Since Mary is Jesus’ mother, it must be concluded that she is also the Mother of God.
Mary is not the mother of God the Creator but the mother of God incarnate. The reason she is called Mother of God is that there were heretics who denied Jesus is the Son of God.
A lot of theists may say “if there wasn’t a god, what would keep you or others from doing X, Y, and Z.”
Then they are mistaken! The fact that people behave morally does not entail a rational basis for their morality.
Why not altruism? If one did something because of altruism, it isn’t prideful for that to be appropriately acknowledged.
Why not but also why? If altruism is a matter of custom or culture it has no more merit than being polite. It is only when we choose that altruism is praiseworthy.
however when a theist does a good thing, it is often attributed to his/her religion (while the attrocities done for religious reasons are often not appreciated).
That is because religion provides **a rational basis for belief in goodness **whereas materialism doesn’t.
What’s more praiseworthy, doing something sacrificial for someone else for no reason other than a selfless concern for their welfare, or because you will be rewarded after death if you do, and punished after death if you don’t?
If selfless concern is habitual it is less praiseworthy than that motivated by
love. We Christians don’t think of reward or punishment because our sacrifices are based on the love Christ has for us. We know we are created for love and that is the reason we exist. We don’t always succeed but we try to see Christ in everyone because we believe He suffered and died for all of us. Selfless concern alone is as cold as charity!
Also, if religion provides a rational basis for doing good, and it teaches that murder, including abortion, are bad, then why would The Journal of Religion and Society, as reported by The Times, say that in prosperous democracies, abortions, homicide, and teen pregnancies be correlated with religiosity?
Prosperity gives you the answer! Blessed are the poor…
Depending of how “morality” is defined, the question may be flawed. If morality is defined as “a system of ideals governing conduct” then it doesn’t made a lot of sense to speak about the universe being either moral or amoral, because morality is an inherently social thing.
If morality is an inherently social thing - and no more than that - it is no more praiseworthy than etiquette…
How do you know what precepts are Christian and what are not? Do you get your morality from Yahweh? The Bible said that Yahweh mandated those things.
The Bible does not say anything! It is a collection of scriptures which can be interpreted in many ways without the teaching of Christ and the Church He instituted.
There are certain principles regarding behavior that I hold because they have beneficial effects on everyone. One could call these principles “morality”.
“beneficial” begs the question. You need to explain why anything should be good or evil in an indifferent universe.
“Benefit” means something that promotes well-being.
“bene” means “well”. So we are still none the wiser…
So I hold certain principles which promote well-being for everyone (which may be called morality). “Good” and “evil” can be understood as that which promotes well being for everyone and inhibits well-being for everyone respectively. These aren’t “things” that pop out of nowhere.
Much of the conflict and suffering in the world arises because people have different notions of well-being. Man is man’s worst enemy if man proposes and man disposes. When God is left out of the picture darkness covers the earth…
Value presupposes purpose. That which is purposeless is valueless.
Why can’t people decide what purpose they want to give to life? Why not make that goal happiness (like I have)? I think happiness is an excellent goal, don’t you?
Happiness for everyone in this life is not only unattainable but unacceptable for many because they would lose much of their power and wealth.
Why couldn’t morality (I’m using the definition above) have been created out of the need to deal with problems arising from living in community?
Human morality has not led to peace and harmony in the world because it ignores the Fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man.
BTW, someone can adopt “a system of ideals governing conduct” (morality) which harms others (like Muslims committing suicide attacks), just like civil laws can often be destructive.
Precisely - which proves that man-made morality is fallible and futile.
If this was so, then why did St. Paul tell slaves in Ephesians 6:5-9, to obey their masters?
Jesus knew it would be futile to attempt to transform society by condemning slavery and class distinctions. As it was, He was executed for challenging the status quo. It is clear from His teaching that all men, women and children are equal in the sight of God.
That is the ideal He has bequeathed to humanity and the basis of the UN Declaration of Human Rights.
If a omniscient god wanted to write a book that would appear to be obviously authored an omniscient being, he wouldn’t allow any errors in it.
God didn’t write a book! He communicates with us through fallible human beings. How else would He do it without depriving us of our freedom to choose what to believe and how to live?
Why would you believe in the theology of a religion for which the holy book gets fundamental statements by your god wrong?
The fundamental statements are not wrong! " Love God and love thy neighbour as thyself…"
