Who decides right from wrong?
And also, if it is up to the individual person, then how do we truly know which perspective is the correct one? I mean what if Hitler was right and we have it all backwards?
How can one be sure when there are many different individuals with different views?
2007-03-30 06:43:55 · 16 answers · asked by Chris 3 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
How can you say that hurting another person is wrong? Are u looking at your perspective or Hitlers?
2007-03-30 06:53:41 · update #1
God does........
The Holy Spirit who indwells each believer prompts us to know right from wrong.
Scripture makes it clear: It's either black or white....there are no gray areas with sin.
2007-03-30 06:46:45 · answer #1 · answered by primoa1970 7 · 0⤊ 6⤋
Too little time and space for a complete answer, but consider reframing your question so the the focus is on good and bad rather than right or wrong. Then ask yourself the following set of questions:
1) What traits of character does a person have to have to be considered a "good" physicist?
2) What traits of character does a person have to have to be considered a "good" architect?
3) What traits of character does a person have to have to be considered a "good" baseball player?
4) Consider all of the practices that we humans can become involved in like baseball, architecture, physics, math, nursing, medicine, etc. Consider all of them. What do they all have in common such that if a person had *those* traits of character you would say "That is a good person"?
If you can answer those questions you will see why moral relativism as often espoused here is misleading. You will also see why morality isn't up to "one person."
You will also begin to uncover what morality really is about, what actions we need to be engaged in, what we need to avoid, and what is the point and purpose of a human life.
And who said baseball isn't important? :)
HTH
Charles
[Late edit]
The notion that we are born knowing right from wrong, that we are "given that" is incoherent. Our genes encode lots of things, but not that. Nor are we reducible to chimp behavior. By the way, chimpanzees DO in fact hunt other chimps. And eat them.
2007-03-30 13:55:21 · answer #2 · answered by Charles 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Toddlers have an innate sense of fairness and right and wrong. They may hit but by the time they are 2.5 usually understand that it hurts another and most of them would rather not do that. Right and wrong are part of our natural instinct, the parts of our brains that recognize in the natural world we are slow, naked and tasty and need other humans to survive. We have natural sympathies for our own kind and even for other species. We need no artificial list to tell us that. Society as a whole needs rules that keep everything running smoothly (which side of the road to drive on, what happens if someone does something that hurts another) but most humans do not need a law to tell them not to hurt or harm others.
2007-03-30 13:54:10 · answer #3 · answered by Momofthreeboys 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
This is why the Word of God is important. It provides a foundation to build upon a societal skeleton of basic right and wrong. The Levitical Law provided this in the Tonakh, and was replaced with the 2 laws of Love given by Christ. Without these underpinnings, we will have an arbitrary law set by those in power. Without God's Word, it is all up for grabs by the closes dictator.
2007-03-30 16:44:18 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Hitler was wrong no doubt i think we as individuals have to decide because we always have choices usually they are polar opposites of each other one good one bad but its our choice we have free will i am not sure who makes the rules maybe our conscience maybe not but in the end we are going to have to account for our decisions and various behaviours with the rule maker who ever he or she is
2007-03-30 13:52:24 · answer #5 · answered by angelina_mcardle 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Mankind is given a basic understanding of all that is right and wrong.
This is called common sense and humanity and respect in dignity of existence.
A man who knows nothing of God can find these truths by reading and contemplating, however, a man who has no understanding of God, would assume that he and he alone is the controller of his life, which is all good, until something completely unexplainable happens, and his entire faith in his own ability shatters, creating an individual who has a weak personality.
2007-03-30 13:50:12 · answer #6 · answered by Antares 6 · 0⤊ 2⤋
...and a stunned silence breaks out from the atheist gallery...
You're right, of course. 'Relative Morality' is no morality at all. And since no man is qualified to make the call [as evidenced by the 3rd Reich] we are left with revealed Truth. Which incidentally is the true basis for atheistic 'common sense'.
2007-03-30 13:54:40 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
In John 3:14-18 and Mathew 23:1-13 Jesus tells us to listen and observe, that our beilief in God is what matters, not by which person brings us to God, just that we believe.
2007-03-30 13:56:02 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
It is easy, see what kinds of effects your action will have on the rest of the world. If it is detrimental to another sentient being's mental or physical health, then it is wrong...
2007-03-30 13:50:22 · answer #9 · answered by Shinkirou Hasukage 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Why do I get the feeling these questions and answers are kinda rehearsed? Like the Bible study group's just broken up and come to "share" their "findings" with us. I must say, I'm so horrifyingly convinced I need to change my evil ways, that I'm going to bed.
2007-03-30 13:52:44 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
Now you know WHY the various versions of the Hammurabi Code, including the Ten Commandments, are so necessary to a continuing existence for any society.
2007-03-30 13:47:43 · answer #11 · answered by Granny Annie 6 · 1⤊ 3⤋