Certainly.
To anyone who would say otherwise, I would like to ask who exactly do you say defined our moral obligations? Who issued the moral commands that you feel we ought to obey? Did you? Or did someone else?
If you did, why would you think they would apply to me? You didn't create me. Why would you think they would apply to all babies? You didn't create all babies either.
If someone else did, did this other person create me? Did this other person create babies?
Someone may reply that absolutely no one defined our moral obligations: moral obligations "just are". To that I would ask, says who? You? Or someone else? And what authority does this person who claims that moral obligations "just are" have in order to declare that I must obey these supposed moral commands (commands like "never kill babies") that, according to them, no one has ever issued?
Without authority, well, there simply is no authority.
For the Christian who is uncomfortable with the idea that we ought to obey God in all things, even when we may not like the command, or even when the command may cause pain (or death) to others, I would suggest reading 1 Samuel 15, Joshua 7, and Genesis 22 along with Hebrews 11:17-19 to see what God Himself has to say on the subject. Good moral behavior is simply obedience to God (Malachi 3:18; Romans 4:15, 5:13; 1 John 3:4).
Without a God who commands, there simply is no moral authority. Without a moral authority, there is no justification for suggesting that anything is morally right or morally wrong.
Here we must note that to my knowledge, God has never commanded me to kill any children. Instead, He has provided a general command for all people not to kill humans (Genesis 9:5-6; Exodus 20:13; Revelation 21:8), which is the reason we ought not do it. Nonetheless, He does require exceptions to this general rule on occasion, including those already noted above.
If you yourself have not asked for forgiveness for disobeying your Creator, the One with moral authority over you (for all have disobeyed: Romans 3:23), it is not too late. Our God will accept anyone who has turned away from their disobedience and turned to His Son, Jesus, who was executed in our place, so that we can be forgiven (James 4:8; Acts 13:38; Romans 10:9; Hebrews 10:14).
Comments
Could you stop using the term "morality" on this site, since what you talk about isn't morality, it's just "stuff god tells you to do", and as a good automaton you do it without question. It seems to me that you have nothing useful or intelligible to say about morality at all.
Secondly, how would you know that it was god commanding you to kill the baby?
I beg to differ. The principle that we should obey God is the ultimate principle God has given us concerning the distinction between right and wrong. That's what morality is:
https://www.google.com/search?q=morality+definition
"in your view there is actually no such thing as objective morality, only obedience."
There is no such thing as morality apart from obedience to those principles God has given us regarding right and wrong. That's what morality is, obedience to principles:
https://www.google.com/search?q=morality+definition
I'm not sure why you seem so intent on arguing that there is (and can be) no justifying reason for anything (atheism) and that your position is nonetheless reasonably justified. Reason without reason. It simply makes no sense.
I don't understand why you have linked to a definition that doesn't say what you claim it says. That definition defines morality as "...principles concerning the distinction between right and wrong". It says nothing about "obedience". That's pure interpolation on your part. Despite your claims, you have no mechanism or means to provide a distinction between right and wrong, and nor it would appear does your god.
Also, any justification that you might put forward to claim that obedience to god is good is viciously circular, as a moment's thought would show.
So, if I understand you right, "good behavior" may disobey all principles of morality? And "bad behavior" may obey all principles of morality? And this is so because both obedience and disobedience to moral principles are irrelevant with respect to determining whether or not behavior is "good" or "bad"?
Is that what you are claiming?
God created humans in his image. (Genesis 1:26) Unlike animals, which act mainly on instinct, we resemble our Creator in our capacity to display such qualities as love and justice. And like our Creator, we have free will.
If you believe that God created you, do you believe that He also created your thoughts, inclinations, preferences, and desires (John 1:3; Isaiah 44:24)? If they are not part of God's creation, how did they come into being? And what right does the God who is not sovereign over them have to judge them? Who gave Him the right to rule over things He is not sovereign over? If God is not the uncaused-first-cause behind your actions, what is?
If, on the other hand, He has caused your thoughts, inclinations, preferences, and desires to exist, if He has created them, then how is it that actions you take as a direct result of thoughts, inclinations, preferences, and desires that God has caused are not caused by Him?
Man's will is created by God. Whatever man's will causes is a result of it being created by God. This means that whatever man does is, ultimately, caused by God. God causes these things "by means of" man.
[continued]
You may wish to take a look at my answers on the following pages, two of which contain many scriptural references:
http://www.godcontention.org/compare-religions/do-we-have-free-will
http://www.godcontention.org/christian/can-god-save-people-with-free-will
http://www.godcontention.org/christian/william-lane-craig-and-divine-determinism
You may also wish to read Martin Luther's "Bondage of the Will" (a scriptural argument against human free will), or Jonathan Edwards' "Freedom of the Will" (a rational argument against human free will).
God bless!
It also means anyone can "get away" with murder by saying god told them to do it. You have no way to know whether they are right or not.
You asked how we know that someone is lying when they say "God told me to do it". The answer is, we don't, nor do we need to. We have been given rules by which we ought to judge. Omniscience is not one of the prerequisites for humans passing judgment. Multiple witnesses would suffice (Matthew 18:16; 2 Corinthians 13:1). No one gets away with murder by simply saying "God told me to do it" if we judge the way God tells us to.
In other words, if we misjudge, but do so by the guidelines God has given us, we have done, to our knowledge, what we ought to do and our conscience is clean before God. If a judge with a clean conscience is yet guilty of an unintentional sin, he can be forgiven through Christ.
God bless.
And actually, the bible quite clearly states that the only way to heaven is to believe in Jesus.
Actions on earth play no part in getting to heaven.
I apologize -- I have no idea what you are referring to. I never mentioned heaven at all here.