These are direct exscripts from the Exodus, so I don't want to hear any one whining about how I got these wrong, OK?!?
13 You shall not murder. (So if a homicidal maniac is chasing you with a chainsaw and you have a gun, you can't kill him?)
12 You shall not envy. (See #9)
14 You shall not commit adultery. (So you can't sleep with your dream guy when your husband is physically abusing you?)
15 You shall not steal. (So if you and your family is starving, you can't steal a 20 from a corrupt miser?)
16 You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. (Even if he wronged you several times over again but you never told the authorities?)
17 You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or male or female slave, or ox, or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor. (But you can do it to your own ox or donkey, and if your neighbor is a horrible wife beater you and if she really likes you, you can't steal her? And what if the slave likes you? Besides covet means to desire or lust for and according to this God gave us free will so therefore we with our primal urges we subconsciously lust for sex constantly, thus damning us.)
7 you shall have no other gods before me. (So, you gave us free will...but you expect us to obey you once we have found flaws in your commandments?)
8 You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. (See comments above)
9 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, punishing children for the iniquity of parents, to the third and fourth generation of those who reject me, (So you love us, but you will damn us if we don't obey your every word?! Not to mention in #12 you said for us not to envy but you yourself envy so WHAT THE HELL?!? )
This is just one of many reasons why there are no moral absolutes.
Now, here's another reason why morals don't exist. Everyone has their own point of view. EVERYONE! Now every one who follows a religion has their own variations of it. Now the message that the church is trying to cross is basically this, "If you don't believe exactly what I believe than your going to hell." In that case that person would be the only one in heaven. Now, how dose that work? Hmm...sounds kinda boring to me. I can totally imagine myself in Moses's hypothetical place and pointing out all the flaws and he would just be stunned, "But..hmm...um...remind me why I gave you people free will again? Look just follow the commandments or I'll smite thee into oblivion."
Now as more good and evil. What is evil? The dictionary states it as, "profoundly immoral and malevolent." Like I said earlier, everyone has their own interpretations of good and evil. Look at the terrorists of the middle-east. They think that they are doing God's will and are therefore good. While we perceive them as evil because they murder countless people who do not agree with them. And look at the Spanish Inquisition, they thought that they were doing God's will also and believed that they were holy and pure, the pagans which they tortured thought otherwise. Even the Nazi's believed that they were purifying the human race by purging the Jewish cutler.
My point is good and evil can be anything. It's all about the point of view, therefore there are no moral absolutes, for they cannot exist in this world that we live in. Even if the planet was taken over by an empire and there was no freedom of religion, people would still secretly worship their own deities and there would be terrorists. Therefore, there are no moral absolutes. Any questions.
Again, I'm not arguing that "good" and "evil" are points of view and wide open to interpretation based on your culture, personal beliefs and/or religion. What I have issue with is when you bring in the term "nihilism."
ReplyDeleteNihilism (yes, even Moral Nihilism) is the lack of any morals. No good, no bad, nothing exists or matters. It's not "I have my OWN set of morals and principals I live by (which I respect and understand.) It's "I believe in nothing, because nothing matters and nothing is real." Which doesn't seem (to me) to fit with your beliefs.
There are no moral absolutes, but are there morals?
ReplyDeleteAll moral systems are founded on some basis, which may or may not be correct. Christian morals are based on the Bible. Kantian morals are based on the "categorical imperative".
"Moral Nihilism" is a bit a technical term if used correctly, and a term that suggests "Moral Emo-ism" if used in the more popular sense. I suspect a better term might be the more general "Moral Skepticism", which is what I would use to describe myself.
I'm also a pragmatist. I think there are great benefits to encouraging the use of a moral code that encourages altruism and discourages cruelty. One can accept that this code has no firm objective basis, while still seeing the benefits it brings.
Sigh, I researched the term moral nihilism for several hours. It is different than just nihilism. It's a specific subclass of nihilism, in a D&D metaphor, not all spell casters are Clerics and not all Clerics are spell casters. This is rather stereotypical, I did my research about this branch and thus I know what I am talking about.
ReplyDelete(to Mick) True, but why edit a term so that people of lesser intelligence will understand? It's not like they can do anything to stop me from describing myself as something that is true, but has a more negative hint towards those who don't fully understand the concept that moral absolutes are non-existint.
ReplyDelete