how does one gain morals? If we never had the Bible or any other 'inspirational' book, how would one determine what is right and what is wrong? Is there 'natural' law?
If evolution means we are constantly evolving (bettering ourselves?) since millions and millions of years have gone by already shouldn't things like greed, gluttony, lust, envy etc. have gone the way of the dodo bird by now?
2007-01-30 11:49:54 · 25 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Dude, it's called "What my Mommy Taught Me Because If I didn't Do What She Said I Would Have Gotten a Spanky-Wanky."
2007-01-30 11:53:13 · answer #1 · answered by Salt Flakes 2 · 4⤊ 2⤋
"If evolution means we are constantly evolving (bettering ourselves?)".
No! Evolution does not work towards developing a universally perfect creature, just a species capable of living and reproducing in its current environment, better than others.
"since millions and millions of years have gone by already shouldn't things like greed, gluttony, lust, envy etc. have gone the way of the dodo bird by now?"
Do we still have needs? Food, water, land, security? Then why would the emotions relevant to needs disappear? Sounds like the opposite of evolution. Lust , greed, envy, ensures that we will continue to fight to survive, not give up and die.
It is pathetic how ignorant many of the individuals above are about evolution, but at the same time are so arrogant as to claim that they understand it well enough to consider it false.
2007-01-30 20:04:38 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Inspirational books are written by men. Why do you value the morality laid down by others more than the morality you can figure out on your own? I don't think I'm speaking for just myself when I say that it makes sense to me that such things as larceny and murder are chaotic and inconsistent with a productive society. I know that polluting the world is a bad idea because I don't want to live in filth. I know that being nice to people and respectful of their differences means that I might avoid a war. I'm not the proverbial "rocket scientist", but I don't need a book to tell me right from wrong. If some people do need such a book, however, I'm glad they exist.
As for the second part of your questions, evolution doesn't mean bettering ourselves in any social way. It means adapting to fit the environment on a physical level. It means that the species with the best ability to procreate has the greatest likelihood of making an impact on the future with their particular set of DNA. Abolishment of The Seven Deadly Sins are Christian ideals that have nothing to do with survival of the species, and they have little to do with genetics. You can certainly have offspring while possessing every negative quality mentioned, but that doesn't mean said offspring will have those qualities---or not. It is irrelevant. You can't pass along gluttony in the same way as male pattern baldness.
2007-01-30 20:13:24 · answer #3 · answered by stonecutter 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Evolution suggests that man-kind is simply an animal. I have 3 poodles and the instincts that are in them certainly is not in man-kind. Maybe we would all be better off if the evolutionary theory were true. They have no envy or jealousy of each other. When the female gets spayed she no longer comes into heat. Lust is out of the question for them. They have no concept of greed. They eat til their full and leave the rest. Oh and they all eat and drink out of the same bowl without aggression. This being said apparently man-kind has not been evolved. Those that think we all have been evolved, well we just didn't evolve well did we? Since we are all of the same species we should all have the same appearance.
2007-01-30 19:59:02 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
I'm going to take this as two questions...
You gain morals by choosing a code to live by. The Golden Rule is a good one, it has been around longer than any individual religion and is reflected in all religions. You could still say it is arbitrary, but you rarely ever find someone who seriously disagrees with it.
As for evolution... Evolving doesn't necessarily mean bettering ourselves. It means surviving. The unfortunate truth is, survival in today's world has much more to do with where you live and how much money you have than how much of a good person you are. Thus, evolution would continue to propogate traits like greed.
2007-01-30 19:56:18 · answer #5 · answered by inkantra 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Morality does not rest in religion. Morals came about naturally from situations that people found themselves in. Trial and error.
People discovered that they didn't like being stolen from, so maybe it was better to not steal from others. They didn't like being lied to, so better to not lie to others, and so on.
Look at the Levitical laws. Would you call that moral? There's no way any of that would fly in today's society. This is because the people living then hadn't developed better ways of doing things yet.
So yes, morality is evolving. But you forget two things. One is that evolution is adaptation.... not some race to a goal. And the other is that humanity has not been around for millions of years, no anthropologist says that.
2007-01-30 19:53:25 · answer #6 · answered by Eldritch 5 · 4⤊ 0⤋
Evolution is a theory that is overblown. I have said that man has not evolved, Only the materials around him. The gun has evolved better than man. (From bow & Arrow to Atomic Bomb) And there's this thing about the caveman. How the hell did he come up with animal skin for clothes? I would think that since evolving from the Ape and seeing the animals naturally, the thought of nakedness wouldn't occure. (Before you say animal fur, I'll say human and pubic hair.) And how do we know that the first settlement for Adam and Eve wasn't a cave? (Adam did have more sons than just Cain, abel, and Seth.)
2007-01-30 20:02:09 · answer #7 · answered by Da Mick 5 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Hmm... well, having a world with greed, lust, envy, ect. doesn't mean that people don't have morals. Some disregard their morals. Some do follow their morals. It comes naturally.
2007-01-30 19:55:58 · answer #8 · answered by Chrissy 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Your conscience is a law if you would listen to it. But most of us have hardened our hearts so that we cannot hear. When you have done something wrong has not your conscience screamed out at you letting you know you did the wrong thing even before you decided to do it. But if you close your ears to it and harden your hearts so that you do not hear you are in trouble because what will help you to do right.
2007-01-30 19:57:11 · answer #9 · answered by justice 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I really don't feel like answering this question for the 1000th time. But here goes...most of us have a conscience. We all know how we ourselves want to be treated. Normal people know when they have hurt someone by word or action and they feel bad for it. Your parents give you your morals and your instincts give you morals. It's just human nature. No god required.
2007-01-30 19:55:56 · answer #10 · answered by Stormilutionist Chasealogist 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Well, I think the rules found in the Bible, the Torah, the Quran or any other holy books (Hindu, etc.) are rules of how to live in society, how to behave oneself, according to the "problems" people encountered at the time (ex: in the Bible has been added plenty of "Books" throughout the years).
So, we would have figured it out, don't worry. People need rules to live in communities, even more so when everything goes global. Look at animals: they don't need holy books to tell them how to behave!
2007-01-30 19:54:41 · answer #11 · answered by Offkey 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋