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Why is it wrong to steal or murder? Is it just because that is the cultural norm? Or is there actually an objective moral standard? Matt Slick from CARM.org in this 5-minute video will address this topic and provide a convincing case for the existence of God from morality.
Hope you don’t mind a comment from a lurker who happened upon your blog. I googled Kalam Cosmological Argument and came across your post.
ReplyDeleteAbout the video:
If my moral standard is the Golden Rule - treat others as I would have them treat me – then in the hypothetical situation presented, economic chaos with armed robbery as the norm, I can maintain my moral standards without, as Matt Slick suggests, having moral standards, or a law giver, outside of myself.
If I violate my moral principle and rob someone I will live with the consequence, feelings of guilt and shame. If the Christian robs someone I assume he will have similar feelings and additional feelings of having disobeyed God.
In response to "clamflats", the Golden Rule you mentioned did come from God Himself through Jesus Christ when He taught:
ReplyDelete"So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets." (see Matt. 7:12 & Luke 6:31) Also, "Love your neighbor as yourself."
:-)
References to the Golden Rule are found throughout history. It is probably the most common of moral standards. So common that I suspect it is genetically wired into our thinking.
ReplyDeleteHere are a few cross-cultural references -
Socrates: Do not do to others that which would anger you if others did it to you.
Also Buddhism:
Hurt not others in ways that you yourself would find hurtful. Udana-Varga 5:18
Confucianism:
Try your best to treat others as you would wish to be treated yourself, and you will find that this is the shortest way to benevolence. Mencius VII.A.4
Hinduism:
This is the sum of duty: do not do to others what would cause pain if done to you. Mahabharata 5:1517
Taoism:
Regard your neighbor's gain as your own gain, and your neighbor's loss as your own loss. T'ai Shang Kan Ying P'ien