordonfirevideo I will answer this just like I answer any statements people make about mythology, tarot cards etc... You can't prove to me scientifically that those things are true, therefore there's no reason to believe it. So is it even possible to prove (using the scientific method) what is right and wrong(in a moral sense)? Untill it's proven, morality will be subjective. There isn't even a clear definition of morally "right" and "wrong". but who knows, it might exist, but it is unproven.