When you make the statement that Beings, whether human or Divine, are evil, against what value judgment are you making that claim? Is what is good and evil absolute for all times and all peoples, or relative to time, culture, and opinion? In order for your critique against figures in the Bible to valid, you must believe that what is good and evil is absolute. We'll start with number 1.
1) How did you obtain this moral law?
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In order for your critique against figures in the Bible to valid, you must believe that what is good and evil is absolute. We'll start with number 1.
Why does it have to be absolut? Certainly morals have changed. Slavery was acceptable in the time of the bible up to a few 100 years ago. What this means though, is that God changed his mind as well, which seems wrong.
1) How did you obtain this moral law?
You'll have to show that we have this 'law' first of all
Hey Ghost,
God was never in favor of Slavery; therefore, wouldn't need to change His mind. This is also true for the fact that only things in Time can change, for it takes time to change. God is an eternal being. Now, as much as He has revealed Himself to our hearts, we have the ability to choose against it. The Bible is very clear that the pattern of human history is a suppression of the knowledge of the truth. You can read more about this in my post title, "The Way, the Truth, and Slave-Driving Misogynist?"
"Why does it have to be absolute?"
We cannot make any valid critique against any person's worldview, like Hitler, without an absolute moral law. Consider it this way:
You can’t call a line “crooked” unless you know what a “straight” line looks like. If I was drawing a line and you called it “crooked,” that would only imply that you have an understanding of what a “straight” line looks like. If someone were to deny that there is a standard “straight line,” that would mean that there is no such thing as a “crooked” line either. How can we suggest that a line is crooked unless we know what a straight one looks like?
Then some say “What is straight is relative to our time and context. One of these days, crooked lines may be called straight and straight lines may really be called crooked.”
That would mean that if we have any criticism against the line, it is only relative to our time and perspective. The things we think are “crooked” (evil) of God may one day be considered “straight” (good). Or, the things that God did that we thought were “crooked” (evil) back in the Old Testament were actually “straight” (good) in their time. You see what we have done? We essentially end up saying that there is no absolute thing as a “straight” line (good). And if there is no such thing as “straight” (good), there is no measure by which we can call something “crooked” (evil). And if there is no such thing as crooked (evil), what are we criticizing God of?
The question then is, “Can I believe in straight lines or an absolute standard of good without God?” I don’t see how one logically can. Normally atheists are evolutionary moralists – suggesting that what we call straight or good may be crooked or evil years from now. Although I am not an atheist and would hate to speak on behalf of them, I presume that the reason that they do this is because from a naturalistic perspective, we are all the products of an explosion. There is nothing that transcends us – no moral law, good, or standard of “what a straight line looks like.” We are the masters of our own destiny – creators of all that we see, even morality. We are the ones who determine what a straight line (morality) looks like. Over a million years, people have had different opinions on the matter. Therefore, there is no set standard of good (straight), which means there is no standard by which we can call something evil (crooked), which means we have no valid critique against God or (Hitler).
I hope this has helped.
Ok. So lets take slavery then. God does condone slavery as his laws given by him to moses in Ex and Deut have clear indications of how to handle slaves.
This means that slavery was considered moral. If we go beyond this to slavery in more recent times, Christains following the Gospels still owned slaves.
Is slavery moral? Was it ever moral? If not, how come God had all these laws on how to hande your slaves?
I would just like to point out that i now went through al 10 your questions and tried to give an answer as I see it
Most was very difficult because your first premise fails... ..you must believe that what is good and evil is absolute
From this most of your questions fail imo
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