Is Disobedience To God Really A Bad Thing?

[Runt]

Well, is it?

 

[Ardhanariswar]

depends on ur definition of disobedience to God. many people can interpret what God wants from YOU. but its ultimitly up to the individual to decide what God wants from him/her.

 

[dan]

Actually, it's up to God to decide that.

 

[Ardhanariswar]

actually its a mutual relationship of love.

 

[Irenicas]

I don't think it is a bad thing. I'm gonna make a reference here that will seem a little odd: Read Phillip Pullman's "His Dark Materials" trilogy. Supposedly a kid's book, but when you get to the thrid volume... there's some serious thinking going on about this very subject.

 

[Ceridwen018]

Yeah this is weird. If we never disobeyed god, we'd be robots of sorts. Everyone's always trying to tell you that god doesn't want robots, so obviously that wouldn't make sense. It seems that god would want disobedience then, but that doesn't fit with the whole 'don't sin' concept...I'm confuzzled

 

[Mr Spinkles]

Disobeying God would not be immoral if God asked you to, say, conquer a city and rape all the women in it. Or if He asked you to stone a woman to death for cheating on her husband. Or if He told you to drown your five kids, or crash a plane into some buildings.

Still, I would imagine one would have little choice but to obey out of fear of punishment....that is, assuming the voices inside your head are unquestionably the commands of God.

 

[Ronald]

Between the lines you have almost enough room to do almost everything anyone would want to do, it's when you don't want something to tell you you can't do something.

"I will not have you rule over me!"

The laws of God are absolute, test them at your peril.

 

[dan]

actually its a mutual relationship of love.

The relationship must thrive on mutual love, but it is not up to us to decide what is best for us. We may make decisions, but only God knows what is really best for us. Our hope is to foster a love that is complete enough to manifest His will to us; otherwise we are in the dark as to how we must conduct ourselves.

 

[dan]

Disobeying God would not be immoral if God asked you to, say, conquer a city and rape all the women in it. Or if He asked you to stone a woman to death for cheating on her husband. Or if He told you to drown your five kids, or crash a plane into some buildings.

Still, I would imagine one would have little choice but to obey out of fear of punishment....that is, assuming the voices inside your head are unquestionably the commands of God.

Obedience out of fear is the lowest of all motivations. There are three general reasons we obey something.

First, fear. It's the most base and deplorable motivation, but a motivation nonetheless.

Second is duty. Kant says we must do what is right because it is our duty. Some people drive the speed limit not because they fear getting a ticket, but because they understand it is their civic duty to maintain safety and uphold the law.

The third and highest motivation for obedience is what Christ preached: love. If we obey God because we love Him we will see the commandments for what they are, guidelines to make us like Him. We will be filled with His love, and our happiness and obedience will become second nature rather than something we have to force. Sin then becomes something we have to try to do, for our desires are united with His and we only want righteous things. Confucious said once, "At seventy, I could follow the dictates of my own heart, for what I desired no longer overstepped the boundaries of right." People who see commandments as restrictions can never come to truly love God.

The Bible says that one must fear God, but that word would better be translated to denote reverent awe, not physical fear. Mainstream Christianity has a lot to learn.

 

[Mr Spinkles]

So, if you were an ancient Jew before the time of Jesus, would you obey the Bible's command (God's command) to stone women who were caught cheating on their husbands? Would you obey that out of fear, duty, or love for God, dan?

You say Christianity has a lot to learn...indeed humanity has a lot to learn.

 

[Ceridwen018]

Ooohh, that's a zinger, Spinkles

 

[Irenicas]

Darn tootin'

 

[dan]

So, if you were an ancient Jew before the time of Jesus, would you obey the Bible's command (God's command) to stone women who were caught cheating on their husbands? Would you obey that out of fear, duty, or love for God, dan?

You say Christianity has a lot to learn...indeed humanity has a lot to learn.

Well, anything I say will be a conclusion as a twenty-four year old living in the U.S. in the 21st century; so it will not be an accurate reflection of the attitudes expressed by peoples of that time. Y'see, what so many people fail to understand (as Dr. Brown would say, "You're not thinking fourth-dimentionally") is that people thought differently back then. It was not uncommon for that kind of stuff to happen. If you went back to their day and asked what they would do if their was a law made approving gay marriages there would be mass rioting. If I were a Jew living in that time period I would obey that law because I loved God. You may not feel the same way, but it's just because of your lack of understanding of the attitude

 

[(Q)]

Hey Dan - nice backpeddle.

There are three general reasons we obey something.

You forgot another - and that is to obey your own rationale.

 

[Mr Spinkles]

dan-- Now you're just borrowing pages from the big book of moral relativism.