LuftWaffle Posted April 20, 2011 Group: Senior Member Followers: 5 Topic Count: 0 Topics Per Day: 0 Content Count: 820 Content Per Day: 0.17 Reputation: 261 Days Won: 7 Joined: 01/09/2011 Status: Offline Share Posted April 20, 2011 We do what we know to be right because it is right... Define what you mean by "right". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LuftWaffle Posted April 20, 2011 Group: Senior Member Followers: 5 Topic Count: 0 Topics Per Day: 0 Content Count: 820 Content Per Day: 0.17 Reputation: 261 Days Won: 7 Joined: 01/09/2011 Status: Offline Share Posted April 20, 2011 (edited) Humans are social animals that engage in cooperation. It appears that cooperation among groups of animals has a evolutionary advantage. Hence, those genes and behaviors the promote cooperation will tend to propagate. In essence, morals are a codification of cooperative behaviors for a group. Again this points back to my question on the lack of predictive power of evolution. What behavior does evolution predict? 'Further, Darwinian explanations for such things are often too supple: Natural selection makes humans self-centered and aggressiveexcept when it makes them altruistic and peaceable. Or natural selection produces virile men who eagerly spread their seedexcept when it prefers men who are faithful protectors and providers. When an explanation is so supple that it can explain any behavior, it is difficult to test it experimentally, much less use it as a catalyst for scientific discovery.' - Philip Skell Edited April 20, 2011 by LuftWaffle Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doubting_tommy Posted April 21, 2011 Group: Nonbeliever Followers: 1 Topic Count: 1 Topics Per Day: 0.00 Content Count: 264 Content Per Day: 0.05 Reputation: 11 Days Won: 0 Joined: 11/19/2010 Status: Offline Share Posted April 21, 2011 We do what we know to be right because it is right... Define what you mean by "right". This should be fun... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Isaiah 6:8 Posted April 21, 2011 Group: Royal Member Followers: 2 Topic Count: 426 Topics Per Day: 0.07 Content Count: 3,633 Content Per Day: 0.58 Reputation: 222 Days Won: 13 Joined: 03/23/2007 Status: Offline Birthday: 08/26/1978 Author Share Posted April 21, 2011 Many of us do not rely on a god to be our moral compass. We do what we know to be right because it is right and not because we fear a supernatural being and that we will be punished in another life is we transgress. I would ask christians why they seem to pick and choose morals from the bible. They overlook murder, rape, incest and slavery all done in the name of their god and choose those parts of the bible that gel with their moral code. My challenge is for christians to tell me of a moral act that could not have been done equally by an atheist as by christian. I can tell you of immoral acts that would only be done by someone who believed they were acting on behalf of their god. I can tell you of atheists that did awful things as well. But that is not the question now is it? The question is where do you get your morals to judge Christians from? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doubting_tommy Posted April 26, 2011 Group: Nonbeliever Followers: 1 Topic Count: 1 Topics Per Day: 0.00 Content Count: 264 Content Per Day: 0.05 Reputation: 11 Days Won: 0 Joined: 11/19/2010 Status: Offline Share Posted April 26, 2011 Many of us do not rely on a god to be our moral compass. We do what we know to be right because it is right and not because we fear a supernatural being and that we will be punished in another life is we transgress. I would ask christians why they seem to pick and choose morals from the bible. They overlook murder, rape, incest and slavery all done in the name of their god and choose those parts of the bible that gel with their moral code. My challenge is for christians to tell me of a moral act that could not have been done equally by an atheist as by christian. I can tell you of immoral acts that would only be done by someone who believed they were acting on behalf of their god. I can tell you of atheists that did awful things as well. But that is not the question now is it? The question is where do you get your morals to judge Christians from? Say you get your morals from God. Where does God get His morals from? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 11, 2011 Share Posted June 11, 2011 Say you get your morals from God. Where does God get His morals from? God Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. James 1:17 Is Good For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. John 3:16 However There Are Those Who Would Lie Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it. John 8:44 And Sin Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. James 1:13-15 You See? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldzimm Posted June 11, 2011 Group: Diamond Member Followers: 2 Topic Count: 85 Topics Per Day: 0.02 Content Count: 1,874 Content Per Day: 0.34 Reputation: 348 Days Won: 12 Joined: 03/10/2009 Status: Offline Birthday: 07/08/1955 Share Posted June 11, 2011 I know this young man who is a atheist, I knew him for years, use to take him and his brothers fishing when they were kids (their father was too busy for that sort of stuff). I think this young man is starting to see the light, he must of been reading the Bible, he said that if the world would live by the guidance of the Bible, it would be better off. There's hope for him yet, you must crawl before you can walk. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MorningGlory Posted June 11, 2011 Group: Royal Member Followers: 0 Topic Count: 1,022 Topics Per Day: 0.16 Content Count: 39,193 Content Per Day: 6.10 Reputation: 9,977 Days Won: 78 Joined: 10/01/2006 Status: Offline Share Posted June 11, 2011 I know from speaking to many atheist that they have a moral code. My question is where does this come from? I think the completely secular answer is, and this is applies to everyone, is a combination of evolution with cultural and family mores. Now add in personal experience with knowledge, and in a nutshell that is how everyone gets their morals. There IS no secular answer to the question. Morality originates with God; to think otherwise is delusional. Man, without divine guidance, is not a moral being. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldzimm Posted June 11, 2011 Group: Diamond Member Followers: 2 Topic Count: 85 Topics Per Day: 0.02 Content Count: 1,874 Content Per Day: 0.34 Reputation: 348 Days Won: 12 Joined: 03/10/2009 Status: Offline Birthday: 07/08/1955 Share Posted June 11, 2011 I think the completely secular answer is, and this is applies to everyone, is a combination of evolution with cultural and family mores. Now add in personal experience with knowledge, and in a nutshell that is how everyone gets their morals. There IS no secular answer to the question. Morality originates with God; to think otherwise is delusional. Man, without divine guidance, is not a moral being. Just because you disagree with the answer doesn't mean it isn't an answer. But MorningGlory's answer is the right answer, to think other wise would be non Christian. God created everything, from the great whales in the sea to that nat that bugs you when your trying to make a smores by the campfire and he knows every single living creature. It is God's world, he created it, he lays down the laws and morals that man must live by. Do you have any idea how big God really is? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest SDGS Posted June 12, 2011 Share Posted June 12, 2011 (edited) One is saved or one is not. Matters not how "unsaved" one is come judgment. Why then do we treat atheists and "seekers" differently? Because we see "hope" in a seeker? Is this scriptural and correct, or are we missing something? It is no secret how much being called atheist and non believer upsets me. And here it is yet again. I am a seeker because up until people told me about Jesus and having to be saved, I have totally, always, known about and trusted God. It is hard for me to want to listen to those saved people when I feel their disdain. eta - speaking only for myself, but a seeker senses, or knows there is something more, that there has to be a reason, something. We just don't know what that is, and we begin to look for God. We are seeking. Whether we find it is the question. I was married to an atheist. He was totally math and science, and loved to tease me because I always knew about God, and he did not believe in God, at all. He is an atheist because to him, math and science explains it well enough for him. Edited June 12, 2011 by SDGS Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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