Morality versus afterlife

[robvalue]

This is a question for anyone who thinks morality "comes from God".

If you knew there was no afterlife, that you're dead and gone no matter what happens in this life, would you continue to follow "morality from God"? Or would you then ignore it, and decide for yourself how to act?

Thanks

[abaris]

Well, good luck with getting any answers from your desired group. I consider that saddling up Rosinante.

[robvalue]

Cheers

It's okay if I don't get any answers. If people read it and think about it I'll be happy.

Just wanna prod some brain cells and spark some thought.

[abaris]

Just wanna prod some brain cells and spark some thought.

Oh, well.

[robvalue]

Lol

Well, I like to be charitable and think of it more like some wires have been crossed and the logic isn't quite getting to all areas. I'm encouraging people to dig them all out and have a proper look for themselves.

[Brian37]

Naked assertion+moving the goal posts=Means what it means unless it doesn't mean what it means then it means what suits their desires.

[brewer]

A lot don't follow it now Rob. Just a quick "sorry god, try not to do it again" or " here is the money, we're good now right" and they are still in for the ultimate prize. I think that after life prize/punishment does very little to effect the day to day application of morals.

[robvalue]

True, they probably don't. But many would still claim that they do, I expect. I'm interested in whether the fixation on God's opinion would change if there wasn't any eternal stakes involved.

[Old Baby]

I will answer as someone who recently believed.

The answer is no.

My primary reason for following God was self preservation, i.e. fear of Hell.

I'm not going to say that I didn't consider God's rules to be truly moral. I did. I just failed time and time again to live up to that standard. Had I learned that there would ultimately be no consequences for my "dirty thoughts", I would never have put so much pressure on myself to be what I couldn't be. Instead, I would have probably rationalized God's standard as his way of just showing us how hopelessly corrupt we are and how tolerant and longsuffering He is for letting us be that way.

[robvalue]

That's very interesting, thank you

You're in a position to offer a lot of insight to atheist "lifers" like me!

You're quite right, Christianity is all about impossible standards. Worse, it's about being born broken.