RE: Where do atheists get their morality from?
September 15, 2012 at 1:08 am
(This post was last modified: September 15, 2012 at 1:12 am by Undeceived.)
(September 14, 2012 at 1:55 pm)liam Wrote:This is the dividing line, then. Jesus rebuked the pharisees for doing all the right things without their heart in it. Abel's sacrifice was accepted over Cain's because he gave out of love instead of duty. The widow who gave two mites was praised for her sacrifice, not her wealth given. A person who commits manslaughter today is more highly regarded than one who attempted murder, or planned rape, or nearly got away with arson. Intent is everything. Your thoughts determine your actions. If your thoughts are wicked but your actions fail to match, you will fall back on your true beliefs the moment you are put under any strain. Christians focus on the importance of morals. They are not to create a nicer world. They are to show a person the path to a cleaner heart. It is who we are that matters, not what we appear to be. Your morality would be a costume party--even harder to judge, because a Darwinist could simply mimic a Christian and say, "Look! I'm moral. I'm just like you." There's another problem. Say morality is what you do, just for a moment. You find a dollar on the floor of Wal-Mart. You keep it. Therefore, theft is morally approved by you. Now, just outside, a mugger demands, "Your money or your life!" He takes every cent you have. Is stealing right or wrong, according to you? Your actions would say right. Your belief might say wrong. Or are you sticking to actions?(September 12, 2012 at 8:04 pm)Undeceived Wrote: Do you think morals are still morals even if followed for selfish or robotic reasons? If so, your definition of moral is different from a Christian's.
Yes, yes I do, because the action is what is judged, not the motivation. Let me tell you why in short form:
1) You can't know motivation so you can't judge it, that is just ridiculous.
2) The action is what we are judging, not the motivation, somebody who saves someone else from a burning building performed a good act without their motivation being considered. They did it and they deserve approbation regardless of their motivation for doing so.
3) This would imply that such things as a bad motivation are bad, thus a moment of passionate motivation to evil is more immoral than an actual killing with good intentions. This is clearly impermissible.
4) This leads us to judge only the unknowable, not the actual action, which is ridiculous.
(September 14, 2012 at 7:39 pm)Norfolk And Chance Wrote: Atheists get their morals from the same place you do, from within.Agreed. Now what decides what is 'within'?