Does belief in God make us know right and wrong or is it intrinsic?

Question

Does religion give you character?

Answer 1

God gave everyone a built-in conscience, but it naturally erodes over time if it is ignored enough. When you become a born-again Christian, the Holy Spirit comes into you which is like an enhanced conscience.. It makes you ultra-sensitive to sin and also guides you in other matters. The closer you are to God, the more right your heart is with him, the clearer the voice of the Holy Spirit will be. :)

Answer 2

C. L. Richardson pretty much nailed your question!

We already know right and wrong. God has given us a conscience. Conscience means with knowledge. So whenever we break the Ten Commandments we know it's wrong so our conscience is intrinsic.

Who show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and between themselves their thoughts accusing or else excusing them. Rom. 2:15

We do have evil hearts which is intrinsic because of sin.

“ The heart is deceitful above all things,
And desperately wicked;
Who can know it? Jer. 17:9

God does give us His character. Once we repent (turn from sin to God) He gives us a new nature and we desire righteousness. God imputes His wisdom to us and by doing so we slowly become more righteous. This come only from the Bible as we read it and obey it. However as long as we are on this planet we will never be perfect because of our sin nature. That will one day change though. We are God's image bearers and will one day have a truly righteous character.

The fool has said in his heart,
“There is no God.”
They are corrupt,
They have done abominable works,
There is none who does good. Psalm 14:1

For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, “He catches the wise in their own craftiness” 1 Cor. 3:19

God can't lie. Titus 1:2

Answer 3

A person's intrinstic characteristic of knowing right and wrong is determined based on one's society, childhood teachings,and personal beliefs.So, I don't know if you can call this characteristic intrinstic.I think knowing right from wrong is taught and "caught-on" to.Belief in God does not make us know right and wrong...my belief in God convicts me and troubles me when I make an (what I believe to be) unfavorable decision in God's eyes.I believe ia decision is not favorable because of what I have been taught by my parents, teachers, family, and from the bible.I'm sure that if I had been born to a religious cult 20 years ago my ideas of what is right and what is wrong would be different.

Answer 4

Religion can give people character. People can know right from wrong without religion, they just have to think a little bit to know why they should stay within the bounds. There are reasons that moral codes exist, we're really helping ourselves by following them.

Answer 5

Right and wrong are cultural moral relatives, religion is a tool used to impress these relatives upon people. For example, though I am an atheist, I have grown up in America, where killing is considered wrong this has been impressed upon me by the culture. The Aztecs, hundreds of years ago, in order to appease their gods killed tens of thousands of people. To me, this is wrong as I believe that killing is wrong. To the Aztecs, sacrificial murder was right and moral. Religion is nothing more than a tool to get people to think a certain way.

Right and wrong is neither a result of a belief in god nor is it intrinsic. Right and wrong are moral relatives constructed by civilizations. Religion gives you the character of the religion.

Answer 6

Believing in God does not make us know the difference between right and wrong. Mass murderers, those who commit war against others, bullies and tyrants often believe in God. Besides, simply believing does not make us righteous people. I think some of the most inspired people with the strongest sense of right and wrong have a strong, instinctual sense of right and wrong. I think it's God-given, but I don't think they have to believe in God, per se, to be vested with such a gift. Does an angel know it's an angel? Or does it just be an angel? Similar question, I think.

Answer 7

You have some ideas of what is right and wrong. You already have a conscience. Belief in Christ puts you in contact with the source of that which is love, light, courageous and give you the opportunity to moreso take on his nature.

Answer 8

The knowledge of right and wrong are strictly of cultural teachings. To kill for honor is a cultural wrong that is taught even in these enlightened days we live in. If th Hebrew/Christian/Muslim God made "us know right and wrong" there would not be such actions in any God's name.

Answer 9

Since atheists know right from wrong (often more clearly than believers), it can't come only from belief.

There are universal rights and wrongs (well, mostly universal; religion is more likely to interfere with one's sense of right and wrong, than help with it).

Ethics is NOT culturally determine; all cultures have more in common than not.

Answer 10

God instils the natural laws in our hearts. Whether we believe or not, those laws are still there. However, whether we believe or not may have bearing on whether we listen to obey those laws.