It doesn't matter. So far as we can know, God would be external to us. And since we're talking about our morality, that's all that matters.
But hang on one minute: then you're not talking about objective morality, you're talking about morality that's common to humanity... and that's quite within human ability to make happen.
Note: I should have said external and superior...external alone is not qualification.
What scale do you use to measure "superior"?
By this logic, morality would also have to be above itself since itself is included in everything. It cannot be above the axiom and in this case, I believe that God would be the axiomatic existence.
If you want to define objective morality out of any logical possibility, I'm fine with that, but that's not quite what I meant. I was thinking more in terms of a programming analogy: local and global variables. If morality is a "global variable" for us, it might still be "local" at some higher level. For morality to be objective and universal, it must be "global" at all levels, implying that even at the level of God, it's still "global". If God created morality, then at God's level, it's local, which implies that it's not global at all levels, and therefore not objective.
To put it another way, imagine there were two Gods (I know you don't believe that there are, but just go with me here). If both were the creators of morality for their own universes, then these moralities could conceivably be different, meaning that neither morality would be objective, because there are some places where it wouldn't apply.
Now... come back to our universe. Does having a single God make the morality any less subjective?
To put it another (and hopefully the last) way, you're saying that morality depends on God's interpretation. But if morality depends on anyone's interpretation, then it's not truly objective.
But what is the weight behind the choosing of the hose? Will it matter whether you have the 2.5" or the 2" or will the end result be the same?
The result wouldn't be the same, but neither is objectively "better" in all cases.
Off the top of my head, flow through a 2.5" hose would have less friction than for a 2" hose, so it would mean one nozzle could put more water on a fire with the same length of hose or deliver the same amount of water with a longer hose run.
OTOH, 50 feet of 2" hose would be lighter than a 2.5" hose, especially when it's full of water. It would take less work for the firefighters to carry a 2" hose around and control it.
Both have their advantages and disadvantages. When you look at them in isolation, which one is "better" depends on your own priorities and situation. However, even if you decide that a 2.5" hose would be better for your fire department in isolation, the benefits of the larger hose aren't so overwhelming that they'd motivate you to be the only fire department in the state that uses a non-standard system.
External and superior, I should have said that beforehand.
What criteria do you use for "superior"? My aunt's dog is better than I am in a lot of ways: he can sure run faster than I can. And his coat is thicker than mine is. He also doesn't need as much food per day as I do and he's much more comfortable with public nudity than I am.
No. It doesn't. However, as far as the beer knows, you do. And the beer has no logical foundation on which to go against what you tell it is best for it.
Well, the beer has no logical foundation for anything, since it doesn't have the capacity for logic. However, let me get this straight:
- Creators (e.g. me) don't always know what's best for their creations (e.g. beer).
- Because God is our creator, He knows what's best for His creation.
Is that a fair assessment of what you're saying? Because if it is, it fails the consistency test. You're engaging in special pleading.
As I said earlier, the only acceptable form of human-devised morality would be one that everyone agrees upon. I'm certain we'd all agree on some general moral values.
Bingo. Hence the systems of morals we have.
! And if you weren't religious, would you ever kill your neighbor over a dream you had? And what would you think of people from some other religion who had a similar dream? Would you condemn their actions as evil or praise them for their morality?
