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The Moral Argument

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Oncedeceived

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You should read up on islamic history.
I should have said no outsiders witnessed it. The whole area in Egypt and the surrounding areas witnessed the plagues for instance. There is even evidence that these actually took place whereas there is no such evidence of the splitting of moon.



The irony is hilarious...
The only one here with a priori assumptions is YOU.
Are you claiming you do not hold the assumption that God does not exist?

YOU are the one here who is making claims about the existence and communications of god. I'm merely the one not believing those claims because of insufficient / non-existing evidence in support of them.
It doesn't matter if you don't feel you have sufficient evidence to support His existence, you not believing that He exists is what you go from in determining everything we are discussing.



No. The book claims this. You don't know that. You just believe it.
There is evidence that the plagues happened, so thousands did see it.



. Maybe you should apply that same standard to the claims of your book.
I have and in fact, I think I have much more with an open mind than you have.
 
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Moral Orel

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...yes and your point? WE were not in a war with Japan before they attacked us.
You didn't say anything about "before" in the message I quoted. You said it wasn't a war to us, I showed that it was.
 
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DogmaHunter

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I should have said no outsiders witnessed it. The whole area in Egypt and the surrounding areas witnessed the plagues for instance.

Yet, the only source talking about it is the religious scripture of your religion.

I don't recall any independent / contemporary egyptian sources talking about any of this.

There is even evidence that these actually took place whereas there is no such evidence of the splitting of moon.

Where is this evidence?

Are you claiming you do not hold the assumption that God does not exist?

That would be quite meaningless.
Theists claim a god exists and I'm not accepting those claims. That's it.

I don't see the point in assuming the non-existance of none-evidenced things.

For all practical intents and purposes, yes, I live my life as if no gods exist.
Just like I live my life as if no undetectable dragon is about to eat me.
Just like I live my life as if reality is real and we aren't living in the matrix.

Positive claims of existence are what needs supporting evidence.
Negative claims of existence are infinite in number and thus meaningless.

It doesn't matter if you don't feel you have sufficient evidence to support His existence

On the contrary: it is all that matters.
Having evidence is what justifies belief.


you not believing that He exists is what you go from in determining everything we are discussing.

Why would I believe a claim that has no evidence?

There is evidence that the plagues happened, so thousands did see it.

What evidence?

I have and in fact, I think I have much more with an open mind than you have.

"We should have an open mind, but not SO open that our brains fall out" - Professor Richard Dawkins.

Believing claims on bad evidence does not constitute an "open mind". Instead, that is what gullibility is.
 
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Oncedeceived

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Yes. Like canaanites or amalekites.
No.



Yes.

There is no context in which the indiscriminate killing of a bunch of babies or toddlers can be classified as "self-defense". Do you agree?
I do, however this is not a case of indiscriminate killing. This is about God's knowledge of each and every one of the children involved and what each child would do in it. Even Hitler was a baby at one time. Even Stalin was a baby at one time. If Stalin was killed as a baby 49 million people would not have been killed, if Hitler was killed as a baby six million would not have been killed. We now have knowledge of how evil even one person can be and how much harm that person can cause to millions of people. This is why when discussing the acts commanded by God, we understand that God has necessary information to decide an action and that action will be in the best possible good in accordance with the whole of mankind. The Jews had first hand experience of God's power by way of the plagues in Egypt, do you think they were debating whether or not God had a good and moral reason for commanding them to do what He commanded them to do? They knew that He had their best interests at heart and they were following Him because they knew they could trust Him to take care of them and they knowing of His existence knew He had reason for doing what He told them to do.



That would entirely depend on who of the group is killed, and what you understand by "group".

For example, take Nazi Germany.
They attacked us and we defeated them by killing a bunch of soldiers and (virtually) beheading the Nazi leadership. This was not genocide, but rather winning a war.
Now... if we would have moved into Germany and killed every single German there, then it would have been genocide.
Foremost, this was an action taken by man and man alone. No one has the right to take innocent life and we live by that objective moral standard. To take "innocent" life is a objective moral standard that mankind holds. You hold it, I hold it and universally that is the standard. Some twist this and judge some as not innocent or justify their killing in some other way. Man is not God and has no right to take life other than self defense or in the act of saving another from great harm. Yes, the Jews were acting in self defense against an evil people and those evil people were spreading across the nations killing toddlers and babies and pregnant women and the old of others and even killing their own children by sacrifice. They did this to the Jews. Now if the Jews were not commanded by God to kill the young, and they did that would have been wrong and wrong in God's eyes as well. God is the arbitrator of life and death. But lets say that God didn't command them to kill the toddlers and babies...was it genocide? I don't think so even then. They would be acting in self defense and then adding an immoral component to the mix but genocide is the systematic killing of a specific group meaning the type of group is the only one that is killed and killed for that purpose but that was not the case. The Jews would have attacked and killed any group that attacked and killed their toddlers, babies, old, weak and young despite their ethnicity. Do you see that? It just happened to be the Canaanites and Amalekites that attacked them which in turn were attacked in retaliation and self defense.

It would be, if we killed (or tried to kill) every single one of those of that ethnicity, including those that haven't committed any crimes.
Like their toddlers and babies, for example.
I hope I've explained this now.



I certainly think it was a vile and perhaps unecessary act.
Since the mission was not to kill every single Japanese person, no.
I agree, but I don't think it was genocide because we were attacking back to someone that attacked us, I don't know if it was unnecessary though because it did stop the war which might have even saved the world as we know it who knows? And who knows is the issue. God knew and that is what makes this action different than any man determined action.



That is what they claimed.
And there is evidence that it happened even today.



I said "well being and prosperity FOR ALL".
Not for a single group.

And no. The holocaust was driven by hatred and racism.
They were "all" according to them.



Exactly. For "themselves". Not "for all".
They felt all included everyone other than the Jews.



[QuoteAs I expected, you wish to argue against these simple premises.
This is the result of moral bankrupcy.[/Quote]What is moral bankruptcy exactly? Are you claiming that if one doesn't agree with your standard of morality and those of your preferred group that the others are morally bankrupt?



It's not hard.
Well being and prosperity is charactarized by:
- health
- security
- freedom
- access to enough food
- access to enough water
- a place to sleep
- hapiness
- ...

Those who wish to deny certain people to have access to any of these things, are those people that I would call immoral.
Freedom of what? What if someone doesn't have enough food, or a place to sleep to come into your home and take your food and sleep in your bed?

Wouldn't you?
Again, as I said, if you wish to argue against this, then I don't know what you mean by the world "moral" and "good" and "right".

I cannot have a proper discussion with you on morality without this common ground.
But as in the example I just posted, is it moral for someone that doesn't have enough food or a place to sleep to come into your home and take your food and sleep in your bed?



[/Quote]ISIS would disagree.[/Quote]That doesn't mean your point is correct.




No, they were instructed by a dude that claimed to have been instructed first hand.
Just like mohammed claimed to have been instructed first hand.
That is false. They witnessed the plagues first hand.



Knowledge is demonstrable.
You can call your "beliefs" to be "knowledge" till you are blue in the face, but it won't change the fact that they are merely your beliefs.
You can deny it until you are blue in the face and that doesn't mean it isn't true.



You never cease to amaze me.
You have some truelly shocking and disturbing beliefs.....
Epigenetics is shocking and disturbing belief? Interesting.




Because we are talking about a group of people that went on to massacre entire tribes claiming to do it on behalf of a god.
We aren't talking about a women having her pergnancy terminated.
Now you want to bring God in? You first claim it is just people and now you want to shift the goalpost to accommodate your argument. Morality is being discussed you just don't like to have to defend your own. I see how you change wording too, it isn't a baby, it is a "pregnancy" and it isn't killed it is "terminated". This seems very hypocritical.



This particular sub-discussion is.
You have no problem using something in regard to morality if it isn't you having to defend your own morality but when asked that has a direct relationship to your own you won't allow it. ...



Except when a perceived authority orders it, apparantly.
It wasn't murder, it wasn't unjustified when God knows the necessary information to make a judgement.



I'm done with this.
Ok. I'm not forcing you.

Clearly you are to blinded to see just how awfull and despicable these views you are giving here really are.
So these views are despicable and awful, you are making this moral judgement on what standard?
 
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Oncedeceived

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You're not troubled by it?
I'm troubled by many things. I'm troubled by children being killed. I just understand that I don't have the necessary information to determine their lives in the future, I also have an objective moral standard based on what is wrong for a human to do and killing children is one of those. My moral sense is there for a purpose which was given by God and God being the arbitrator of life and death and the source of my own morality informs me of His position.

Because ethical subjectivism is a position on meta-ethics; it concerns what moral statements are about.
It is ethical relativism is it not?
 
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Archaeopteryx

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I'm troubled by many things. I'm troubled by children being killed. I just understand that I don't have the necessary information to determine their lives in the future, I also have an objective moral standard based on what is wrong for a human to do and killing children is one of those. My moral sense is there for a purpose which was given by God and God being the arbitrator of life and death and the source of my own morality informs me of His position.
Is it wrong even if Yahweh commands you to do it?
It is ethical relativism is it not?
No, they are not necessarily the same; a subjectivist need not be a relativist.
 
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anonymous person

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If the naturalist were to borrow from your worldview or that of ISIS, she would say something like the following:

Make no mistake, the moral bankruptcy you are repudiating comes from your own worldview, in which actions like that become "morally commendable" solely at Yahweh's behest.

You think the way you do because you have judged YHWH to be evil.

And this He allows you to do.

In all of this I find it interesting that you don't mention Jesus all that much, just what YHWH commanded a group of people to do thousands of years ago at a specific time, in a specific place, with specific restrictions.
 
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anonymous person

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An alleged encounter. I do not see how that addresses my question.

No, that is not what I asked you.

No, that is not what I asked you.

If you are not going to directly answer the question, or keep with the topic of the thread, this came to mind, paraphrased from a post I made in a different thread:

Granting for a moment the existence of a god that is able to provide this religious experience that you speak of;

We observe two individuals, Theist A, and Theist B. Both want to believe, both study their holy texts, and both participate in all the trappings of the associated religion.

Theist A somehow achieves this religious experience that you speak of. However, Theist B only manages to convince themselves of achieving this goal, in the self-deceiving manner of those that have religious experiences in those [for the purposes of this hypothetical] false regions.

Now, how do you and I tell the difference between the two? It's not like the one that has the "real" experience can demonstrate that he has an actual relationship with his god.

And, I know of no criteria by which we could prove the experiences of Theist B to be false, do you?

If what happened to Theist B can explain the experiences for both A and B, while you may disagree with my conclusion, you should consider it as a possibility.

Do you?

Jesus said you could tell the difference between those who were His followers and those who were not by the love they have for their fellow man.

I would say that would be one way of determining the difference.

In fact, the epistles of John go into great depth on this issue. He who says he loves God but hates his neighbor is a liar. Very strong words indeed.

The litmus test is how one loves. We all love sure. But how we love is the test.
 
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anonymous person

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Another thing has come to my mind. For those that now take issue with the commands of God found in certain OT passages who once were followers of Jesus Christ, I have a question.

Did you not know about these things before deciding to follow Christ and become a Christian?
 
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Moral Orel

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Another thing has come to my mind. For those that now take issue with the commands of God found in certain OT passages who once were followers of Jesus Christ, I have a question.

Did you not know about these things before deciding to follow Christ and become a Christian?
No, I did not. I was a believer into my teens. Lost interest after that for a while. When I did take an interest again, I knew some things in the OT existed, but not to what extent. I was still a believer, just not a follower at this point. Once I found out the extent, I stopped being a believer. But not solely due to how bad it was, there are a lot of factors.

Do you think Sunday School for children starts with the OT? I've been to a lot of churches as a kid, of quite a few denominations (my parents skipped around a lot). They all start with John 3:16. It may be speculation, but I bet most churches start there and work there way back (no church service I ever attended went to the places we've been talking about at all though). Once you believe the good news, it's easier to rationalize the bad stuff.
 
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Moral Orel

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In all of this I find it interesting that you don't mention Jesus all that much, just what YHWH commanded a group of people to do thousands of years ago at a specific time, in a specific place, with specific restrictions.
That's the point of objective morals. If it was okay for one group in one circumstance, then it isn't objectively wrong, because being put in the same circumstances would make it okay again. Jesus coming along and making morals different shows that they are no longer objective.
 
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Oncedeceived

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Another thing has come to my mind. For those that now take issue with the commands of God found in certain OT passages who once were followers of Jesus Christ, I have a question.

Did you not know about these things before deciding to follow Christ and become a Christian?
Good question.
 
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Oncedeceived

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Is it wrong even if Yahweh commands you to do it?
Yahweh won't command me to do so. We are living in the time of the Gentiles or Time of Grace.

No, they are not necessarily the same; a subjectivist need not be a relativist.
Could you explain how this could be possible.
 
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Moral Orel

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In all of this I find it interesting that you don't mention Jesus all that much, just what YHWH commanded a group of people to do thousands of years ago at a specific time, in a specific place, with specific restrictions.

Good question.
I'd like to ask the same question in reverse. For those who are still believers, where did you start? Did you believe in Jesus and then read about the bad stuff? Or did you read about the bad stuff and then choose to believe Jesus logically follows from that? If you've just been a believer as long as you can remember since childhood, what's the earliest stuff about the Bible you learned about?
 
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Moral Orel

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genocide is the systematic killing of a specific group meaning the type of group is the only one that is killed and killed for that purpose but that was not the case.
I agree, but I don't think it was genocide because we were attacking back to someone that attacked us
Stop changing the definitions of words. It's dishonest. Genocide doesn't mean killing because of their race. It doesn't mean killing because anything.

Look at it this way, Hitler didn't try to commit genocide on the Jews because they were Jews.
Hitler tried to commit genocide on the Jews because he hated Jews.
Why he hated Jews is another question, but it isn't simply because they were Jews. He had reasons. Terrible, illogical, racist, awful reasons, yes, but reasons other than "because they are Jews".
 
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Oncedeceived

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Yet, the only source talking about it is the religious scripture of your religion.
Do you know of any Egyptian source that ever talks about defeat of any kind? I'm not aware of any. Like I said, there is evidence for the plagues.

Researchers believe they have found evidence of real natural disasters on which the ten plagues of Egypt, which led to Moses freeing the Israelites from slavery in the Book of Exodus in the Bible, were based.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/sci...l-plagues-really-happened-say-scientists.html

I don't recall any independent / contemporary egyptian sources talking about any of this.
Egypt unlike the Hebrews never talked about defeats.



Where is this evidence?
See link above.



That would be quite meaningless.
Theists claim a god exists and I'm not accepting those claims. That's it.

I don't see the point in assuming the non-existance of none-evidenced things.

For all practical intents and purposes, yes, I live my life as if no gods exist.
Just like I live my life as if no undetectable dragon is about to eat me.
Just like I live my life as if reality is real and we aren't living in the matrix.

Positive claims of existence are what needs supporting evidence.
Negative claims of existence are infinite in number and thus meaningless.
Which doesn't counter what I said at all but shows I am exactly right. It doesn't matter why you have an a priori assumption, you do.



On the contrary: it is all that matters.
Having evidence is what justifies belief.
Actually, what I have found is that it is not the evidence or lack of it but the interpretation of the evidence. Just like the link I provided. You can believe that it was just a naturally occurring event that Moses took advantage of and that is how the story came about OR knowing that God exists you realize that there is really evidence for God's actions during that time. It is all about the choice, God will let you believe that it was just a natural occurring event or God using the natural world to do His will.




Why would I believe a claim that has no evidence?
What you might want to ask yourself is whether or not evidence exists but you choose to interpret it the way you want to.



What evidence?
See link.



"We should have an open mind, but not SO open that our brains fall out" - Professor Richard Dawkins.
I find it interesting that you should use a quote from Dawkins. Do you agree with just this quote or do you agree with Dawkins about other things?

Believing claims on bad evidence does not constitute an "open mind". Instead, that is what gullibility is.
It is your opinion that I am believing bad evidence but evidence is evidence. You just don't agree with the interpretation of the evidence and that is because you do not believe that God exists. You aren't open minded at all, you are only open to what will fit in with your already a priori assumptions that God doesn't exist.
 
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Oncedeceived

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That's the point of objective morals. If it was okay for one group in one circumstance, then it isn't objectively wrong, because being put in the same circumstances would make it okay again. Jesus coming along and making morals different shows that they are no longer objective.
It is that you don't understand. God could command killing for a good and moral reason even now but there is no reason. It is not that the objective moral standard changed at all, it was moral then due to God's purpose for salvation for all of mankind and that was accomplished in the time of the law. We are no longer in that time and it is not that it would now be immoral of God to take life (He will in the End of Days period)but He will do that on His own. We are living in the time of the Gentiles/Time of Grace which means God has no purpose to achieve, it has been done.
 
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Oncedeceived

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Stop changing the definitions of words. It's dishonest. Genocide doesn't mean killing because of their race. It doesn't mean killing because anything.

Full Definition of genocide
  1. : the deliberate and systematic destruction of a racial, political, or cultural group
What I posted: genocide is the systematic killing of a specific group meaning the type of group is the only one that is killed and killed for that purpose but that was not the case.

I didn't change the definition, I expect an apology for claiming I am being dishonest.

Look at it this way, Hitler didn't try to commit genocide on the Jews because they were Jews.
Hitler tried to commit genocide on the Jews because he hated Jews.
Why he hated Jews is another question, but it isn't simply because they were Jews. He had reasons. Terrible, illogical, racist, awful reasons, yes, but reasons other than "because they are Jews".
It was specifically because they were Jews. The Jews didn't pick the group the group picked them. You have to see the difference! :scratch:

Edited because of quote problems
 
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