Can there be good Morals without religion and fear of God?

Question

(I believe there can be good morals. After all most of the Atheists I know are very respectful people)

Answer 1

considering the fact that atheists have never led a war and that theists have literally killed millions of people throughout history in the name of their God....yes

Answer 2

Fear Satan ...not God. Godly fear is worth it's weight in gold that paves the streets of Heaven.

"After all most of the Atheists I know are very respectful people"
People cannot wish God away ....I have great resistance in following the belief there is no God since all are His children and to His children he has given free will. This includes offering up the difference between right and wrong via the Bible in addition to the Holy Spirit working through people. Example: Even a dedicated school teacher that makes sure he/she fulfills God's plan for he/she somehow gets thru to each and every one of his/her students ...it's called listening to the Holy Spirit...."follow your heart" etc.

Answer 3

Absolutely, you can live as a caring and sharing person with a good set of values and guidance without any...I repeat any stain of religion of fear of God.

in actual fact your morals and values are possibly more real as they are not driven by a total fear or sense of having to do the right thing.

Christians need to be dragged and cajoled into morale worth, good people already have those values without fear of punishment .

In other words yours are genuine feelings and life skills not conieved for a vested self interest and possible reward.

Answer 4

If the Israelites had been good persons without God, He would not have written His laws onto tablets of stone.

I am not sure just what is meant by a respectful people, that is in the eyes of the beholder. A person can be rotten inside but be respectable people if nobody knows what is deep down inside of those they respect.

Many people are great actors.

grace2u

Answer 5

Morals are relative. Goodness is absolute. Without a standard of goodness to aspire to, you can arbitrarily design your own moral code and live by it. This is what the serpent appealed to in the garden of Eden. "Don't let God tell you what is right or wrong; decide for yourself." Ever since then we have sought autonomy from our Creator. Even religious people tend to adhere to the aspects of their chosen deity which appeal to them, ignoring the rest. For example, Christians are told to love their enemies, and how much of that do you see? Yes, you can have relatively good morals without God in your world view, but morals did not create you and they cannot redeem you from the law of sin and death. God is love, and apart from Him there is only death.

Answer 6

Maybe, but ones morality isn't enough to gain entrance into Heaven, for even moral people are apt to sin as everyone else is. This is why OBEDIENCE to God's salvation plan is important; it shows God that we're sincere in our effort to change ourselves. Adam and Eve tried to hide behind a cloak of morality when they sewed together their fig-leaf clothes, but because it wasn't enough to cover their SIN (only blood sacrifice can do that), God found them out and had to make a way for their redemption and repentance.

Answer 7

Even Athiests can be respectful people because there is a God. Just because they don't think their is a God does not mean that God does not exist. The God that does exist has woven moral ethics into the framework of all of us. So sure we can all be good people. But being good is not good enough! One day we will all stand before God and we better have an answer for the lifes choices that we make. Athiest's will have to answer why they chose not to believe. We will see alot of weeping and gnashing of teeth as those that chose not to believe will be so angry with themselves.

I believe that Athiests deep down know that there is a God...They just supperss the idea because they think that God limits them with his Laws...When in acutallity, God is freeing them.

Matt

Answer 8

Yes there can be good morals without God, But that is the point, they are still without God. And works does not save you, it is Faith & works

Answer 9

Absolutely, although the more extreme Christians - the "born agains" would strongly disagree with that.

There are natives in jungles that treat one another with love and respect, and they know nothing of Christianity or any other major religion.

Answer 10

It is blindingly obvious.

We choose to ignore much of what the Old Testament says, we do not stone adulteresses, we did not kill our disrepectful children, why not if the bible says so? Because we have our own moral sense that is clearly derived from somewhere else.

Answer 11

yes many religious people do not have good morals. just because some one believes in god does not make them a good person. so to answer your question yes.