So where did morals come from?

Question

if people(atheista etc) dont believe in a standard that was set at some point then did morals just evolve over time to..? Kinda like how we were once frogs..

Answer 1

This is perhaps the most brilliant question I've ever seen posed on this site. The reason is, it truly is unanswerable. There is no basis for a moral code outside of religion (and I believe, more specifically, the God of the Bible). Even the person who said they didn't need the Bible to tell them right and wrong quoted the Biblical mandate of treating others as yourself!

Bottom line, if evolution is true, there is no God, then we decide what is right, and truthfully, to take that logic a step further, survival of the fittest becomes the absolute moral code of the universe...the weak give way to the strong.

I applaud you, that through your simple, humble question, you are showing that the truth will always confound the lie.

Answer 2

You, me and the rest of the world were born with certain genes that make us who we are. Brown hair, blue eyes, freckles, moles, height, weight, and everything else. Well we also have a built in gene for our moral standard. Our parents also help make up that moral standard in our upbringing.
If I know personally when I am of the age to know the difference between right and wrong that I am a good person then my moral standard has been set by either my upbringing or the genes I have "built" into my body.
If I had started out as a frog then I would still be a frog, no different. And a frog has no morals of any kind.
Humans at some point know the difference between right and wrong and at that point we have the choice to be one or the other. I have a brother who grew up with the moral to lie about everything. Other than the lying he is a good person. He lies because I believe he has the gene that makes him want to do that. Why do I believe this? His father lied about everything also, no matter what it was. The man, my father, couldn't tell the truth if his life depended on it. He had a few other qualities that also did not make him such an honest person. Other than that he was not bad completely.
So I think our morals are built into our genes and the upbringing we have helps to build on that either for good or for bad depending on the "examples" of parents we have.

Answer 3

i have given this a large kind of concept. i do not see any moral or moral concepts coming from the demanding sciences. Even the social sciences are not very solid at arising with issues that make moral sense. yet at the same time, i look at such issues as Irish straight forward regulation, which predates Christianity on that island, and there are a large kind of ethics and morals latest in the subculture. ought to or not that's that it truly is God's impact? i does no longer lower price it as one risk, yet I fairly do not have any information or information that those regulations got here from early pagan beliefs.

Answer 4

It amazes me, the depth and breadth of some peoples ignorance. Right and wrong are not defined as such because some church says so, they are concepts that stand on their own. If you have an ounce of compassion and a whit of empathy you can tell how you make someone feel. The mere fact that some people question the human capacity to know right from wrong without religion is the best argument FOR religion I have ever heard. If you can not tell right from wrong without being threatened with everlasting torture then I thank every God that has ever been worshiped that institutions exist that will fill your empty head with lies in order to keep a sociopath such as yourself in check.

Answer 5

Morals have been around - in a sense - as long as humans have been around.

It's unlikely that a caveman would instantly slaughter every other caveman around them. It's out of curiosity, respect, etc. Now, when females, food, shelter came into play, the story would be different.

I think all humans have morals of sorts, but so much of it is in the eye of the beholder. What is an immoral action to US people, may be perfectly acceptable in Africa. Generally, only murder and incest are morally wrong universally.

Answer 6

Morality comes from the Messengers of the One True God.
Doing what They allow is moral; to do what They forbid is immoral.
So man has to read the Holy Books to know what They allow and what They forbid.
Since these are divine lessons for all humanity to reach higher civilization in the periods of thousands of years, they need to be learned and meditated deeply for understanding and application.
For example, to tell lie is forbidden since millennia ago, and until now we do not have common understanding and application, although we all agree that we hate lies!

Answer 7

Morals are part of our being...although the term has taken on a miniputlative. Look as deep inside as you can, beyond all the crap thats been thrown at you and stuck. You know it's wrong to steal,or kill, or jump off a building and try to fly or to judge other people.

Answer 8

Morals are a purely societal invention that have changed and evolved over the centuries. I.E. 20 years ago, being gay was a no-no, 30 years ago abortion unheard of. Like the world we live in, change is innevitable.

Answer 9

Morals come from knowing what is right and wrong. I am agnostic and I don't need a bible to tell me not to cheat on my husband... I know that its wrong. Morals to me are about doing unto others as you want done to you. I wont kick you in the leg because I don't want kicked in the leg back. And the question can come back on religious people too..... supposedly you get your morals from the bible.... right... well where was the priest's morals when they were pulling little boys pants down?

Answer 10

In the 3rd Cent A.D. Brathwat, Luithuania, Count Moral who was an extremely evil man devised a new code of ethics that he knew he would deliberately break to become even more evil. Hmm funny this story is becomming more like an oxi-moron the more i type!