Moral Question for Believers

[*Paul*]

People always tell me I am good, sweet, and kind. I still have many areas to work on, but overall I am a nice person.

It's nice when people say those kind of things but in the end you know what no one else can see i.e your secret thoughts and feelings, we can have a large effect on how people to perceive us and hide our true selves.

Do you think that you are good sweet and kind? What standard do you measure yourself against?

 

[Darkness]

It's nice when people say those kind of things but in the end you know what no one else can see i.e your secret thoughts and feelings, we can have a large effect on how people to perceive us and hide our true selves.

Everyone has darkness (no pun intended) in their subconscious. Some of it seeps towards the surface and I am no exception to this rule. The real test is if you can control it or not.

Do you think that you are good sweet and kind? What standard do you measure yourself against?

I do not know. I am pretty tough on myself. My friends tell me I am too critical and hard on myself.

Ah, my standard... that is a tough one. Well generally, kindness, benevolence and love are good things. I try not to over react, I try not to lash out in anger. I try to be strong, control myself. Avoid the negative, do the positive... that sort of stuff.

 

[Fluffy]

My morals have changed little since I was a theist but I feel that I follow them more closely now. This has nothing to do with being an atheist however. Also, when I was a theist, I believed that morality was independent from the god and goddess.

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

In my current moral view, yes, I would... because I have certain morals based on my religion that I would not have independantly...

Which ones?

Do your morals based on your religion only deal with religious matters (e.g. idolatry), or do they deal with other things as well? Would you be, for example, a murdering thief if not for your religion?

 

[anders]

It was easy when I was a Christian. The Book had all the rules I needed. But I must confess that I enjoyed eating crustaceans, and didn't ever flinch at wearing cotton/polyester blends. At least, I never boiled a kid in its mother's milk.

Now that I'm an atheist, I am much more conscious vis-à-vis morality. I know that I have to decide myself, in a way that I can defend to myself (and which doesn't violate the Dao or such :namaste).

I really do think and find that people view me as a more agreeable person these days than in my Christian incarnation. But I don't rule out that the change could be for example attributed to finally maturing.

 

[Scott C.]

K, I'm gonna sum this one up cause we have all heard the morality battle before.

This is just a question for believers in any form of deity(ies).

Do you, personally, believe that you would act immorally without the teachings of your religion and/or your connection with said deity(ies)? Why or why not.

There's a problem with the question. I believe God is the author of moral law. If He did not exist, morality would not either.

 

[exl2398]

K, I'm gonna sum this one up cause we have all heard the morality battle before.

This is just a question for believers in any form of deity(ies).

Do you, personally, believe that you would act immorally without the teachings of your religion and/or your connection with said deity(ies)? Why or why not.

Nope. I don't believe I need for there to be a God (regardless of whether or not there is one) to justify good behavior, nor to show me how best to behave. Experiencing the world gives you many of the answers to morality without having to consider a god.

If someone believes they would act immorally without their belief in God, and that's the only reason they continue all they do connected to that belief in God, then they are fooling themselves. Believing in and following what one believes to be the ways of God should be done for goodness sake alone.

 

[exl2398]

I never lie either because I don't like it when others lie to me and I don't spy on others as I don't like to be spyed on myself. Don't you think you could have set those rules for yourself?

There we go.

God didn't make the world out to be one big and largely incomprehensible moral conundrum. Morality is not exclusively dependent upon a set of rules written out for us to follow. Most need not even be mentioned. God didn't create us absent of such common sense and deductive abilities.

 

[exl2398]

Yes i would behave immoraly,
because i would precieve them
to be good and be fooled.

You behave immorally with them. You are a human being, it is our nature. You are not morally inept without the guidance of God. Sure, it can give you more of a foundation and underlying conviction or reason behind a belief you already have about the rightness or wrongness of something, but it is not necessary for you to know that it is right or wrong in God's eyes in order to see that action as right or wrong. You give yourself too little credit. God, however, does not. He knows He made you perfectly capable and that knowing something is right or wrong from God himself does not ensure compliance.

You live and learn. That is what you were created to do.

 

[exl2398]

Have you or any other believers here ever experienced an incident when doing something felt wrong to your own personal morals/conscience/etc., even though it was considered right/proper/acceptable according to the moral teachings of your religon?

I don't think so. I'll have to think about this one some more.

 

[exl2398]

The tricky thing is that I do not believe Pride to be a bad thing. Pride is a very good thing, if it is not arrogance. It is a sin, though. I do not actually believe in God, so my words were shaded symbolism. When dealing with issues of a moral nature, I find it useful to make believe the other person's religious dieties and gods are true. Ergo, if your God was real, I would want people to follow Him merely so they can live and not perish. I, however, have to do what I feel in my heart is right and defy God with all my strength.

A good book to read on this mentality is the Revelation of Lucifer the Divine by Quentin Mark Pierson.

You, my friend, are a very interesting person.