Does Christian Morality Stand on its Own?

[genkaus]

Do Christian values/morality, as introduced by the New Testament, stand on their own?

Let us say for the sake of argument that god does not exist and the Jesus of the New Testament is soley human and not divine. Are the values put forth in his moral teachings valid in themselves? Are they sound philosophically? I am speaking here of the ethics and prescriptions for human conduct only. Is this the highest moral system?

Nope.

My thought is that, taken on their own, Christian values do not represent the highest order of morality/ethics. Turning the other cheek, obedience, loving thine enemies, elevation of the "poor in spirit", meekness, and poverty embody a moral system predicated upon weakness. I believe that strong healthy human values include things like pride, assertiveness, disobedience in the face of injustice, retaliation in kind or in self defense, and sometimes strife can be as beneficial to humans as peace. To me those are worldy values that do not contradict a human's nature as the Christian values do.

To elaborate, the Christian values are tailor-made for making man's life on earth hell. They seek to degrade the best within us and seek to elevate the worst (very aptly demonstrated by your points above). The only way they could actually convince people to accept it, was with the promise of a better afterlife or the threat of a worse one.