Am I More Moral Than God?

[retrorich]

If we can develope our own peronal concepts of right and wrong, then why can't God have a different concept than you? If there is no absolute standard, comparison is impossible.

If God existed (I do not believe He does) He could certainly have a different concept of right and wrong than I have. I wouldn't have to agree with His concept, nor He with mine. If comparison is impossible, then so be it.

I'm still waiting for an answer from you about the mosquito, BTW.

I believe creatures have a right to defend themselves against other creatures. If one wishes to avoid the discomfort and potential danger of being bitten by mosquitoes, I have no problem with killing them.

 

[Sunstone]

cul•ture \"k€l-ch€r\ n 1 : tillage, cultivation 2 : the act of developing by education and training 3 : refinement of intellectual and artistic taste 4 : the customary beliefs, social forms, and material traits of a racial, religious, or social group — cul•tur•al \"k€l-ch€-r€l\ adj — cul•tur•al•ly adv — cul•tured \-ch€rd\ a
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Defination #4 is somewhat inadequate to explain what an anthropologist might think was culture.

In anthropology, "culture" refers to learned, as opposed to innate, behaviors passed from one generation to another.

So, for an anthropologist, an instinctual behavior would not be a cultural trait, nor would a completely personal morality, in so far as it was neither passed down from one generation, nor passed on to another generation.

On the other hand, making music would be a cultural trait, since making music is passed down from one generation to the next.

Even a relatively superficial reading in anthropology is enough to realize that cultural traits are hugely influential on behavior. And it's probably true that most of us adopt most of the culture we receive, without extensively challenging it or even examining it. When you think about it, for instance, professing a belief that it's wrong to steal, and arguing that it's right to steal from the rich, are both cultural traits in Western societies. They are both behaviors passed down from one generation to another, even though they philosophically contradict each other. But which of those behaviors is someone most likely to be aware of as culture, and which is someone most likely to see as "not culture but an original thought"? So it can be difficult for someone to even be aware that a behavior is culture, let alone challenge it.

 

[SoyLeche]

If God existed (I do not believe He does) He could certainly have a different concept of right and wrong than I have. I wouldn't have to agree with His concept, nor He with mine. If comparison is impossible, then so be it.

I believe creatures have a right to defend themselves against other creatures. If one wishes to avoid the discomfort and potential danger of being bitten by mosquitoes, I have no problem with killing them.

If God does exist, then there most likely is a standard to measure against, and God would be the one to decide what that standard is. I believe that there is a standard, and, no, you aren't more 'moral' than God.

The point of my mosquito question is: God in omnicient. Therefore, he is able to make decisions that are in the best interest of everyone involved. If you take the flood story literally, for example, then that means that God knew that the best thing for humanity in general, and probably even for the people that drowned, was for them to be wiped of the earth. Unless you can show that the world would have been better off without that event, you can't say for certain that God made the wrong decision.

Now, anticipating what will come next, humans are not is a position to make these kinds of decisions. Therefore, a human taking a life in situations other than war or self defence is wrong. God doing so can be right, because he can see the whole picture.

 

[retrorich]

Bottom line: there are many different concepts of God, and many different concepts of morality; therefore, the possible answers to my question (other than a simple "yes" or "no") are probably unlimited.

PEACE