Do you need God to be moral?

[Aeris]

To me, everyone has a sense of morals. They may be different from each other but that is what makes us human. Nobody is better or worse than the other to me. We are all equal. We know what is right and what is wrong. Depending on our life experiances, the people we know or have met. How we were raised and what our family has taught us. And also the true person that you are inside. Being moral, to me, is to be a good person. Know respect. Treat someone as you want to be treated. And do things in kindness. Be couragous and stand up for what you believe in. And don't be a 'sell-out', ignoring those beliefs. I don't think you need religion to be moral but I do think you need a heart.

 

[Ohri-Jin]

What makes cigarettes or alcohol immoral? Even when used for stress relief, they can be used in moderation. Deciding to drink or smoke doesn't reflect on what kind of person you are, just what you like to do with your time/money (I'm not counting alcohol abuse here, since that's a whole different ball game). Most people have a stress relief method of some sort. Most people consider playing videogames to be an escapist action, trying to avoid real problems/stress. Does that make videogame players weak? And more importantly, how would the jump be made from that to playing videogames being immoral?

Personally, my religious views or lack thereof aside, I drink red wine a few nights a week (my family has an intense history of heart problems) and smoke about once a month (I have a very classy tobacco pipe, and some delicious blends, and it's a calming and peaceful activity - best done while reading a good book). Generally, I do my best not to harm others physically (okay, so I never harm others physically, but that's not exactly hard to do) or emotionally. As far as the stayed pure thing, I'm not sure what you mean. Anyways, I don't think all this makes me worthy of any kind of respect. There are people that drink and smoke excessively that I have immense respect for. There's a lot more to the equation than that.

People don't need God, they need an idea to latch on to. I do my best in life because I want to and I think it's worth my time. That idea drives me in the same way that God or fear of Hell drives others. Attributing the effort I put in to what I do to some other person/thing just seems self depreciating.

And as far as monks: hiding away in a monastery seems like trying to run from your problems to me. Instead of gaining self control by facing temptations you'd rather ignore, you lock yourself up far away from them? That sort of repression seems unhealthy. Not to mention, it seems like a morally dead life. No moral decisions to make.

One final note - sin is a religious concept, and not a moral one. A morality crafted by a religion can declare certain actions immoral, and label them as sin, but that does not make those actions immoral in other moral codes. Some actions religions consider sinful I would consider morally good. Though it's worth asking, are we talking old or new testament sin? Some of those old testament rules are just hilarious.

Under no circumstances should you be poisoning your own body that God gave you..that is what believers believe in.

Yeah people do it moderately and that is justicified, but imo a true clean person shouldnt be doing that at all..

I have to agree with you that it doestn have to concern morality at all in most cases..just thought it was a good point to mention.

Most of us sin, even people that follow religion..but I just believe that atheists or most of them arent moral at all...

10 commandments
7 sins

I dont give a crap about the 7 sins cuz that is too hard to follow for people.

But the 10 commandments are things we should follow..

I like to believe that every person on earth has lied once in their life..for whatever reason..

Atheists get their moral from where?

So to answer the question of this thread SOME PEOPLE DO NEED God for moral.

I am the Lord your God
You shall have no other gods before me
You shall not make for yourself an idol
Do not take the name of the Lord in vain
Remember the Sabbath and keep it holy
Honor your father and mother
You shall not kill/murder†
You shall not commit adultery
You shall not steal††
You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor
You shall not covet‡ your neighbor's wife
You shall not covet‡ anything that belongs to your neighbor

Some are too exaggerated but most of these here are good points. also there are more than 10 here but this is the summary of them..

Maybe I didnt quite followed the meaning of moral...its do no harm to others.
So maybe im wrong too, I dont think atheists or the great percentage of them intentionally hurt people and so they dont need God to be moral.

I just think SOME people do.. they need something..they cant do it alone.

 

[Aeris]

I just think SOME people do.. they need something..they cant do it alone.

I have to agree with you.

I've seen some people so dedicated to God that I honestly believe that without their faith, they may be a broken spirit without any morals. My family are dedicated to the church and it's even saved my mothers life. It has helped her become the wonderful, strong, supporting mother that she is today. I may not follow the same faith but I also believe that some people need God for guidance.

 

[Emyunoxious]

Under no circumstances should you be poisoning your own body that God gave you..that is what believers believe in.

Please explain communion. What do you drink during that?

Yeah people do it moderately and that is justicified, but imo a true clean person shouldnt be doing that at all..

Didn't you just say "under no circumstances"? How is is justified in moderation?

Most of us sin, even people that follow religion..but I just believe that atheists or most of them arent moral at all...

That doesn't make any sense. You were just going on about how Buddhist monks are the most moral people you could think of. Most branches of the Buddhist philosophy have no gods. Buddhist monks are therefore, for the most part, atheistic.

I dont give a crap about the 7 sins cuz that is too hard to follow for people.

No, I think people follow the seven sins pretty well.

Atheists get their moral from where?

Is this seriously a post?

Well, not speaking for myself, but I'd think that, usually, atheists can derive their moral worldviews from any of the myriad philosophies that exist, or by typically just observing the world around them, instead of, you know, reading it out of an archaic book written by barbarians who thought that it was more important to mention that you shouldn't do anything on Sunday than to say that, I don't know, raping children is maybe not a great thing to do.

So to answer the question of this thread SOME PEOPLE DO NEED God for moral.

And I would counter that, in many cases, having a belief in a god makes people less moral.

You know, if we're asserting things with no explanation.

Maybe I didnt quite followed the meaning of moral...its do no harm to others.

That's a moral, not the meaning of morality.