God is Morality

Could God have morally sufficient reasons for allowing evil?
Perhaps letting you run your own life? Perhaps letting you be evil or good? Why do atheists place so much importance on the freedom to believe what you want, but then their favorite reason to reject God is that He isn't here taking away that freedom. They claim that He should be their omnipotent dictator. Here's the hymns they seem to want "Oh, most marvelous dictator. We bow in your oppressive Tryranny"
The world we live in looks exactly as we would expect it to look if at the bottom there is a design, as long as that design includes human freedom. If every person only ever got what he or she deserved, no person anywhere would really be free. We live in a world where people don't always get punished for doing wrong, and where they don't always get rewarded for doing good. It is only in this kind of world where people do not get what they deserve that they also get the freedom to do what they really believe in, whether good or evil.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• Morality
• God
• Atheist
• Evil
• Good
• Bad
• Immoral
• Right
• wrong
• rules
• commandments
• Bible
• Atheism
• Argument
• Fallacy

[Gnomefro]

It's quite fascinating to hear you appeal to Hume's is/ought distinction, given the title of this video. It seems quite obvious to me that if what "is" is irrelevant to what "ought to be", then the existence of God, and any opinion he might have, is irrelevant to morality.

However, I have to say that I find such definitions of morality childish and useless. The role of morality is to regulate interactions between agents who are interacting voluntarily.

[ApologeticsBenJoiner]

@Gnomefro "This view also makes it clear what "ought to be" means. It's what a group of voluntarily interacting people collectively agree are the best ways to regulate their interaction." What should people agree on? How do you decide? Should people agree? What is your basis for saying that they should all agree? How did you figure that out?

[eyetalllies]

Human beings are the only creatures on earth that claim a god and the only living thing that behaves like it hasn't got one.

[slRing127]

You have really good arguments. Consider me a subscriber.

[justbekindtooall]

@Gnomefro cong

Ben said it was good and moral to rape a child or anyone, moral to kill and torture and make a slave of a child. He said there are times and good reasons to rape , kill, torture and enslave children. He also told me rape was about love, it is about " making someone love you by force".

This kid is a deeply ill man.

[justbekindtooall]

@Gnomefro hello, My friend it is of no use talking to Ben he is deeply mentily ill. I asked him by e-mail if it was ever right to 1- rape a child ( or anyone) or order someone to rape a child 2- to kill a child 3- to torture a child ( or anyone) 4- to make your child a slave or sell a child into slavery.

[Gnomefro]

Simply declaring that, "but that's not morality" is silly. We have the word morality and it applies to such situations regardless of whether or not gods exist. We just have to understand what humans are actually talking about when they use the word. Much like "free will", which is also the source of much confusion. It clearly is a useful term when assigning responsibility, but many people insist that it must refer to impossible phenomena to serve the role that it does. That's simply false.

[Gnomefro]

That situation produces things like the golden rule by logical necessity. When agents are not interacting voluntarily, such as when the Nazis killed the Jews, they are simply not employing moral reasoning. This view also makes it clear what "ought to be" means. It's what a group of voluntarily interacting people collectively agree are the best ways to regulate their interaction. You simply can't have an "ought" without the "is" of the opinions of the people involved.