NonChristian sources of morality

[shoe]

I read a comment that stated, basically, there are better sources for judging a persons morality than the Ten Commandments, Seven Deadly Sins, and Jesus’ Greatest Commandment (Mt 22:37-40) " Love God with all your heart…Love your neighbor as yourself." So, I have a couple questions in reference to the Christian sources.

1. If there are better sources, what is it you believe isn’t covered by the Christians sources?
2. Do you feel that there are any that should be excluded?

I think we can point out the obvious 1-3 of the Ten Commandments and the first of Jesus’ Greatest Commandment. But aside from those.

There is no hidden agenda or an ambush for a debate. I was just wanted a [nonChristian] point of view.

Without the moral laws of “the Ten Commandments, Seven Deadly Sins, and Jesus’ Greatest Commandment (Mt 22:37-40) ‘Love God with all your heart…Love your neighbor as yourself,’” I think that the nearest source of moral and ethical principles would be found in the secular laws of the land; that is to say, in whatever manner of behavior secular people wish to accept as true, either because of their culture, genetic makeup, or their subjective preferences. If the moral laws of the land change, then the morals of the individuals of that land may change as well. For example, one generation may say that abortion is morally wrong while another generation will say that abortion is morally right. With that kind of irrational and arbitrary interpretation of life, no behavior under the sun could be considered objectively right or wrong. Therefore, rape, murder, stealing, and other such wrong behavior would be considered wrong only if the individuals living in a secular society consider it wrong. So when secular people speak about right and wrong, they do so from opinion, which may or may not have a short life span, since opinions can be based on anything from facts to feelings.

 

[ThinkingSapien]

…]I think that the nearest source of moral and ethical principles would be found in the secular laws of the land; that is to say, in whatever manner of behavior secular people wish to accept as true, either because of their culture, genetic makeup, or their subjective preferences. If the moral laws of the land change, then the morals of the individuals of that land may change as well. For example, one generation may say that abortion is morally wrong while another generation will say that abortion is morally right.

I think that is descriptive of society in general. There were generations of people in the USA (and other countries) that thought that slavery was cool. The idea is not as popular today. Some other prohibitions that were enforced on grounds that were considered moral in the USA were the prohibition of marriages of people of different “races” and prohibition of certain types of business activities and sales on Sunday. In more recent generations these ideas are not as popular (though not completely absent).

 

[Qoeleth]

I am a Christian, of course, but don’t think that morality depends upon a religious position.
For each kind of animal, there are appropriate behaviours. Similarly, for humans. All human beings have a notion of ‘being decent people’- i.e. not stealing, lying, cheating, killing, helping those in need, etc. I believe every religion and society advocates much the same things. It is to do with what is required for a functioning human community. “Morality”, by definition, is simply to do with “mores” (customs, practices).

Christianity does go beyond this, with the notion of self-sacrificing love. But, strictly speaking, this is not a ‘morality’.