Questions For Christians: Morality

First, the usual disclaimer: the purpose of these posts is to pose questions to Christians who come here (or go anywhere, for that matter) with the intent of converting us to Christianity, but also with an open mind about their own faith. My ultimate goal in asking these questions is to have you deconvert from Christianity. If you are not open to at least the possibility of that happening, then I suggest you not respond to these questions, as that will be a waste of your time and our bandwidth. At the same time, I am open to the possibility of learning a thing or two about Christianity along the way -- but if you plan to post a comment with the intention of being a teacher, instead of a learner, then please don't bother. These questions are for your benefit.

The following questions have to do with morality and goodness in Christian theism.

1. How do you define the word "good"?

You almost certainly know a human whom you would call good -- let's call him John -- and if you are a Christian then you certainly think that God is good. What I'm looking for in this question is a definition of the word "good" such that, using that definition, the sentences "John is good" and "God is good" would both be true sentences. (If you happen to believe that no human being at all is "good," then feel free to substitute a sentence such as "John tries to be good" or "John has good qualities about him.")



2. How do you define the word "just?"

3. How do you define the word "loving?"

Same caveats as above: I'm looking for a definition of these words as they're used to describe both John and God.



4. Is murder wrong because God says it is, or does God say murder is wrong because murder is wrong?

This is a variation of an old argument called the Euthyphro Dilemma, named for the titular character in Plato's dialogue Euthyphro, against whom it was first used. The dilemma is this: if murder is wrong because God says it is, then morality is a function of God's commands; thus, if God were to command that murder is right, then that would be true. This means that it is possible for murder to be right, whereas objective morality necessitates that murder is always wrong, thus God's existence is incompatible with objective morality. On the other hand, if God says murder is wrong because murder is wrong, then God is deriving that moral fact from an independent standard, which means that an independent moral standard exists against which God himself can be judged -- and by any rationally defensible standard of morality, that judgment is far from favorable.

It does no good to respond that morality is dictated by God's unchanging nature, as that only pushes the question back a notch: is murder wrong because God's nature says it is, or does God's nature say murder is wrong because murder is wrong? (You cannot say that God's nature qua God's nature necessarily exists in the absence of a particular sort of ontological argument for God's existence, a sort which has never been offered, still less proven.)

Nor can you say that there is no causal relationship, as "murder is wrong" is a moral fact, and any given fact can only have three possible relations to an intelligent being: it is created by that being, discovered by that being, or unknown to that being. Number three would not be an option with God, obviously, so either God created "murder is wrong" or he discovered it. So I ask again: Is murder wrong because God says so, or does God say so because it's wrong?



5. Should we stone to death anyone who works on the Sabbath?

The Bible's answer is yes, we must. Do you think that is right? If by circumstance it fell upon you to actually carry out the stoning, would you be willing to go through with it? If not, why not?

A related question:

5a. Do you think that human slavery is morally acceptable if done in accordance with the Bible?

At least one poster on the Raytractors blog, Jean Gasho-Musuka, has stated that it is indeed morally acceptable (why not, she said, as we are all slaves to Christ anyway). Do you agree? Do you believe that human slavery is never morally acceptable?


These final two questions pretty much speak for themselves:


6. Who is more moral, the person who does good because of the threat of punishment, or the person who does good in spite of no such threat?

7. Who has more incentive to be moral, one who believes that the slate will eventually be wiped clean and all will be forgiven provided you repent, or the person who believes there is no cosmic forgiveness, and that you and your descendants will be stuck with whatever mistakes you make?