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Power and moral truth
July 17, 2010 at 2:52 pm
What puzzles me about the religious faith systems I've encountered is the relative ease with which the step is made from existence of a god to submission and worship of that god. It seems as if existence itself compels one to worship. As if power equals moral truth. Surely that is a non sequitur, it does not follow from existence of a supernatural entity that it is therefore a good thing to worship that entiity. The trust of power displayed by the religious towards their god is contrasted by the opposite kind of reasoning on every other terrain of human endeavour in modern thinking. In general power is widely distrusted, notoriously known to corrrupt and a reason to demand more control. Not so with theism. For god the bar is lowered to an absurd level and many believers think that "god moves in mysterious ways" is an answer to questions that critically examen the myth of a benevolent god in the light of real life experiences of suffering.
Let's hear your opinion about this. Should gods be excused from moral assessment?
"I'm like a rabbit suddenly trapped, in the blinding headlights of vacuous crap" - Tim Minchin in "Storm"
Christianity is perfect bullshit, christians are not - Purple Rabbit, honouring CS Lewis
Faith is illogical - fr0d0
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RE: Power and moral truth
July 17, 2010 at 3:07 pm
(July 17, 2010 at 2:52 pm)Purple Rabbit Wrote: What puzzles me about the religious faith systems I've encountered is the relative ease with which the step is made from existence of a god to submission and worship of that god. It seems as if existence itself compels one to worship. As if power equals moral truth. Surely that is a non sequitur, it does not follow from existence of a supernatural entity that it is therefore a good thing to worship that entiity. The trust of power displayed by the religious towards their god is contrasted by the opposite kind of reasoning on every other terrain of human endeavour in modern thinking. In general power is widely distrusted, notoriously known to corrrupt and a reason to demand more control. Not so with theism. For god the bar is lowered to an absurd level and many believers think that "god moves in mysterious ways" is an answer to questions that critically examen the myth of a benevolent god in the light of real life experiences of suffering.
Let's hear your opinion about this. Should gods be excused from moral assessment?
If it turned out there was a god, he'd have a lot of explaining to do.
But my reaction would, I think be, 'thats interesting' and get on with my day as usual.
The compulsion to worship has always been a mystery to me.
You can fix ignorance, you can't fix stupid.
Tinkety Tonk and down with the Nazis.
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RE: Power and moral truth
July 18, 2010 at 3:39 pm
Didn't we have a theist here in the last couple of months who said he believed in God, but also believed that God was evil and so didn't worship it. Maybe he was one of the more rational bunch of believers...
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RE: Power and moral truth
July 19, 2010 at 1:52 pm
(July 17, 2010 at 2:52 pm)Purple Rabbit Wrote: Let's hear your opinion about this. Should gods be excused from moral assessment?
Everything that exists, including our moral standards, comes from God so what standard can we use to morally assess him. At the very least we should show gratitude to him for creating us in the first place.
(July 18, 2010 at 3:39 pm)Tiberius Wrote: Didn't we have a theist here in the last couple of months who said he believed in God, but also believed that God was evil and so didn't worship it. Maybe he was one of the more rational bunch of believers...
He seems to be an illogical believer. If there is some higher standard by which God can be considered evil then he isn't really God in the first place.
His invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.
Romans 1:20 ESV
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RE: Power and moral truth
July 19, 2010 at 1:55 pm
(July 19, 2010 at 1:52 pm)theophilus Wrote: (July 17, 2010 at 2:52 pm)Purple Rabbit Wrote: Let's hear your opinion about this. Should gods be excused from moral assessment?
Everything that exists, including our moral standards, comes from God so what standard can we use to morally assess him. At the very least we should show gratitude to him for creating us in the first place.
Well my morals certainly dont come from the bible, I would be very afraid of anyone who did base their morals on it because I have read it, scary shit man.
You can fix ignorance, you can't fix stupid.
Tinkety Tonk and down with the Nazis.
