Posted on 11/03/2009 9:57:44 AM PST by AreaMan
no
Nope.
Yes. Being an atheist or agnostic doesn't mean someone is an evildoer out to get everyone.
“Where do concepts such as good and evil, right and wrong, come from if not from religion?”
They don’t come from religion; they are part of our GOD-GIVEN nature; it is part of his “image”!
No there is not— not if you believes what the Bible says.
If you don’t believe the Bible, than the answer would be yes.
I believe, therefore, my answer is no.
Perhaps ... but without God, "good" is no longer an objective thing; it requires human definition and is therefore a malleable thing. Morality becomes relative.
They may not be “saved” for a believer, but do you think that every atheist is evil and immoral?
The author never wrote that.
Excellent response and spot on. Like the abortion debate, Liberals think giving someone the freedom to murder is good, while they acknowledge begrudgingly that the underlying the supposed "Good" is something very black and evil. The definition of moral relativism and the slippery slope of relying on “Natural Law” as the atheists point to.
Certainly not intentionally. However, an atheist consciously rejects the very source of goodness and morality. Like cut flowers that soon wither and die without roots, atheists also have no roots for any morals they may hold, and they vanish under stress.
The question cannot be so simply couched. There are plenty of pagan gods out there that were horrific by today’s standards. Then there were and are many people who believed and are believers in the Judeo-Christian-Muslim God, yet whose hideous actions they try to justify using God as an excuse.
In a more subtle light, there is the longstanding argument among more respectable God-believers whether people can be directly inspired by God, or can only do so through a small minority both trained and experienced in knowledge and faith.
There are those who claim that there is complete free will; but others who claim the outcomes are foreordained; and yet others who say all our actions are predestined. Still others say that God could intervene but chooses not to most of the time; that God set the universe into motion, and has let it run on its own since.
Such arguments and debates go far beyond these, and there are no ready answers beyond belief.
I believe the word teaches human nature is inherently “bad”.
Without a Savior, and, as a result, a change of heart, we will constantly only look to further our own selfish desires.
Romans: chapter 3: 9-12
9What shall we conclude then? Are we any betterb? Not at all! We have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under sin. 10As it is written:
“There is no one righteous, not even one;
11there is no one who understands,
no one who seeks God.
12All have turned away,
they have together become worthless;
there is no one who does good,
not even one.”
If you were young and your parents went out for the evening and left you at home by yourself, did you stay out of trouble or not?
People who stay out of trouble and behave themselves when mom and dad or the babysitter weren’t around are less likely to run amok if they don’t believe in god.
And while you can’t force religion on people it should be tolerated far and wide rather than attack daily in every way possible.
It was the first question of the article. Whether people can be good without God... The article itself of course is more differentiated. But I took the freedom to respond to the first question.
Yes, excellent response. No need for me to duplicate.
Yet, there it is...
They don’t come from religion; they are part of our GOD-GIVEN nature; it is part of his “image”!
The concepts of "good or evil" and "true or false" become subjective in the absence of God. If "good and evil" are subjective terms, then they can mean a different thing to each person. But that renders them meaningless.
The concepts of good and truth need to be anchored in the absolute, which is to say they need to be anchored in God.
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