Conscience and the Moral Argument as Evidence for the Goodness of God.

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

God and good being identical isn’t a third option…it’s actually the question the dilemma asks.  

Why…are they identical?  Because good is a divine arbitrarity, or because god is constrained and motivated by an external standard of goodness?

The very same question can be asked of us, of our own good/ness.  God isn’t even necessary to explore this, as usual.

Thomistic Divine Simplicity, or the Doctrine that God is Pure Actuality, and in Him is no Potentiality (i.e. Contingency) is the Solution to the Euthyphro false dilemma. In God, every attribute or perfection that He has exists in the highest possible plenitude, as in its Ultimate Source. Thus, God is not merely Good, but Goodness Itself and the Source of All Goodness everywhere, not merely wise, but the Source of All Wisdom, and Holiness etc.

We perceive Good and Evil exist by our Conscience, just as we perceive Light and Darkness exist by our Sight. But they exist Objectively and prior to any will of ours. This Goodness, which comes from God, and which we His creatures can reflect in certain amounts to the extent that we obey His Eternal Moral Law, finds its Source in God. Thus, God is not constrained or moved by an external standard of Goodness, but is Himself the Source of All Goodness. The more good and holy a creature becomes, the closer it moves toward God. God's commands, to do good and avoid evil, whether already known to us by our Conscience, or confirmed in e.g. the Ten Commandments, or Two Great Commandments of Christ, manifest His Goodness. God has made Nature a certain way, and studying Nature, and examining our Conscience, we can discover Good and Evil. We don't invent it because it is not Subjective, but we do discover it, the same as we do with Mathematical or Scientific Facts, because it is Objective.

Since God is the source of all evil, per the manual,  why doesn’t doing evil move people closer to God?

Boru