It means that you should base your interpretation of what I said on what I actually say, not what you assume that I mean but haven't said.
An interpretation is necessary not literally what you or anyone says. An interpretation is what a person thinks another means by what they say. I only saw one rational interpretation of to what you said. Instead of debating what interpretation means why don't you either clarify what you meant or drop this point entirely.
Two that come to mind:
- you're trying to only define morality in terms of God.
- you've started with the assumption that killing of an entire population can sometimes be good. As long as you maintain this position, any conclusion that killing an entire population is always wrong will be inconsistent.
1. There is no trick to this. Not even a potential for one. If morality exists it is defined by God's nature. It does not necessarily exist but if it does it requires God. Maybe you do not understand that in this context I am talking about moral facts. I am not talking about ethics that are referred to as morals. This is no booby trap, it is a propositional necessity that has been known since the age of Greece.
2. There is no trap to the second point either. Even if I assumed killing all humans can be good you could still show how it at others times could be bad. So can you show that without God killing al of humanity can be objectively wrong or not?
Then there's your answer: assuming all that, I suppose it is not necessarily evil to kill an entire population.
My answer has no bearing on this conclusion. You seem to be over intimidated by my claims. Let me make it easier. Prove any act what so ever is objectively wrong without God:
But you cited God's "infinite knowledge" as the way that he would know that it's okay to kill all life. This means that it is good, and a sufficiently wise being would be able to figure this out.
It means it could be theoretically good. Your position is that it is wrong or potentially so without God. I asked you to show that is true.
What makes it wrong to "act contrary to God's nature"?
Because it is against a duty we inherent actually have. What in the world is your position here? Morality does exist without God but can't exist if he does?
I can't even tell what you mean by this sentence.
Being objectively true is to say that is it's actual nature regardless of what anyone thinks. It is like saying that at this moment the sun actually exists as an objective fact even if no one agreed.
If you're going to reject the basis of morality, then any further discussion is going to be pointless.
I am the only one with a world view that includes an actual basis of morality. You at best have a basis for ethical opinions. That is just the fact, if that means you no longer want to discuss it that is up to you.
When I say "morality", that's what I'm referring to. If you reject this definition, I'm not going to accept what you call "morality" as morality at all.
That is like saying you believe morality is defined as whatever is good for you and you have no interest in any other definition. Let me give the official definitions of morality: There are two different kinds but I am not discussing one of them. I have always pointed out I am talking about morality that is objective in nature not that is contrived by humanity.
1.
Malum in se (plural
mala in se) is a
Latin phrase meaning
wrong or
evil in itself. The phrase is used to refer to conduct assessed as sinful or inherently wrong by nature, independent of regulations governing the conduct.
This is what is under discussion and what is relevant.
2. It is distinguished from
malum prohibitum, which is wrong only because it is prohibited.
This seems to be what you want to discuss and it is not relevant or even true. It is a contrived convenience unrelated to any actual moral truth whatever.
For example, most human beings believe that murder, rape, and theft are wrong, regardless of whether a law governs such conduct or where the conduct occurs, and is thus recognizably
malum in se. In contrast,
malum prohibitum crimes are criminal not because they are inherently bad, but because the act is prohibited by the law of the state.
Malum in se - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
If you're going to insist on defining morality in terms of God, then we're done. Of course, I realize that you're being disingenuous here, since if you really only defined morality in terms of God, you wouldn't even have bothered to ask how we can determine morality without God.
You want out then quit. Constant threats are not necessary. BTW I never defined morality in terms of God. I founded objective moral truth as based in God.
Morality is about the well-being of sentient beings by definition, similar to how nutrition is about things that are ingested by living things as food. It's a category error to talk about the morality of non-sentient things, just as it would be to talk about the health of a rock or the height of a colour.
It is not, it is not in theory nor is it in practice. Some laws are based on a completely invented and false (if God does not exist) sliding scale of intelligent creatures that has no basis in fact but I can think of non that are based solely on it.
Tell you what: Name me a law which is based on the equal well being of all sentient beings. Not that legality was the issue to begin with.