Shouldn't it be COMMON SENSE to love, respect people and yourselves, act civil, not kill, work for the greater good and leave life with something of value for when you die etc.?
Why do you need a God to tell you not to lie, cheat, steal etc? If by chance there was no God would you choose to be a monster with no conscience? Do you have common sense?
2007-02-13 12:32:28 · 10 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
David..why would u think that if there is no God there would no reason to be moral?
Do you think it will NOT effect you directly/indirectly if you start killing my children because you have no reason to be moral?
You dont kill people's children for the same reason you don't want them to kill yours. You dont need a God to explain this to you. Or do you?
2007-02-13 12:54:39 · update #1
buddhist..i understand the level of morality that iam touching upon is shallow and obvious. but why isn't obvious to many?
there has to be some common order or instincts from where people draw their actions upon regardless of whether they believe in god or not.
the concept of morality is subjective, but the need to survive isnt. we all have an ego and to keep it in check requires further introspection besides blindly following a set of rules from a book, which to me is shallow.
2007-02-13 13:20:57 · update #2
No, actually, it's not common sense-- because essentially, if God does not exist, there is no philosophical reason to act in any sort of moral manner. And you may think of some crappy "acting altruistically makes society go around" answer. Forget it, if there is no God, we have no reason to be moral, and we have no reason to act kindly to society if it does not benefit us somehow (this is the essential thesis of MLK's Letter from Birmingham Jail).
2007-02-13 12:45:32 · answer #1 · answered by David W 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋
I'm with you as far as not needing 'God', but depending on 'common sense' is asking for trouble.
Few people know why they act the way they do. They are tossed around by their thoughts and emotions like a cork in the ocean. People do need *something* to stabilize themselves. You call it common sense, but it's not common sense to everybody and the level of morality you're touching on is actually quite shallow and obvious (with all due respect). There are many, many actions we take throughout our day not included on your list.
Until the day comes where everyone can experience the importance of morality first hand, and also learn how to control and analyze their thoughts in moment to moment situations, I'm glad certain people believe in 'God'.
2007-02-13 12:52:11 · answer #2 · answered by Bad Buddhist 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
If we are to believe the religious people the only reasons to be good are the fear of punishment and the promise of reward. Whereas the atheist has to be good or bad just because that is the sort of person he or she is. I doubt there is any religious person that will admit the morally inferior religious reasoning is true any more than that the atheist has to be morally superior. The only conclusion I can draw is that good people do good things and bad people do bad things and religion has nothing to do with it either way.
If anything, religion is most often used as an excuse for bad behavior.
2007-02-13 12:41:29 · answer #3 · answered by Crabby Patty 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Well, that's a horribly broad generalization to make. Sometimes people come to a religion because the religion matches their pre-existing moral system. In such cases, there's no God "telling" the person how to act -- the person already knows for themselves, and is free to approach God without having a moral code dictated to them by the religion.
2007-02-13 12:38:31 · answer #4 · answered by prairiecrow 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
If all of what you say is just common sense, then why does it seem to be so scarce? People are constantly lying, cheating, stealing, disrespecting, and hating. Not one person can admit that they haven't done at least one of these sometime during their life. Clearly just plain common sense doesn't prevent us from doing any of these things. Besides, one person's interpretation of common sense may be totally different from another person's.
2007-02-13 12:40:04 · answer #5 · answered by Sam-I-Am 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
There are a lot of people with common sense who lie, cheat, steal, etc. God doesn't just teach us how to act, but He helps us to overcome sin and live like Him.
2007-02-13 12:36:34 · answer #6 · answered by Fish <>< 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Well, obviously not everyone follows your common sense of how to live a good life. Some people need teachers. Maybe if we were all atheists there would be no crime, no evil, right? Maybe not.
2007-02-13 12:37:14 · answer #7 · answered by zxcv 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Common sense no, evolutionarily advantageous yes.
2007-02-13 12:35:52 · answer #8 · answered by fourmorebeers 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Because without God we would do things like abortion and gay marriage and euthanasia and embryonic stem cell research. All the things that the Godless do.
2007-02-13 12:40:10 · answer #9 · answered by Midge 7 · 0⤊ 2⤋
sometimes religion is forced as a child.it becomes your "security blanket" they find that they have to be led through life.
2007-02-13 12:41:35 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋