God Is The Ultimate Lawmaker Essay

851 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: The relationship between religion & ethics

Religion motivates people to not stray from the path of virtue, but in return, their fear of God keeps those who believe from deviating from the morals set in place by the bible. This can be problematic. You see, people following God’s rules would not be doing so for the right reasons, instead they do it because they fear God’s wrath. This person would be unreliable in terms of morality, and would probably stray from God’s morals if they believed God would not offer a reward for their ‘good’ behavior.
I am not truly sure of what to believe in terms of the existence of a lawmaker. Some would say that God is the ultimate lawmaker because They are ‘perfect.’ But that then brings up the question of whether God even exists to be able to create laws and if They do exist then where do they get these laws from. If God’s just creating laws out of Their whims then are those laws really worth anything since They could just change the laws of morality, saying, for example, that it was now morally good to murder and steal and morally evil to be kind and fair. But to further this explanation, let 's say God does not exist. Does that make us human beings the lawmaker? Could we …show more content…

For example, in the Ten Commandments, God commands us not to murder, but before that command murder was neither right nor wrong. It was just murder. “Morality simply did not exist.” In turn, the first option implies that God did not invent the moral laws, but knew the ones already set in place. They then just commanded us to obey those laws, but, like Shafer-Landau stated, “then these reasons, and not God’s commands, [would be] what makes actions right or wrong.” I truthfully find the first option as the most reasonable, but I think that that opinion may be bias since I don 't believe that God

Show More
Related

  • Analysis Of Iris Murdoch's 'Morality And Religion'

    746 Words  | 2 Pages

    “An idea (concept) of virtue which not be formally reflective or clarified bears some resemblance to religion, so that one might say either that it is a shadow of religion, or religion is a shadow of it” (Murdoch 363). Virtue and morality are not necessarily interchangeable, but religion and virtue both have a duty in common. Duty may be performed without strain or reflection of desire, which means your duty, or responsibility, should be performed without hesitation. “Dutifulness could be an account of a morality with no hint of religion” (Murdoch 364). Religion’s demand for morality and being good trumps a person’s decision to fulfill a personal/independent call to duty.

    Read More

  • Morality and Religion by Iris Murdoch

    530 Words  | 2 Pages

    Morals are usually the standards by one which lives in, whether them being good or bad. However, how about when religion influences ones morals? Religion isn’t or it doesn’t work for everyone, and that’s okay. But, there are many people out there that religion influences their morals; and the most common reason for that is that religion was influenced into them and into their morals as a child. Iri...

    Read More

  • The Bible: The Role Of Government In The Bible

    1015 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Bible clearly explains the role of government in society and the framers of our nation built America on Biblical principles. Since economics is the science that deals with production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services, Christian economics entails how men use God-given resources, ideas, and energy to meet their human needs and to glorify the Lord. Christianity produces internal liberty in man, which is the foundation for a Christian economy. The internal change of heart that Christ brings produces Christian character and self-government which is necessary for an economy to be prosperous. Christian character and self-government produce people who do not steal, who have a strong work ethic, and who save and invest to

    Read More

  • Shafer-Landau Analysis

    1144 Words  | 3 Pages

    This is the “view according to which an act is morally right just because God commands it” (Shafer-Landau 2004, 145). If we assume God were to exist and he is the creator of all moral laws then it creates a twisted image of a God who whimsically created the moral laws that guide his teachings by pure chance. As Shafer-Landau mentions: “if an act is only right because God loves or commands them. Now it is God’s say-so that makes it so, transforming something that was previously morally neutral into something that is good or evil, or right or wrong” (Shafer-Landau 2004, 80). An alternate solution Shafer-Landau provides is to imagine God as a referee of a sports game, simply a follower of rules or laws which were previously created by a higher power. By creating this new concept of God, we can understand that morality exists this way for a significant and just reason. It has to be noted that Shafer-Landau and I believe that theists should reject the first-premise on top of the second premise because it would create shaky and untrustworthy implications of God and our laws of morality. Regardless of whether God is the author of his own moral laws or not, if he were to exist, then morality would still be

    Read More

  • Rationalism, By Titus Lucretius Carus

    1247 Words  | 3 Pages

    Religion gives rise to and is born with the unreasonable and uninviting desire to make man at home in what seems to be very close to an uncaring world. With this being

    Read More

  • The Sovereignty and Goodness of God

    1260 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Sovereignty and Goodness of God is a primary source document written in the 17th century, by a well-respected, Puritan woman. This book, written in cahoots with Cotton and Increase Mather, puritan ministers, tells the story of her capture by Indians during King Phillip’s War (1675-1676). For three months, Mary Rowlandson, daughter of a rich landowner, mother of three children, wife of a minister, and a pillar of her community lived among “savage” Indians. This document is important for several reasons. First, it gives us insight into the attitudes, extremes, personalities and “norms” of the Puritan people we learn about in terms of their beliefs, and John Calvin’s “house on a hill”. Beyond that, despite the inevitable exaggerations, this book gives us insight into Indian communities, and how they were run and operated during this time.

    Read More

  • The Power Of God Essay, By Stephen Crane

    1166 Words  | 3 Pages

    The first line of Stephen Crane’s poem, “God fashioned the ship of the world carefully” reveals that this poem is one with a religious theme. Crane begins the poem with a description that seems similar to the story of creation. This poem shows the power of God and his actions in creating his masterpiece. It shows the work that God put into creating this “ship” and how proud he was of this creation. The poem makes an unexpected turn at line seven. At line seven there is a disruption in the calm story. Crane states, “Then—at fateful time—a wrong called” (7). This line is the beginning of an explanation of the influences outside of God’s will and plan for the “ship” that he had carefully crafted. This turn was the end of the calm and smooth sail

    Read More

  • Does Morality And Imorality On Religion?

    1181 Words  | 3 Pages

    Morality has a strong connection with religion. The connection is so strong that most panels on ethics contain Ministers of God. This scenario therefore creates a natural question, “Does morality depend solely on religion?” The first point to understand in this scenario is the fact that God and religion are not the same. For instance, Christianity and Christ are not the same. The existence of God is independent of us just as the planets of Jupiter and Saturn are independent of human existence. The independence of God from us makes him prone to human weaknesses. For instance, Christians proclaim that their God is god but it is obvious to state that the religion - Christianity in itself has not been good as expected. For instance, when one sees

    Read More

  • Religion as a Guiding Force in Morality

    991 Words  | 2 Pages

    Some people think that the religion is God-given and flexible for all times, but the other see it as traditions that change with time. Folkways can change to mores which are habits and traditions that are used to make moral judgments. Sumner believes that sometimes mores and folkways can be harmful and dangerous (24). Therefore, a person may think that what was right for ancestors may not be right these days now. Thus, most religions’ main goal is advocating to have good morals. Some believers feel that to have morals, they should follow their religion’s commandments. Additionally, thinking that there is an afterlife, which is the Day of Judgment and heaven and hell, morality becomes more desirable. Some religions teach that this life, which we are living right now, is nothing but a test for your morals and how much you successfully followed the required commandants. A person is evaluated by his actions and they are ones that determine one’s place in heaven or hell in the afterlife. As a result, people act morally for the benefit of their

    Read More

  • Religions Justice was Introduced with the Abrahamic Monotheistic Religions

    2884 Words  | 6 Pages

    Prior to the establishment of the Abrahamic monotheistic religions (Judaism, Christianity and Islam) religious justice was a muddled picture. In the polytheistic religions, gods each had their own interests, which often conflicted with the interests of other gods. “The belief in one god allowed the Abrahamic religions setup a fundamentally different dynamic in ethics; the dichotomous distinction between right and wrong.” (Stark, 2001). Human actions no longer served one god or another’s interests, they were now judged by the embodiment of all that was perfect and sacred; God.

    Read More

  • The French Revolution and Christianity

    1720 Words  | 4 Pages

    Throughout the course of history, man has looked to religion for answers. Curiosity as to how we got here and why we are have driven people to seek out answers to these somewhat unanswerable questions. Over the past few thousand years, several varying religions have been established, some more prominent than others. Many of them share a similar story of a divine creator who has always been and will always be. In the case of Christianity, whether true or not, it has proven to be beneficial to society as a whole. The Bible set the standard for the moral compass that humans live their lives by to this day. The key fundamental problem with religion, although not the fault of religion, is that man has often used it as a gateway to power and prominence. In the case of the 18th century Gallican church, the French were abusing their religious powers, thus creating vast inequality throughout France, which eventually led to a rebellion against the church, and the eventual destruction of the church within France.

    Read More

  • Deism: God's Only Way To Make The World

    1028 Words  | 3 Pages

    As I mentioned before in the first paragraph, there is no other role than being the creator of this world for God. God has no power over us to dictate our decisions in life or the ability to punish us for doing the wrong thing. As creatures made from nature, our morality has helped us decide what is wrong and right. We have conducted ourselves by this sense of morality so that we could be independent with our lives. We have chosen what to do with those who have done bad things and as well as how to reward ourselves when we make the right choice. The holy books are like propaganda from a tyrant who wants everyone to believe that there is only one way to live and that is his way. If the laws of the holy books are broken, then anyone who breaks them gets punished. He is known to have an invisible hand that pushes people to believe that it is a necessity to follow his Ten Commandments. However, I don’t believe that he even has that power. If we break a leg, lose a job, or get sick, then those outcomes have a rational reason. As well as when good things happen, for example, when we get a good grade, a promotion, or when two people get married. All these outcomes are from the decisions that we take. There has never been a day when God has actually visibly rewarded me or punished me. It all has to do with what we view as what is good and bad for us. Natural law and Deism go along with my beliefs and world view.

    Read More

  • Spiegel Religion

    325 Words  | 1 Pages

    As emphasized by the narrative offered by Spiegel (2010), spirituality can often be used to determine peoples’ behaviors actions or inactions. When referring to religion from an evolutionary perspective, it can be argued that religion plays an essential role in the development of humans and their behaviors. The perception that there is a “supernatural being” watching one’s actions, can prevent individuals from engaging in activities that they consider “bad.” From a religious perspective, the fair to be punished by God, it is often the main reason why an individual may not engage in actions against his or her religious beliefs, such as stealing, killing, lying and more. As stated by Spiegel (2010), “If God is everywhere and sees everything,

    Read More

  • Existence Of God Essay

    1187 Words  | 3 Pages

    The existence of God is a very fundamental topic on which many philosophers have argued and till date there is no physical proof of His existence. At some point or the other of our life, we all ask the question, does God exist? The answer to this changes our way of living, our thinking and how we understand or interpret the world. If one answers a yes then they live for a purpose and hope for eternity, while others create their purpose on planet earth and understand death as their final end.

    Read More

  • Law And Morality Essay

    811 Words  | 2 Pages

    The relationship between law and morality has been argued over by legal theorists for centuries. The debate is constantly be readdressed with new cases raising important moral and legal questions. This essay will explain the nature of law and morality and how they are linked.

    Read More

More about God Is The Ultimate Lawmaker Essay

Open Document