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

[Nishant Xavier]

GN, and I would refer you back to Alexander Hamilton's statement, also the founder of the Bank of New York where I worked a couple of years earlier. Here's the statement: "Good and wise men, in all ages have supposed that the Deity, from the relations we stand in to Himself, and to each other, has constituted an eternal and immutable Law, which is indispensably obligatory upon all mankind, prior to any human institution whatsoever. This is what is called the Law of Nature. Being coeval with mankind and dictated by God Himself, it is of course superior in obligation to any other. It is binding over all the globe, in all countries and at all times. No human laws are of any validity, if contrary to this; and such of them as are valid derive all their authority, mediately or immediately, from this original [Law].

You are confusing contingent authorities, like human beings, with the Necessary Being. God is also the cause of the Scientific Laws of Nature, and those are Objective, not Subjective. In the same way, the Moral Laws of the Author of Nature, are also Objective. You can disbelieve in Gravity all you like, but Gravity still exists. If you think you can jump of a building without consequences, the Laws of Nature mean that you objectively cannot, irrespective of your subjective opinions. That's what being Objective means. It is not identical but similar or analogous with Objective Moral Laws.

Deese, you misunderstand; if some attribute exists in God, it exists in its highest perfection, and in its ultimate source, from which all creatures derive their share of it. Saltiness is not a perfection. Goodness is. We know from our Conscience that Goodness exists and we strive to be Good. We should be, yet we are not the source of that goodness. In fact, no contingent being can be the source of Goodness. Only God, Who is non-contingent, is. Wisdom is another perfection. We all strive to be wise. There is also no contradiction between being wise and being good. [Thus, there is no contradiction in God being the Source of Both Goodness and Wisdom]. The wiser we are, the closer we are to God. Only God is perfectly Wise. All this follows from His Non-Potentiality, and also follows from His having caused the Universe. One does not need "saltiness" to cause the Universe. One does however need Wisdom to do so, and Goodness to give us a Conscience.

Regards, 
Xavier.