RE: Is There a Point To Living a Moral Life?
October 16, 2013 at 9:45 pm
(This post was last modified: October 16, 2013 at 9:53 pm by FallentoReason.)
Ronedee Wrote:Anyway... what do you as an atheists feel is your moral compass. And what is the gauge set at? Honesty in general... where is the line drawn, and how?
Back when I was a Christian, obviously my moral compass was in line with my particular denomination. The day that I woke up and realised I no longer believed was a very strange day indeed. My first few thoughts were to do with morality: what are my boundaries? Who's stopping me from doing whatever I want? What's right and wrong and by who's measure? That day my mind was literally white noise. But two years on, I've realised that my morals have always been that... *my* morals. After mentally stabilising myself the next few days, I went back to being who I was, morally speaking. I've come to realise that what attracted me to Christianity was that *my* morals resonated with the religion. It wasn't ever a case of me being transformed by Christianity into a morally sound individual. But rather, I've always believed that stealing, lying, cheating etc. etc. is wrong, even to this day. I've simply never had it within me to do those things, even now. I just can't bring myself to do it, not if there was an omnimax tyrant, not if we're the gods of our own world.
Where did my morals first come from? My gut feeling would have to be my parents. Both my parents are decent people and I guess I learnt from them. I also find that being nice to others brings a certain type of pleasure. I guess such a feeling is indicative of where natural selection has brought us to thus far. We have become a species reliant on community.
I've also just realised the biggest irony about this thread: it's in the Christianity subforum, and the title is "Is There A Point To Living A Moral Life?"
Good question to ask yourself Ronedee! What's the point to living morally/righteously? The requirement for heaven/hell isn't at all determined by how many times you gave money to the poor. It's determined by an *amoral* action; belief in Jesus the anointed. An 80 year old rapist and murderer will end up in heaven if he just sincerely believes in Jesus, whereas an 80 year old devoted Christian will end up in hell if they deconvert.
Is there a point to living a moral life as prescribed by the Bible?
"It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it" ~ Aristotle
