If God doesn't exist, does anything have meaning or value?

[Sair]

I’m going to ask you to start with one question and then we can move on from there. You’re asking a lot of questions and frankly I don’t believe the character limit will allow me to address them or at least try to address them.

A fair call, indeed.

I will begin with my first question - what does “living out unity with God” actually entail for a human being, according to Christian theology?

 

[Sair]

One of the reasons we have separation of church and state is that the “common sense” of these moral propositions is non-demonstrable to those who don’t share the believer’s religious presuppositions; without that separation, rival religions would simply be warring with each for preeminence, in terms of legislating their moral code.

The only morality for which I see even a possibility of consensus is simple, bare-bones humanism – do not murder; do not steal; do not rape; do not abuse or torture. These prohibitions pre-date Christianity, to my knowledge, going back at least as far as the code of Hammurabi.

Thank you for an eminently sensible post, Portofino - when it comes to religious observance, indeed, there is less to be advanced for common sense than for activities that act as identifiers of one’s particular brand of faith. It is all very well for any individual to perform specific practices as part of their own faith - provided those practices do not harm others - but it is not all well to assume that one’s own particular articles of faith must be held up as some kind of categorical imperative.

It would be hard to imagine, indeed, even prior to Hammurabi, that any human community could have flourished without observing the kinds of basic social respect entailed by not violating each others’ mutual expectations and preferences regarding personal interaction.

 

[interestedman]

If yes, please explain why.

Meaning or value? We are the ones that give something meaning or value. Have you ever seen some weird modern art that is sold for some huge amount of money but if it was in the middle of a mall instead of a museum you probably wouldn’t even think it was art?

Things have meaning or value because we GIVE them meaning or value. There was a rock that had no meaning or value to me but had meaning and value to one of my brothers friends because his fraternity made him and some other kids carry it a few miles.

 

[Portofino]

Thank you for an eminently sensible post, Portofino

Thank you, Sair, for your kind words

 

[Credo_in_Deum]

A fair call, indeed.

I will try my best to answer your questions.

I will begin with my first question - what does “living out unity with God” actually entail for a human being, according to Christian theology?

It entails loving, honoring, and serving God. We do this by following His commandments.

[bibledrb] John 14:15 [/bibledrb]

The commandments are the Ten Commandments or simply summed up by Christ:

[bibledrb]Matthew 22:37-40[/bibledrb]