(March 23, 2012 at 10:55 am)ThomM Wrote: Do Christian values/morality, as introduced by the New Testament, stand on their own?
No - in fact - there is a basic error in the claim of morality in most religions
BEING moral is doing the right thing - simply because that is the correct thing to do.
Doing something for a reward - is not an example of morality
Nor is doing something to avoid punishment
So the reward of an eternal homosexual relationship with their god- or that of a gaggle of virgins - should NOT exist
You are not being very insightful here.
Morality is what determines what the right thing and the wrong thing is. Saying "being moral is the right thing", is like saying "a circle has no vertices". Tautologically true, but essentially pointless.
What any ethical doctrine - even a pathetic one such as Christianity - must do is to provide justification as to why what is asserted to be moral is actually moral. The reason why Christianity fails as a philosophy is because it cannot justify it without referring to fairy tales or imaginary beings.