Paul Wolfe wrote:I understand this point of view, and I agree that it is easy to put the blame for everything on a higher power... however, I also feel that without a belief in a higher power - an authority to answer to - there is no reason for decency and morality in this world. If there are no eternal consequences, they why should I not just kill you to get what I want? Who's to decide what is 'right' and 'wrong'? And why is something 'right' and something else 'wrong'?
This is a good statement Paul. It opens up a couple of the foundational issues of morality and how we should fit this morality into our decision making throughout life. If mankind went about it's business day to day in a world where there was no idea or concept of a higher power do you really think that chaos would reign? The flame of life itself, I believe, hard wires fundamental morals that are universal with all of mankind. Killing other human beings is considered non-conducive to leading a good life and the problems people face after doing so shows how such activity tends to breakdown reason and security in the mind of the people doing the killing. I am not talking about individuals who are murderers where their mental capacity may be in question here. I will use as an example a naive soldier who goes off to war with visions of granduer and honor. When the war is over and the young soldier returns home life for him has changed into a world of depression and isolation. He has done and seen things that his family and the people around him could never even begin to understand. This example used in my hypothetical realm of mankind where there is no sense of higher power would be the same for the soldier.
If there is a higher power then surely the young man who is going to become a soldier would realize this decision is foolish and destructive for him and the rest of humanity and not go off to war. If the higher power was somehow connected to our psyche we'd all come to moral conclusions.
Right and wrong are concepts that most of the time are dictated by society. Something right in one culture is absolutely wrong in another. When right and wrong begin to take an actual role in moral decision making is when I believe that they also begin to be universally agreed upon. When we are faced with how we should go through this life together, groups of people whose ideas are similar begin to form and these said groups begin to create laws and therefore crimes within their community. This is pretty much how history shows how we have come to this point in our evolution. When stranger groups come in contact with each other, cultural differences usually are acceptable. The issues that seem to break comunications down so badly that war breaks out between groups have been territorial disputes, god disputes and leader disputes. The god dispute is still a very valid issue when it comes to doing the wrong thing morally. An individuals belief in one doctrine can give them the "strength" they need to destroy others who believe in a different doctrine. This is a vice-versa problem too. If there is truly a higher power, or should I say ONE higher power then surely ALL of mankind would follow whatever this higher power deemed "right" for us. We couldn't break down our reasoning to the point of violence to one another if this higher power were communicating to us or individual leaders among us. Surely the fear of god would be ultimately true and we couldn't make amoral decisions. But the opposite is true, IMO, society says there is this higher power but the leaders and even the people preaching the laws of this higher power don't truly believe in this, therefore the idea of conquering their neighbor and claiming their new found territory was right and ok. Even the differences in how each side viewed this higher power is used to rally support for the invasion, but it is only used as propaganda for the ignorant and is not believed in by the creators of said propaganda. I think this is how it has been since the dawn of written history, unless the higher power thrives on destruction and misery.
