(March 22, 2012 at 3:11 pm)mediamogul Wrote: 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?
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.
The last paragraph in your post is an Excellent example of Morals/Morality. Allow me to explain. Righteousness is the absolute Standard of God. It is God's Expressed will Made complete (without sin)
Morality is man's attempt at righteousness (his version of it) with the sins he is willing to accept Incorporated into his standard of "Morality."
Morality is a sliding scale based on culture, comfort and wealth. take too much or add to much of any of these variables and the "moral" standard degrades.
That said you are correct when you identified Christ's body of work as not being "moral" or up to the standards of man. They are not, the question should be why?
In short Because morality has nothing to do with true righteousness. God is Righteous, therefore Christ is righteous. Man is moral. Man's morality contains sin. therefore Morality is not compatible with the righteousness of God.