I am only here to get research for my paper. I don't have a paper to submit right now. When I have one to submit and I think it is good enough to help other students I will be glad to submit one on the website. I don't have much time and need to get this now, cause I left my stinking paper on my table at home and do not have time to go home and get it. If you are quite sure there is a difference between right and wrong, you are then in this situation: Is that difference due to God's fiat or is it not? If it is due to God's fiat, then for God Himself there is no difference between right and wrong, and it is no longer a significant statement to say that God is good. If you are going to say, as theologians do, that God is good, you must then say that right and wrong have some meaning which is independent of God's fiat, because God's fiats are good and not good independently of the mere fact that he made them. If you are going to say that, you will then have to say that it is not only through God that right and wrong came into being, but that they are in their essence logically anterior to God.[3]
Russell's version is an attempt to show an internal flaw in the Christian's notion of God and goodness. Is a thing right simply because God declares it so, or does God say it is good because He recognizes a moral code superior even to Him?
This problem presents a dilemma because one is forced to choose between two options, both ultimately hostile to Christian theism. The believer is caught between a rock and a hard place.
On the one hand, God reigns and His Law is supreme. As the ultimate Sovereign, He establishes the moral rules of the universe. His commands are absolute. We must obey.
Ethicist Scott Rae describes the view: "A divine command theory of ethics is one in which the ultimate foundation for morality is the revealed will of God, or the commands of God found in Scripture."[4] This view is known as ethical voluntarism.
At first blush this seems correct, until we realize the liabilities. The content of morality would be arbitrary, dependent on God's whim. Though God has declared murder, theft, and debauchery wrong, it could have been otherwise had God willed it so. Any "immoral" act could suddenly become "moral" by simple fiat.
Further, it reduces God's goodness to His power. To say that God is good simply means that He is capable of
Jim Meyer Personal Research 03 November 2013 Jehovah’s Witnesses, God, Ethics and Biblical (Infanticide) Genocide and “The destruction was to be complete: every man, woman, and child was to be killed… the death of these children was actually their salvation…God does these children no wrong in taking their lives… So who is wronged? Ironically, I think the most difficult part of this whole debate is the apparent wrong done to the Israeli soldiers themselves.” [William L. Craig, Christian apologist]…
humans cause evil by killing each other. Combination evil is where evil caused by humans has changed nature. An example of this could be global warming. Evil poses several challenges. There is a theological problem which challenges the nature of God and if God truly exists. There is a philosophical problem which requires the believer to accept conflicting claims. Another challenge is the diverse problem which is that evil comes in many forms that demand different explanations. Finally there is the challenging…
– CHRISTIANITY Outline and explain the beliefs and Ethics of Christianity Christianity can be defined as the religion that is based on the person Jesus of Nazareth and His beliefs and Ethics. Beliefs of Christianity include The Nature of God, The Revelation, Salvation, The Life, Death, Resurrection and Ascension of Christ, and, the Divinity and Humanity of Christ. Christian ethical teachings include the Ten Commandments, New Testament ethics, the Beatitudes, and Jesus’ commandment of love. Throughout…
1.) The "Ages of Man" describe the Greeks as being polytheistic. They believe that man was created by god."Cura, they say, fashioned a man out of mud and asked Zeus to give him life. The god granted his request, but forbade her to call man after herself, as she wished, since the god desired to call him after himself." They say that Cura made a form of a man from mud and Zeus granted it with life and it was called Homo because he was created from hummus. The Greeks believed in a term called Autochthonous…
Paper #5 5/1/15 When discussing the bases of religion, one will run into a few problems: Theodicies and Ethics. Both these terms are used in the same sense of when defending a cause or issue. Ethics can be defined as the moral basis of discerning right from wrong and can be shaped by internal and/or external forces. On the other hand, Theodicy is defined as the explanation of the ways that God reacts when faced with evil disorder and discrimination. In the religious autobiographies of a Holocaust…
Personal and Professional Ethical Belief System Farah Nail University of Phoenix In the human services field, personal ethical belief systems combined with professional ethics work in partnership to guide human service professionals in unraveling ethical dilemmas. An increasing number of professionals and clients seek out to define the fundamental policies of the human services field. Humans develop an integration of values, standards, and beliefs from birth throughout life. The values, standards…
evolution of religion. In this essay, I shall show that this is the case drawing from theories proposed by Plato, Kant and Berg. According to Jonathan Berg, “…a way to construe ethics as depending on religion would be on the basis of a ‘Divine Command Theory’ of ethics, identifying the moral good with God’s Will or with what God commands.”(1) So then, if one were to link doing good as essentially doing God’s will, does this mean that one must always obey God’s will eventhough it may not seem to be a…
Personal Code of Ethics Having a personal code of ethics is very important to me since it defines who I am and what my beliefs are. My ethical code symbolizes who I am as an individual as a result of my moral, religious, intellectual and cultural upbringing. One of my greatest wishes is for my personality and actions to clearly define my code of ethics, without me verbalizing or someone else reading it on a document. Some questions that I would like others to ask and come up with their…
Cotton 1 Morality Apart From God: Is It Possible? Ray Cotton Ray Cotton is the former finance director and treasurer of Probe Ministries. He received a B.S. in business administration/management science from the University of Northern Colorado, a certificate in Christian studies from the Center for Advanced Biblical Studies, and an M.A. in interdisciplinary studies at the University of Texas at…
that morality is independent of religion. He says that things cannot be holy only for the reason that the gods love them. Not necessarily everything that gods love has to be holy. And there is a conflict between the idea that gods love things because they are holy and things are holy because gods love them. Socrates’ opinion is that things cannot be considered holy because one believes that gods love holy things and the holiness of all things need to be judged on that. He even ends with conversation…
