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It makes me feel nice to do good things and be nice to others. I usually go by that.
How do the gullible decide which parts of their faith count and which don’t?
JK lol they just do as their told.
I need some advice, regarding some other elements of God’s Laws and how to follow them.
- Leviticus 25:44 states that I may possess slaves, both male and female, provided they are purchased from neighbouring nations. A friend of mine claims that this applies to Mexicans, but not Canadians. Can you clarify? Why can’t I own Canadians?
- I would like to sell my daughter into slavery, as sanctioned in Exodus 21:7. In this day and age, what do you think would be a fair price for her?
- I know that I am allowed no contact with a woman while she is in her period of Menstrual uncleanliness - Lev.15: 19-24. The problem is how do I tell? I have tried asking, but most women take offence.
- When I burn a bull on the altar as a sacrifice, I know it creates a pleasing odour for the Lord - Lev.1:9. The problem is my neighbours. They claim the odour is not pleasing to them. Should I smite them?
- I have a neighbour who insists on working on the Sabbath. Exodus 35:2 clearly states he should be put to death. Am I morally obligated to kill him myself, or should I ask the police to do it?
- A friend of mine feels that even though eating shellfish is an abomination, Lev. 11:10, it is a lesser abomination than homosexuality. I do not agree. Can you settle this? Are there ‘degrees’ of abomination?
- Lev. 21:20 states that I may not approach the altar of God if I have a defect in my sight. I must admit that I wear reading glasses. Does my vision have to be 20/20, or is there some wiggle-room here?
- Most of my male friends get their hair trimmed, including the hair around their temples, even though this is expressly forbidden by Lev. 19:27. How should they die?
- I know from Lev. 11:6-8 that touching the skin of a dead pig makes me unclean, but may I still play football if I wear gloves?
- My uncle has a farm. He violates Lev.19:19 by planting two different crops in the same field, as does his wife by wearing garments made of two diverse kinds of thread (cotton/polyester blend). He also tends to curse and blaspheme a lot. Is it really necessary that we go to all the trouble of getting the whole town together to stone them? Lev.24:10-16. Couldn’t we just burn them to death at a private family affair, like we do with people who sleep with their in-laws? (Lev. 20:14) I know you have studied these things extensively and thus enjoy considerable expertise in such matters, so I am confident you can help. Thank you again for reminding us that God’s word is eternal and unchanging.
You’re taking those passages too literally:
When God (in verse 45) said that slaves are ok to buy, he meant that people, all from the start, each have slaves within their hearts. Things that we have sold or boughtten that are forced to pick our “moral cotton.” God calls for us to set these free, free our hearts from slavery.
And as God goes on to explain the logistics of buying and selling slaves…
If in doubt, remember what Granny Weatherwax said:
'And sin, young man, is when you treat people as things. Including yourself. That’s what sin is.’
I have yet to find a counterexample.
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That’s a good rule of thumb, but it runs into difficulty when you map it to the marco scale.
Whether we’re talking individual human capacity (Dunbar’s Number) or a question of public policy (for instance, in the Trolley Problem scenario) or even just common accounting and logistics principles, people become indistinguishable from things in significantly large numbers and anonymous contexts.
Bureaucracy has a de-humanizing effect on individuals. But bureaucracy is fundamental to administration of large populations. I don’t know how you square this circle without committing some degree of “sin”.
It rings consistent with the Wiccan Rede (Do no harm) and the ethic of reciprocity, aka The Golden Rule.
Curiously this sheds light on the common sickness of the ultra-wealthy, who are surrounded by sycophantic courtiers who readily agree with their every word bur also want a taste of their sweet, sweet lucre. Inside weeks, they start seeing themselves as experts in everything, and everyone else as NPCs.
probably mostly because of Greek philosophers
A lot has been written over the ages about the nature of goodness. The Greeks weren’t the first, nor were they the last.
Ideas such as natural law have been attested in the ancient Egyptian Instruction of Amenemope for instance. On the other hand, in European thought, Thomas Aquinas was a highly influential figure, as well as Bentham and Kant.
And then, of course, there’s the whole rest of the world.
How can we know bad a good thing without someone who is guiding us? Would someone who has a slave think slavery is bad? It’s normal for them because they saw it every day.
Always these people
Religious idiot wanting to sound smart. A classic.
I think it’s a bit more complex than this.
I think, in religious households, instead of being taught to be a good caring person you are taught to be as selfish as possible while staying within the rules.
So it’s not that religious need eternal threat of damnation, it’s that they have been taught to be as selfish as possible.
So I don’t think they lack morality naturally but they have been taught to be horrible people who obey laws.
That’s a remarkably good point
It’s conspicuous how adept the religious are at mental gymnastics
I always thought that it was because were looking for ways to justify their shitty behaviour, it never occurred to me that that was a taught thing
That makes it so much worse…
We’re atheists and have raised our son (almost 10) as such, but always answer any questions he has about religion, especially since he hears it in school. He has no qualms telling friends he doesn’t believe in God and one friend told him he was going to hell. This was essentially my statement for him to use in the future andI love that he has no fear expressing himself.
When my son was around 9-10 he came home from school one day and said “everyone on the bus believes in god but me”. To note, its a small bus he rides. I felt bad, was a bit upset this convo happened, but I guess its good. The conversation didnt sway him, and I did let him go to church even one time with his “big brother” from a program. He didnt want to go back. I was so conflicted what I would do if he wanted to. But thankfully, he’s just no interest in pretend people, and isnt afraid to speak his mind on the matter.
We evolved into social creatures - apes together strong. The group becomes weak if we are always knocking down or killing our neighbour. If we all work together and gather bananas, then we can feed those in the group who can not gather bananas. Healthy ape brains receive pleasure helping other apes (and animals) in need.
Of course it all falls apart when we have malfunctioning ape brains in the group who promote hate, greed, and fairy stories of a magic sky ape or we have Musk ape, Trump ape and Zucker Ape who want all the bananas.
I like what Ricky Gervais said about it. He asked Stephen Colbert if he believed in any of the other 3000 gods from human history. Stephen said he did not. Ricky told him that he just believes in one less than he does.
Ricky is GOAT.
Is an action good because God commands it, or does God command it because it is good?
If it’s the first one, then all you’re saying is “God commands what God commands,” and assigning “good” to that is meaningless. If God commanded you to do evil things, then you would have to just blindly accept that as “good.”
If it’s the second one, then you acknowledge that there’s a source of morality independent of God that you’re judging God’s commands against to determine that his commands are good. At that point, you’re in the same place as the atheist, and it raises the question of why we need to listen to God as opposed to just going to the source.
This argument literally predates Christianity. But most religious people just think that philosophy doesn’t apply to them and that the answer to every philosophical question is just “Jesus.”
The source is God
If it’s the second one, then you acknowledge that there’s a source of morality independent of God
Good is good. Only thing is deists believe good is a person with intentions for you and everyone to reach himself, to reach goodness.
He helps you if you listen to him, but only if you listen to him. He does not “command” you are fully free to tell him to fuck of at any time
Good is good.
Not an answer.
Let me make this simple. If God shows up in the sky tomorrow and says “murder is good, actually” then is your conclusion, “Oh, I guess I was wrong about murder being bad, it turns out murder is actually good because God said so” or is your conclusion, “Oh, I guess I was wrong that God only tells us to do good things, because God just told us murder is good and we know that murder is evil?”
You’re literally doing the exact thing I described, refusing to engage with a philosophical question and just responding to it with platitudes.
So I guess your question is. Is God good or just pretending to be good ?
Well, you will certainly be very successful not to answer this if you refuse to listen. And that’s the with the rest, you will be better of not listening if your goal is to keep torturing yourself with deeply intricated philosophies.
It is your free choice. At all time
So I guess your question is. Is God good or just pretending to be good ?
No, my question is, again, whether the things God says are good because God says so, or whether the things God says are good because you’ve independently evaluated them to be good. “Pretending” has absolutely nothing to do with anything.
Well, you will certainly be very successful not to answer this if you refuse to listen.
You are the one who’s refusing to listen. I’ve asked you the same question three times now, you still haven’t given anything resembling an answer.
And that’s the with the rest, you will be better of not listening if your goal is to keep torturing yourself with deeply intricated philosophies.
Torturing myself? Do you find it torturous to examine philosophical questions? I certainly don’t. I also don’t think I’m asking anything “intricate” here. This is a simple question that Plato first posed 2400 years ago.
It’s concerning that you’re dismissing this question as some “intricated philosophy” and even more concerning that you call it “torture” to even think about it. There’s this big contradiction right in the middle of your beliefs and you’re desperately trying to pretend it doesn’t exist.
It’s not about listening to me…
Good because god or good then god ? For us and with the level of knowledge we have god is above everything.
But the goal is to reach him. And then what ? What happen when we become like him ? Do we get to see other stuff, things beyond ? I guess ask me again when we get there
Mutual respect, it isn’t fucking difficult.
It starts with “I don’t want to die so if you won’t kill me, I won’t kill you” and just incrementally grows from there.
Interestingly, law is considered a more effective deterrent for immoral people than religion itself!
Religious law and civil law are not very different, the latter is based on the former, historically speaking.
The difference is in who gets to judge and dole out punishments.
Religious law and civil law are not very different, the latter is based on the former, historically speaking.
Hammurabi’s Code disagrees with you.
He derived his laws from the god Shamash. He just codified and imposed his interpretation. I am well aware of the stele, I’ve seen it! As sure as Shamash is my witness!
Have you got a citation for the claim that the laws were supposed to be the divine commandments of Shamash? All the articles I can find on the code or the stele just talk about the laws themselves with no mention of religious connotations.
in theory the difference is dogmatic vs pragmatic but actually civil law is still mostly dogmatic just less so
