...not exactly. It would be more accurate to say that I’m assuming that most religions, and Christianity in particular, imply moralities, but there may also be nonreligious moralities.
I realize I’m hugely oversimplifying (for example, by treating “Christianity” as internally homogeneous), but I need to omit most of the variables in order to get anything done in finite time.
This started with the phrase “if Christianity is wrong”; are you saying that this was not meant to imply anything along the lines of “if Christian morality is wrong”, that it was meant entirely as an empirical proposition, holding moral values constant? [edit: …holding terminal moral values constant?]
Yes and no. :3 This is one of those “large inferential distances” things, but I’ll take a stab at explaining.
First, there are laws that God is bound to; laws of morality, not just laws of physics, although I think He’s also, in all probability, bound by the laws of physics (not necessarily as we understand them). This is evidenced by the number of times that God has told us that He is “bound”; if He did not follow these rules, He would “cease to be God”.
On the other hand! God gave rules to the Jews (a la all of Deuteronomy) that do not apply to modern-day Christians, because Jesus’ sacrifice “fulfilled” that law. God gives different commands at different times to different people: for example, God has at various times in history endorsed polygamy for various peoples, but He has indicated that polygamy outside His explicit instructions is sinful (cf. Jacob 2, D&C 132).
So: Everything that God commands us to do is Good, but not everything that is Good is something that God has explicitly commanded us to do.
...not exactly. It would be more accurate to say that I’m assuming that most religions, and Christianity in particular, imply moralities, but there may also be nonreligious moralities.
I realize I’m hugely oversimplifying (for example, by treating “Christianity” as internally homogeneous), but I need to omit most of the variables in order to get anything done in finite time.
This started with the phrase “if Christianity is wrong”; are you saying that this was not meant to imply anything along the lines of “if Christian morality is wrong”, that it was meant entirely as an empirical proposition, holding moral values constant? [edit: …holding terminal moral values constant?]
Oh! I see. :3 Yes, that is what I’m saying. If I wasn’t Christian, I certainly wouldn’t start murdering people.
Interesting.
Do you believe, then, that God commands a thing because it is good, rather than that a thing is good because God commands it?
Yes and no. :3 This is one of those “large inferential distances” things, but I’ll take a stab at explaining.
First, there are laws that God is bound to; laws of morality, not just laws of physics, although I think He’s also, in all probability, bound by the laws of physics (not necessarily as we understand them). This is evidenced by the number of times that God has told us that He is “bound”; if He did not follow these rules, He would “cease to be God”.
On the other hand! God gave rules to the Jews (a la all of Deuteronomy) that do not apply to modern-day Christians, because Jesus’ sacrifice “fulfilled” that law. God gives different commands at different times to different people: for example, God has at various times in history endorsed polygamy for various peoples, but He has indicated that polygamy outside His explicit instructions is sinful (cf. Jacob 2, D&C 132).
So: Everything that God commands us to do is Good, but not everything that is Good is something that God has explicitly commanded us to do.