Does Christian Morality Stand on its Own?

[Undeceived]

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.

Christianity is different because it is based on love. There are two sides of every quality: love and selfishness. Pride, for example, is destructive behind selfish motives. Self-confidence is pride's love counterpart, and is very good. Assertiveness is also good when used with love--remember, Jesus was very assertive. He was meek when being assertive would not have helped his purpose (like during his trial). In a perfect world, everyone would love one another like themselves. There would be no need to disobey authorities because the authorities would love their subjects and help them as best they could.

Think about every attribute you consider to be good which you don't think Christianity considers good. Then think "what is no one had this? Would I personally still need it?" Sometimes people use qualities like pride in self-defense to everyone else's pride. But if everyone was completely self-sacrificial it would no longer be necessary. Likewise, if every person was honest, there would be no reason to be skeptical or cautious. Don't bother buying a car lock because no one is going to steal your car anyway! In our world of sin it can be hard to turn the other cheek. A slave would inevitably sin when trying to get free of their master. War, even for the best of causes, breaks God's moral code. But God knows we sometimes have to sin to do good. It's why he told the Hebrews to take over Israel, and allowed divorce in the Mosaic law. In Matthew 9:18 Jesus says, "Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because your hearts were hard. But it was not this way from the beginning." In other words, divorce always involves sin. But a greater amount of sin can be avoided by undergoing it in certain circumstances (when your spouse no longer respects you and causes you to sin whenever you try to reconcile with him/her).

It is human nature to be selfish. Even our physical bodies cause us to sin with the needs they have, which is why we have "original sin." Every other moral code allows inner selfishness. That's the difference between Christianity and other religions. Christianity defines sin as even thinking selfish thoughts. In other religions, your actions are all that matters. In other words, a Muslim can hate a poor person but as long as they give alms they will go to heaven. The five pillars of Islam say nothing of intent. They earn their salvation by what they physically do. Christians understand that we can never earn salvation. We are steeped in sin, and where is the cutoff? Just how much "good" does one have to do to offset the "bad"? The Bible tells us that only one sin is required to break the law--just as a million charity projects won't erase the death sentence of one murder. Romans 3:23 says, "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." That's why we need Jesus to take the sentence for us. The world is dead in sin. Jesus, the only human who has loved perfectly, offers us a gift. All we have to do is say we're sorry for our sins, love God and our neighbor, and accept his gift.

1 John 4:8-18:
Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us...
God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.