A poll for those who practice religion of any sort.

If you are believer, finish this sentence "I practice morals and ethics because

  • the deity I worship says that I should."
  • I believe they are beneficial to society on the whole."
0 voters

Do morals and ethics come from what your god says to do? Or does the source of morals and ethics transcend that deity?

Is God the producer of morals and ethics, or is he the one who goes to the ethics store and buys the ones that are good and dictates them to us when he gets back?

I hear all to often from people things like “if you don’t have a god then whats to stop you from killing yada yada yada.” Does that mean that if god didn’t exist that everyone would start killing and yada yada? Is God just big brother in the sky?

God created the universe for a reason, ethics and morality are an aid in fulfilling this end which the universe was created for. If the Universe and me were not here for a reason, there would be no point in me listening to my moral compass and struggling to control my animal self, because It wouldn’t matter if I live or die and whether the world is harmonious or not. That’s my opinion.

I think that the reason lots of religious people don’t stick to the ethical life is that they don’t understand the point of it. Lots of theists consider right and wrong as having been created so that God could send some of us to hell and the others to heaven, to “divide the wheat from the chaff”. This seems pointless and unfair, especially if you can’t see why he would do such a thing, and hence, lots of theists don’t really believe it subconsciously, because it doesn’t appeal to the reason which is inherent in all of us.

That’s odd. Virtually all Christians struggle against earthly death just as hard as the most committed atheist does. What’s odd about this is that atheists believe this is the only life we’ll ever have while most Christians allegedly believe that they are going to an infinitely better life.

Also, I wonder what it is that makes you believe that you are “controlling” your animal self now? Do you not eat or sleep or have sex? Those are your animal instincts and I’m guessing that you satisfy them just like the rest of us do. The rest of your behavior is largely culture dependent.

That is contradictory if by “lots of theists” you are talking about the same group of people both times that you use the phrase.

If lots of theists consider right and wrong as having been created so that God could send some of us to hell and the others to heaven then they cannot also disbelieve it at the same.

If “lots of theists” refers to two different groups of people then it’s difficult to understand what it is that you mean.

Actually, they can believe it not and not believe it at the same time - read some psychology. Note how I used the word ‘subconsciously’. They assent to it because it gives them comfort, but deep down, in the darkness of their subconscious, they know that it makes no sense.

Oh, and I’m not a Christian. Don’t blame me because hypocritical religious people are in absolute terror of death - I’m not. You’d probably be better to look to the likes of eastern religions if you want to see acceptance of death.
As for controlling my animal self, you missed my meaning. I simply meant that I don’t follow my instincts and do whatever I want to do. I attempt to control those aspects which I feel would be damaging if I allowed them free reign. I might believe in God, but I’m perfectly aware of my capacity for evil, the capacity which every one of us has.
Eating and sleeping are necessary for survival. Note how I believe that we are in this life for a purpose. Hence, I don’t want to die until I’ve aided in this purpose to the best of my ability. If I didn’t think there was a purpose, and I thought that the next life was ‘infinitely better’, I would probably just kill myself, rather than struggling through this mire that we find ourselves in.