Since religion / God has representatives on ALL sides of the issues, where is God's clear "moral guidance?"

Question

Religion / God's people can be found in all of these camps, and supporting their positions BASED ON THEIR FAITH:

Pro-war & anti-war
Pro-gay marriage & anti-gay marriage
Pro-choice & pro-life
Racial segregation & racial integration
Feminism & male-dominated structures
Pro-gun rights & anti-gun rights
Pro-birth control & anti-birth control
Pro-governmental aid & anti-governmental aid
Pro-vaccine against CMV & anti-vaccine against CMV

If the followers of God cannot find a clear moral compass by which to navigate, how can it be said that one exists?

Answer 1

If the faithful cannot even agree, this in itself demonstrates there is no intelligible idea of god or his so called books.

Answer 2

I think there is something in the phrase you chose: "BASED ON THEIR FAITH."

The Bible is God's compass for us, and while there may be many things that are not commands for or against some things that we can all debate and nobody would really split fellowship over, the Bible says some things that are very clear and would apply forever. The problem is this, even though many say they are of the same "faith" they often do not follow the same compass. If the Bible is the authority, because it is God's revelation to man, and Christ validated it and is included therein, then all these subjects you brought up should be screened through that. But it has been my experience that even though someone may be in a denomination that has the bible, when it comes down to societal issues and personal rights, etc, they suddenly have biblical amnesia. often you will hear someone denegrate the Bible as "full of errors" or that it's "not for today," or that it is wrong in just some certain points, or that it isn't meant to be such a compass. That is the impass. There are those that will cite Scripture because they know that whatever God's view is on the subject, it will be the right view. Others will twist the scripture or deny the scripture or ignore the scripture and come to a different view. Put the the two sides on a platform, both claiming to be Christians, and you get the disagreement you are now asking about.

The differences are "BASED ON THEIR FAITH." One side puts their faith in God, the other in man. One in Scripture, the other in the media and culture.

Answer 3

Our clear moral guidance is the Golden Rule. We sometimes struggle with how we apply the Golden Rule but we are far better off with it than without it.

Our human capacity for self justification and rationalization and self delusion always clouds the controversial issues. All those issues are being fought by those who have a vested emotional interest in the outcome and by that very reason cannot be unbiased judges for applying the Golden Rule. We're always going to have to struggle against self deception.

God is not so much needed to tell us what is right and what is wrong as He is needed to force us to be honest with ourselves.

Answer 4

I'm with you 100% on this one. Believers often don't realize how much interpretation goes into their view of "what the Bible says."

It's like one of those optical illusions that shows either a vase or two faces. If, from childhood, you've been told that it's a picture of two faces, you might not even realize that it could also be a vase.

Or, if you belong to a group that believes the picture is clearly a vase and nothing else, then you might not seriously consider the option that it depicts two faces.

Answer 5

It isn't that they do or do not have a clear moral compass, it's that man gets in the way. We WANT to believe that all we have to do to be saved is believe. That's not Bible. We WANT to be politically correct and say that God loves all, and that includes homosexuality, that just isn't Bible. There are things that man has sacrificed on in the past, and now it is biting us in the butt.
I'll give you what the Bible says on your topics:
1. Let God decide.
2. Anti-gay marriage
3. Pro-life
4. Integration
5. Male dominated structures-but under close scrutiny and law
6. Pro-gun rights (ie. the right to defend your home)
7. Pro-birth control. The Bible says nothing about preventative medicine. It does however say what is murder and what is not. If the egg is never reached by the sperm (via birth control) it was never alive to kill.
8. Pro-governmental aid
9. This one confuses me...if it is a virus, why not get a vaccine against it?

Finally, although it is hard to see what Christians say about certain things, it is easy to read a Bible to figure out what is what. The Bible says "Let God be true and every man a liar." So take your account for yourself, study to show your self approved, rightly dividing the word of truth as the Bible says, and your moral compass will be fine, despite the Christian community.
Mine is.

Answer 6

Not everyone that says Lord,Lord are God's representatives but those that do His word. Many take the name of Jesus yet are actually servants of Satan unaware of it. Also, Jesus is the only way to salvation all other ways are of Anti-Christ and not God's representatives.
There is One Body and one way not many. The word of God clearly shows God's ways and man's interpretation will not change God's ways.

Answer 7

this isn't going to be an argument ; God's moral compass is his own; you judge God by man ; freedom of choice is just that ; you judge whether or not God exists from the moral compass of mankind; we can't explain the universe and until fairly recent , mankind thought the world was flat ; how about that navigation ; mankind didn't know of anything other then what was under his nose ; the teachings of Jesus told us what we needed to know as by direction of God; what man thinks he knows changes day by day ; the only thing that is steadfast is God

Answer 8

Earth Angel--I remember you answered one of my questions...in your answer, you called me quite a few things, one of those being "a dope." Does the bible morally justify immature name-calling? Reading your answer, I dislike you even more. Watch this video with an OPEN MIND (hard, I know) and still see if you can tell me that the Bible is a good moral compass.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=rWuXpfXSl5Y

Answer 9

It can not be said one exists the bible was quite bloody and many were killed for no aparent reason other than not being "chosen" by gawd. I fail to see any morality in the bible.

Answer 10

The silence is deafening. It truly supports your claims.