The Aspects Of Personality: Benevolence And Morality

Giving to the homeless, assisting an elderly woman across the street, and conducting oneself with integrity are all examples of moral acts. Often we consider doing nice things for our family and friends, or going out of our way to help someone in need a “Good Samaritan” act. However, benevolence and moral adherence are only a few of the qualifications necessary for a belief in God and good morality. A moral is defined as, “pertaining to, or concerned with the principles or rules of right conduct or the distinction between right and wrong; ethical” (Dictionary.com). “Objective morality” is our society’s way of signifying that some behaviors are right (honesty, kindness, patience) and some behaviors are wrong (stealing, racism, abuse). We are told by our parents, from atheists, and in holiday songs to be “good for goodness sake,” but is that the only reason we have to be good? Many people were taught, and expected, from a young age to uphold integrity and morality because it is right. Most religious people disagree with morality deprived of God and believe that a person can only be good with God, but it is indeed possible for people to be good without the knowledge of God. I contend that humans can be lacking religion and still know the concept of right or wrong, and that morality can exist independent from God.

Over time, this concept that morality cannot be separate from God has encountered perpetual doubt from several atheists. The Bible tells us in Luke 18:19 that, “No one is good – except God alone” (Bible). From this, a believer might argue that we are incapable of being good, but by God’s grace and mercy we can be better. Atheists who speak in terms of good and evil have manipulated religious dialogue in their favor; they ha...

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...ctive freedoms and choices (Young). We are fighting a fight that we are funding and, when we undress the luxury of all the good in our world, we are looking at the motive behind the goodness. There is a notion that morality requires a spiritual vision and the idea of purity is nothing more than an illusion, but without a spiritual vision we just care for our body before caring for the soul within our body. The insight of spirituality is more than likely deficient in those who have trouble recognizing the true black and white of morality (Young), but the ability to decipher and live by ethical principles is still very tangible. To an extent, it is in our nature to be good, but beyond that it is defined by our believer values. Ultimately, we have acknowledged, and over time developed, a standard of right and wrong that is self-governing and independent of God’s will.