An Atheists View on Morality---

[BlueElvis]

God created this..I'm with Him!!

 

[august-west]

This is going to be a long post but our network is out at my office and I had this discussion with 3 atheists I work with on morality. The following is my point and Im very interested in anyone who has a well thought out rebuttal to my point:

Here is my issue with an atheists view on the world as it pertains to morality (good/evil)

Imagine a genuine $5 bill in your right hand. Describing that bill you might say it's good currency. You may even say that it is the standard to measure all other $5 bills.

Now in your left hand imagine a counterfeit $5 bill. How would you describe that? You could say it's bad currency. In fact you might even call it a source of evil.

Here's the thing we all need to understand. Evil is not a thing, it is the merely the corruption of a thing. Just as the counterfeit is a corruption of the genuine $5 bill, so too is evil a corruption of good. Lies are a corruption of truth etc. And to prove that evil is not a thing, going back to my illustration of the $5 bill and the counterfeit--- Remove the genuine $5 bill from existence. Can the counterfeit still exist without the genuine? No. Because there's nothing to corrupt. Now switch it up. Remove the counterfeit instead. Can the genuine $5 bill exist without the counterfeit? Yes! Yes it can.

Any evil in the world cannot disprove God, because evil is a corruption of something good. It cannot stand on its own. That's why evil presupposes Good and Good presupposes God. The Atheistic view says there is no God, which means there is not objective morals, only subjective morals (a person's personal view on what right and wrong is). I hear many atheists say "If there is a God, why does a child get cancer". My question back is "Why is it that you view a child having cancer as "evil"? Why is it that nearly all of the worlds 7 billion people view it as "evil"? That suggests the presence of an objective moral compass by which human kind is governed. How does that exist without a God? You effectively in making that argument, are borrowing a standard that stems from the existence of a God, the presence of an objective moral evil in effort to disprove the existence of a God. An objective moral evil cannot exist without and objective moral good---and neither can exist without the existence of a God.

So let me see if i have this right, because im not all that bright. The only reason, in your opinion, that good exists is because there is a "God" and "bad" can only exist in an opposite to it.

The problem with words like good and bad is that they both are subjective, both can be used in complete opposite ways depending on how they are being used and in what context. Take mushrooms as an example. I think mushrooms taste disgusting, you however may think they are delicious. So are they "good" or "bad" and what role does "God" play?

 

[TheEgyptianMagician]

So are they "good" or "bad" and what role does "God" play?

They are good and bad relative to the neurological imprint and sense of taste one's genetics predispose them to, and that is the role God plays.

The argument is simplified thusly, if anything is good, then something is good so good exists. If good exists, there must be an ultimate source for this good and that good can be termed God.

If all is relative, then nothing is truly good and no something can be good or bad; that no true good can be termed nihilism.

If the former is true, then you have free will and free agency in your life, if the latter than you you do not; there is no free will and you are merely the sum of your own desires which you do not control but rather control you the same way you do not control your aversion to mushrooms.

 

[rudd1]

-logans of Lexington is moving from The tates creek location and selling everything at a deep discount. You can get Pantherella or Marcoliani OTC or mid-calf socks on the cheap. Picked up a couple virgin wool otc pantherella for >10 bones a pair yesterday.

 

[wildcatwelder_rivals]

Yes it does. Because in order to assemble a police force or institute a law, it comes after a group of people essentially appeal to an objective moral authority and come to accept that authority.

Dude, I haven't read past this post. and I will, but I just wanted to tell you that you'd best be ready to defend each and every point you make with ganner.

I've went back and forth with him on these very topics, and other like them, years ago when we had a dedicated political forum, and then on another forum we created ourselves when Rivals did away with our forum here. Ganner is a smart cookie.

I myself will weigh in on this post, maybe later this evening, as I find these topics fascinating. I am an atheist who was raised in a Baptist home, so I have a slightly different perspective.

Anyway, good luck, you're going to need it. [laughing]

 

[ganner918_rivals60369]

Dude, I haven't read past this post. and I will, but I just wanted to tell you that you'd best be ready to defend each and every point you make with ganner.

I've went back and forth with him on these very topics, and other like them, years ago when we had a dedicated political forum, and then on another forum we created ourselves when Rivals did away with our forum here. Ganner is a smart cookie.

I myself will weigh in on this post, maybe later this evening, as I find these topics fascinating. I am an atheist who was raised in a Baptist home, so I have a slightly different perspective.

Anyway, good luck, you're going to need it. [laughing]

Haha, thanks. Wasn't jumping into this one to argue, was presuming OP was a good faith attempt to seek out others' point of view, but I may have been wrong about that.

 

[AustinTXCat]

Moving along nicely. Great job, gents. Hell, we're slower these days -- probably due to FB Cats, but should still hit 8 pages.