A question I've been pondering: if God decides what's right and wrong, does that make morality completely arbitrary?
Here's an example of what I mean: if God had decided that hatred is good and love is bad, would that be any worse than living in a reality where love is good and hatred is bad? If God truly defines morality, then that reality couldn't be any worse, morally. (Yes, it may involve more suffering, but suffering wouldn't be a bad thing.) If that reality was worse, wouldn't that mean God is subject to some sort of higher moral principle that even he can't control? If God completely defines morality, then making love better than hate would have been a completely arbitrary decision on God's part and there's no inherent reason for it except "God said so."
Is there an alternative explanation that I'm not seeing?
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4 comments:
Yah, - I don't know that God so much "decided" what was right and wrong, but that he made the universe, and knows the consequences of our thoughts and words and actions far better than we do ourselves... and that he loves as and wants what is truly best for us.
The food laws and hand washing laws God gave the Israelites probably seemed quite arbitrary at the time, - until microscopes came along and we discovered these things called germs.
That's my two cents worth. Hope you're keeping well!
Adam
Could God have made the consequences of hatred good and the consequences of love bad, or redefined good and bad?
Would you say God has to follow rules or principles that he didn't make?
well it is kind of a moot point seeing as how god doesn't exist, isn't it?
You assume much, Anonymous from Pennsylvania. And in this particular post, I assume much too. Honestly, I'm not completely sure of God's existence. Maybe I've addressed the subject of my doubts in some of my posts tagged "faith" and in some of my untagged posts.
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