Why we need God

by Coded Logic 8 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  Coded Logic

  If there was no God we would not have an objective standard to tell the difference between red and blue. Who would determine what is red and what is blue if there was no God? It would be chaos! Anything would go. The colors would be whatever someone says they are. Really, who are we to say what the colors are? Thank goodness we have God to tell us the difference between red and blue . . .

  If the above statement sounds completely moronic to you that's because it is. And substituting the words "red and blue" with the words "good and bad" makes the above paragraph no less stupid. There are real metrics we use to distinguish colors. Likewise, there are real metrics we use to distinguish good actions from bad actions. For colors its the wavelength of light. For morality its the well being of sentient creatures. Things that cause harm are bad. Things that promote happiness and well being are good.

  The ultimate standard of truth is NOT a God. The ultimate standard of truth is reality.
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  prologos

  is that why the words 'good' and 'god' are so closely related? at least in the English family of languages? not the OT god!

  It takes a lot of rational thought to distinguish your personal interest, that of your family, the clan from the good of the whole ecology.
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  Coded Logic

  I'm sorry, did I order a word salad? I think you were supposed to deliver that to Deepak Chopra's table.

  I've read your comment a dozen times now and I serriously have no idea what you're trying to say.
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  prologos

  who is Deepak Chopra? never heard who that is.

  what I meant to say is that it takes sophistication, unselfishness to define 'good' as not benefitting us at the expense of others.

  savour all the nuances in a salad.
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  Terry

  Nomenclature:

  1. no·men·cla·ture ˈnōmənˌklāCHər/ noun
     1. the devising or choosing of names for things, especially in a science or other discipline.
     ______________________________ We use our senses to measure, partition, device, and analyze the world about us. However, we use our IMAGINATION to sort things, conjecture about them, and hypothesize the implications. Imagination can contaminate the "pure" sensory pipeline to our mind OR can ignite the genius of DISCOVERY. ______________________ GOD is what happens when we allow emotion/fear to contaminate this process. Wishful thinking produces a benevolent caretaker for the Universe. Fear concocts the great Judge and Executioner. No hand has reached down out of the heavens to bestow an Owner's Manual for mankind. Man has fashioned his own props, then convinced himself it really did come from heaven. _____________________ Intellectual honesty is the willingness to be WRONG in the face of facts which contradict our most precious BELIEFS.
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  Island Man

  But Coded Logic, how could we possibly know that the enslavement and genocide of non-believers is a good thing, if God didn't condone and command it?

  And how could we possibly know to shun our own religiously defecting sons and daughters, but for sacred writ?

  So we do need God to tell us the difference between good and bad, less our imperfect conscience should move us to omit doing the good which our imperfect heart tells us is bad.

  You see, only through revelation from a God would we ever know that shunning religous apostates is a good thing - an act of love. How are people supposed to know to do do such loving acts if there's no God to reveal to them that such acts are good?
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  DJS

  Coded Logic,

  I'm glad you are on the site; you are yet one more rational intelligent voice to try and be heard over the irrational emotional theist rants. And a very good voice at that. Your OP statement says, in a different manner, what we have repeatedly stated in response to the ever present theist mantra that atheists are immoral whores because we don't have a god to guide our actions.

  No matter the amount of empirical data we provide that clearly shows a very strong correlation between atheism and functionality and theism and dysfunctionality, the mantra continues. Only the weak minded, those who cannot self-regulate and the malfeasant require a make believe god in order to behave. Thinking that good behavior requires belief in any god is transferrence. As I have stated before, until we understand that humans can do the right thing regardless of any god-like creature, for no other reason than it is the right thing, we will never achieve the potential locked in our DNA. Religion, and god(s), will always keep us down.
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  AndDontCallMeShirley

  I'm with you 100%, CL.

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  "A man's ethical behavior should be based effectually on sympathy, education, and social ties; no religious basis is necessary. Man would indeed be in a poor way if he had to be restrained by fear of punishment and hope of reward after death." -Albert Einstein
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  cultBgone

  Amen to that, CL.