You Can Know You Have Eternal Life
#16 Dilemma of Morality (6)
Does Theism establish the Right Standard of Morality?
by Jim Mettenbrink
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Morality, a system or code by which
people live, ultimately originates from either atheism (no god
religion) or theism (religion acknowledging a supreme being).
Although in the previous five articles we have only scratched
the surface of the moral dilemma facing atheism, we conclude
that atheism has no absolute standard of morality. Atheistic
morality is subject to the whims of individuals exemplified
by Hitler, Stalin and Pol Pot. But what about theism? Does
it, or can it, give an absolute standard of morality that produces
stable lives and societies? Further, how does one know
which theistic standard is correct or are all correct?
If there is a supreme being - deity
(God), it is reasonable that the deity would somehow communicate
to mankind. The New Age movement acknowledges an afterlife
spirit world (in contrast to atheism), evident by channeling
(actually the millenia-old spiritism) where people contact the
dead for advice. New Age also espouses that every person
has his own truth he just has to discover it by a connection
of some sort with the spirit of ancestors or animals or even
the earth itself. Ultimately everyone makes their own rules
of right and wrong, thus there is no standard except self, and
certainly no absolute, let alone written, standard of morality.
Many religions have a written standard.
Six religions claim their standard came from their deity
(god) by special direct revelation called inspiration. They
are Christianity and Judaism (Bible), Hinduism (Rig Veda), Islam
(Quran), Zoroastrianism (Avesta) and Mormonism (Book of Mormon,
Pearl of Great Price and Doctrine and Covenants in addition to
the Bible). Additionally, other world religions assert
at least 16 other sacred books of special importance (but not
claiming inspiration by a deity). With so many inspired
or sacred books having different standards and goals, the result
is religious and moral confusion. Are there many supreme
deities or just one? How do we resolve this dilemma? And
if there is only one supreme deity, how can we know this absolutely?
Further, what is the deitys (ies) purpose for
us?
Rather than discuss the pros and
cons of each inspired writing, the focus will be
upon the Bible. If it can be shown that the Bible is from
a singular supreme deity and proposes a distinct purpose for
mankind with a special standard of morality, then (1) it necessarily
implies that all other religious writings are inventions of men
and will mislead men regarding what the one supreme deity desires
for mankind. (2) If the deity is our creator and has a
purpose for us, then we are obligated to follow the inspired
standard in order to satisfy the deity.
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