Where did our moral code come from?

Question

So in the world today, there are certain standards people live by. You know, don't kill someone else - and if someone does, then they get sent to prison. Etcetera etcetera. So who decided what was right and wrong? A lot of it seems similar to the 10 Commandments and that sort of thing, murder is just an example. So did it stem from these? Are the rules we live by now some which originate from Biblical times? And if the Bible is a load of tosh, then are the extreme minority (those who are just totally against it, and im not accusing anyone here of that) ignoring it completely? Do they think it's right to murder, for the sake of going against the Bible? If not, where does their "moral code" come from?

yeah, ok, so WHERE did it come from? it must have come from somewhere. And if we evolved, from animals which will happily kill each other when requied, at what point in the line did we get all these morals? It might be in our genes and learned behaviour, but where did it START OFF?

Answer 1

I do think my moral code even as a Christian comes from just basic views of right and wrong. I would not want to do something to hurt others because to me it is wrong so I don't. I think the Bible is a good moral guide but I do not think it is the end all be all of morality. You can add to the rules as you see fit for example I do not believe that drugs are good but no where does it say that in the Bible so I have my own views as well as I believe from my religious point of standard.

Answer 2

Let me tell you that the bible is both a source of moral resource as well as moral atrocities. Yes a lot of the codes come from the bible like the 10 commandments but I believe some of the rules come from way before that. Before I get into why let me tell you that just because you don't follow the bible it does not makes you a murderer or criminal. It also does not follow that lack of bible teachings automatically makes you an inmoral person. That is a fallacy that a lot of people mistakenly think so. It is possible to be a very "moral" person withough the bible just as much that it is possible to be an evil person with the teachings of the bible. Examples of inmoral people who used the bible are or where David Coresh, Jim Jones, all those damn judges from the inquisition and the Salem's witch trial etc etc. The list is long. Ofcourse there are many good people who follow the teachings of the bible. Let us give them credit too. Anyways, if not being exposed to the bible makes you a bad person then million of people throut history are plain bad. How about the Hindu people, or the chinese, the mongols, the native indians from all over the world. Many many people that are both good and bad. A lot of these people even today have not been exposed to the bible so how can you account to their moral standards? Think of the U.S. native americans. These people lived here way before the europeans settle the land. Some of these tribes where peaceful. Yet, it was the europeans who decided to give them measel infected blankets to kill them. To rob their land and their pocesions. The europeans had been exposed to the bible yet they considered the natives inferior and savages. The Natives had their own religion but this did not necesarily made them evil. Again, there where good navives as there where a few bad anties. Same as today, there are god americans or europeans or africans or whatever as there are a few bad ones.

There are good reasons to maintain a standard of living. I call it the social contract. You see in order for society to work we all have to follow certain rules. These rules allows for an equal playing field for everybody. If everybody stole then the econmy would crumble. If everybody shot each other for no good reason we would spent too much time worrying about dying and not enough time about improving our way of life. To me this means that at some point in history people came up with this social contract that enable us to strive. You don't have to go to church every day to understand that stealing is bad. I mean it may seem ok if is you doing it but not when it is done to you. Society cannot work that way. So we all agree to certain rules. Note that similar rules existed before the bible was conceived in different parts of the world.

Answer 3

You make some fasle assumptions right off the bat. Premeditated murder is pretty much universally considerd wrong as are most of what we call the ten commandments. In fact, it could be argued that the 10 commandments are a result of combining rules people already lived by. Someone already mentioned Hamurabi's Code which predates the bible. many civilizations around the world who never heard of the bible had moral codes in place that predate judaism and christianity. having some basic moral standard is simply beneficial, even to evil people. Even animals of reasonable intelligence have basic moral tendencies. You will find more men killing for "sport" than animals.

Answer 4

Yes, alot of our rules and regulations stem from the bible, as well as other religious texts. But if you think about them, they all lead back one basic thing. Respecting others and their property. I can see how these laws are mostly good.

No, not all people that do not believe in one god or another make their own set of morals... We are free to choose religion or not in the United States, but the inherent value of treating others as you want to be treated is ingrained into many people's behavioral patterns. I for one wouldn't grab something someone else has just because I want it. I know there are repercussions to any and all actions I may perform. My moral guidelines go along this route: If I don't want it done to me, then why would I do it to someone else?

But that's just one person's moral code... I'm sure there are more answers out there.

Answer 5

Morals existed long before the Ten Commandments or anything of that sort. Again, Hammurabi's Code.

In addition, just because someone doesn't believe in the bible, why would they do something completely unmoral and idiotic just to spite it? Murder is wrong, and I don't need a book to tell me that.

Answer 6

The Greeks taught their moral codes to their citizens through plays. I think morality is the same issue as what came first the chicken or egg. Just something that came at the beginning of time whether it was evolution or seven days. I think the important thing is that we as humans were created to thrive, and live, and flourish. And logically speaking to live we need to be able to survive, keeping each other alive and getting along became the most realistic answer. I think with the cavemen's brain power, they ultimately figured out that if they wanted to survive they need to work together, not kill, or fight.

Answer 7

I was developed long before the 10 Commandments. It's as old as civilization. Look up Hamurabi's Code.

Who in the world murders simply for the sake of going against the Bible? I have never heard of an instance of that. Murder occurs due to love, greed, insanity, etc. Not because somone wants to disobey the Bible.

Answer 8

Your error is immediately assuming that people wouldn't have morals unless they were "given" them. Humanists believe people are basically good, while religion preaches that without itself, people would be very, very bad.

Our moral code came from the natural world. It's innate. You don't need religion to have a moral code, many atheists are perfectly moral. (And for every immoral atheist you can name, I can name an equally hateful zealot who incited religious wars.)

Every social animal group has codes of behavior. They're necessary for survival. We need each other and anarchy destroys the social group that we need to live.

Asking "where did THAT come from and where did where that CAME from come from" etc. isn't terribly useful - I don't presume to know the origins of the universe. But I know that morals predate religion, because when we dig up fossils we discover ancient people who lived in communities where there was order.

Answer 9

Similar moral codes (e.g.; don't kill, don't steal, be nice to each other) have sprung up in basically every civilization all over the world and throughout history, most of them never having even HEARD of the bible for centuries or even millennia. Add to that the fact that the bible condones some pretty horrific stuff (genocide, killing your children for being disobedient, etc.) makes it pretty blindingly obvious that the bible is NOT our source for morality -- it's something that's hard--wired into our brains as a result of humanity's origins in small tribal units where we depended on having good relationships with one another in order to survive.

Answer 10

Evolution, which applies to societies as well as to species. A society which lives by a sound moral code will survive preferably to one that does not. So the proper standard of morality must be: how will a proposed action likely affect society as a whole?