Well I hate to break it to you, but binding something through the relation of concepts is defining... characterizing, describing, identifying something by a distinctive characteristic quality or feature...
A relationship may be defining, but it is not a definition. 'Morality facilitates cooperation' tells us about the effects of morality. It does not
define morality.
Well if it's defining, it's defining... thus a definition. I see your point... but such serves as a rationalization to avoid DEFINING MORALITY...
As in the Judea-Christian Ethos of Morality... Which the a- and the anti-theist reject. Thus the notion that 'Theism is not essential to Morality' is false. You simply want to plug in your own rationalization of morality and are desperate to avoid defining such, because where such is defined, it requires judgment and that gets a little prickly. Which is why Duir has suddenly found a reticent streak on the issue.
She knows damn good and well that where she answers the challenge posed, she's done in terms of credibility on the whole "I don't need God to me moral..." thing.
Where we seem to be stuck is on what truth Morality represents.
I say we agree that Morality is a function of the natural order; what God says it is. And the anti-theist want to mouth a respect for Morality while leaving the door open to interpretating Morality relative to whatever circumstance is presenting at a given moment; which I feel sorta undermines the whole principle.
I can agree that Morality is natural and we are still finding out exactly what it is. Here is a definition that I can agree on:
A code shared by a group of people which guides their behavior toward what they agree is the common good.
Got it... You want to define what a morality is, without defining what Morality actually is... perfectly clear.
But when ya stack the relativist notion of morality, up against those with a specific ethos, your desired cooperation thing turns ugly; promoting that 'war' thing you seem so prone to lament.
It's not exactly a biological imperative. However, it does make life easier for all. The decisions of those in difficult situations where their own interests are at odds with the group are made easier by adherence to a moral code. The code (or their interpretation of it) makes the decision for them. The lives of those in the group are made easier because they don't have people defecting from the group every time their interests don't align perfectly.
Well what makes like easier is where people agree on acceptable behavior, that's for sure. But stating that you believe in Morality doesn't an agreement make. You may, for instance believe it's perfectly acceptable to use the Government to subsidize your life at the expense of another... thus imparting yourself as a burden to someone who has absolutely no moral responsibility for your sorry ass what so ever. Again... such is the morality formula for those wars you seem so sensitive to.
War is hard, and that's why the abuse of power doesn't immediately lead to war.
Agreed...
I agree that Natural Law (God's Law) is what makes it easier to come up with a moral code and expect everyone to live by it. I don't think that Nature (God) has ever told us directly what that code is. Furthermore, I don't think that it will be the same for every geographical and cultural context. I have posed my definition above, which I'm sure is unsatisfactory because it doesn't mention God, but I'd love to hear your definition so I can pick it apart.
Well, at the minimum, God gave us the means to reason, so as to observe our surrounding environment and deduce from our experience what works and what doesn't... So it's incorrect to say that god hasn't provided us with the means to know his will... add the scriptures to that and it's a hands down "God's all over it..."
I've probably 1500 posts defining my understanding of the immutable principles, God's law and the perfection in reason which proves their divine origins.
The Creator endows the gift of life... with that life, the inherent rights to pursue the fulfillment of that life and the responsibility to not exercise that right to the detriment of another's right; and to defend one's means to exercise that right and that of their neighbor.
Where everyone recognizes, respects and maintains the responsibilities intrinsic with those rights... there is no means to or potential for, failure.
I am also against abortion for the purpose of 'correcting' one's own mistakes. I don't call it murder and I think that a doctor and patient that are willing to engage in it should be free to do so. Those who think it is wrong should not be forced to participate, but neither should those who don't think it's wrong be forced to conform to the beliefs of those who have no part in the situation.
Well by not calling it what it is... you avoid judgment... by avoiding judgment you render your opinion moot, you reject your responsibility to defend the right of those who are at risk of the unbjustifiable taking of their lives and promote the interests of those who disagree with you; who do not hesitate to, nor do they have any problem with such judgments.
Having a Doctorate in Medicine doesn't give you a pass to make moral decisions which usurps the rights of others... the list of catastrophic unintended consequences from ROE is endless... as is every single other rationalization to avoid the intrinsic responsibilities of one's rights. Not the least of which is failing to come to a firm judgment on the act of taking the life of the most innocent life in the scope of humanity.
I think taxation is wrong without the consent of the taxed. Redistribution of wealth is slavery, and I don't need God to tell me that it's wrong.
Yet he did... that you fail to credit him with your means to reason doesn't change that.
I don't think we're going to agree on this. An embryo does not have rights in my opinion.
Is this embryo a human embryo? Does this embryo represent a viable stage of life, if left to it's natural course? Is the answer to both is yes... then you're looking at human life and human life is endowed by its creator with the unalienable right to its life. That a greater power than that embryo strips it of the means to exercise that right, doesn't change it. So clearly, we do not agree...
A fully formed fetus does have rights.
A fully formed fetus is simply an old embryo... which wasn't striped of its life.
It doesn't brother...
Yes you do... You're just struggling with the responsibility to draw a line and stand on it. It's hard... but where you fail to defend the right of another, you undermine your own damn right, to your own damn life.
Where would you be on the issue if it was YOU in your present stage of development, subject to the whim of a superior power to strip you of your innocent life? A life which had simply been judged to be an inconvenience, to that superior power.
Imagine now that two people were having a discussion on a message board, where one says to the other: I just don't believe Rubberhead in his current stage of development represent a human being... and even if he does... he's already locked up and I can't here him crying from my house... so ****'im.
I imagine you'd disagree with their opinion regarding your humanity and be mighty disappointed to find out they didn't have a sufficient grip on their responsibility to defend their own rights to understand that the only difference between you and THEM is their name isn't rubberhead and someone of sufficient power hasn't deemed them disposable...
That's basicially where we are in that one. All thats missing to declare either of us dispoable is the proper circumstance, a rationalization and sufficient concentrated power directed at us to get the job done.
I don't think abortion should be used as birth control because that is disrespectful to Life.
Agreed... Now build on that and take a freakin' stand.
The ONLY time that taking a human life is justified is when that life is a clear and present threat to one's own life... and it getting between you and that prom dress; or that ya don't really feel ready to raise a child is not a threat to one's life. "If you continue with the pregnancy, you're gonna die..." THAT'S a threat to one's life... Same goes for Rape... the Mother did not willfully engage in intercourse, conception was set entirely against her will and means to avoid it... and as such the risk of childbirth does represent sufficent threat to take the childs life... Some argue that the child is not responsible... and while that's true, if a child was holding a shotgun to my head and completely innocent of their actions... if killing that child was necessary to save my life... I would be perfectly justifed to take that childs life... I may or may not take action to do so... but as is the case of conception due to rape, the mother is entitled to preserve her own life, to the detriment of the innocent child.
Noting complicated about it...
I don't see how life is futile from this perspective. Yes the universe won't notice the ups and downs of my life and the lives of my descendants, but that doesn't change the fact that we will experience those ups and downs and hopefully enjoy our lives. It's only futile if we expected to live forever.
Then you haven't lived hard enough friend... Life is a *****... it is HARD and REALITY SUCKS! What is the point of suffering through this existance if this is all there is? If this is it... there is NOTHING that can make the burden of this life worth it. Nothing...
What's the point? The point is to continue living because that is what we naturally want.
That is the biological imperative. We do not know what lies beyond death, and that scares us.
It doesn't scare me... Been there, done that... it's the easiest thing there is. You move out fo this life into the next, just as if you were walking through your front door.
So we invent a God and a religion to make it okay, and then we can go about our lives knowing that we'll never die and life will be good after we die as long as we don't end up on Santa's naughty list. IS THAT THE EXTENT OF REALITY? I doubt it.
I didn't invent God... he actually invented me. I didn't make him up, I simply recognized his existance and accept that this life has a purpose, that there are hard and fast rules on how one is to live this life and that I'm to live by them and not worry about the purpose; that I owe God for this opportunity and I am thankful for it; and I hope that when it's played out that I held up my end. But no matter what I think, say or do... I'll be held accountable for my actions... and there's not a damn thing I can do or say to prevent it.
It couldn't be easier...
I see... so your answer is to advance a straw dog, and proclaim through implication that 'immorality isn't the key to happiness... ' thus by default assert that morality is the key to happiness... while stripping that away through the realist perspective that everything changes. Thus happiness will tend to ebb and flow... and all to no discernible end.
I gotta say... that's none too inspiring.
I think you meant 'immortality' here.
No...
Yes, happiness ebbs and flows. Life flourishes and perishes and we continue to toil only to be foiled by misfortune. But that's only half of life. What about the love that we share and the progress that we make. That's what's inspiring. I don't happen to find the various theologies inspiring, but if it works for you and others then more power to you. Not enough power to force me to take on your beliefs.
The love is the flow to the foil of misfortune...
Oh... so by 'his wars' you're speaking to the wars fought by man... and not by God...
You should pick a side because to not do so is amoral... and as with atheist and apolitical... such notions serve as vacilation; and only serves to promote division, discontent; inevtiably leading towards anti-morality; all of which promote the potential for those wars you chronically lament; and while such is a direct result of your decisions you seem intent on concluding that such is the responsibility of the Deity.
These wars fought by man and atrocities committed by man in the name of some God.
If I buy a house in your name... does that make it your house? Are you responsible for it? Some would say ya are... but I say that they're full of shit. Which is my position on those who start wars or kill others in the name of God.
Doing so, will bring accountability of the damnation variety... as it is an attrocious violation of one's inherent responsibilities and there will literally be hell to pay.
Man invented God and thus can manipulate His image to their own ends
No sir, man did not create God... Period. And the assertion that such is the case is pure conjecture, of the baseless varierty.
God created man and endowed him with unalienable rights and responsibilities to defend and maintain those rights... thus man is free to do what he will... and it is up to other free men to destroy those men and send them on to face thier final judgment... as such is the sacred duty of every free man.
I do not claim that God is responsible for these acts, I only claim that the participants delegated their responsibility to those who claim to have spoken with God.
Actually, you claim that God is a myth... thus any claim which you assign against or for God is a farce; empty rhetoric. I speak with God every day... there's nothing to it... he answers me, just as you answer me... in the means by which you prefer... God's response comes as does every other notion... in clear and discernible impression... just as your response comes.
Men who claim to speak for God do so for their own reasons... but the faithful understand what righteousness is and what it is not and are not subject to misunderstandings.
It's unlikely that claiming ignorance of God's voice will carry much wieght at our final accounting. One doesn't interpret Day as Night... just as evil, does virtue does not resemble vice.
If one fails to recognize the Father's voice, his intent or his presence, it is because they choose not...