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Home » The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints » Current Church Doctrine » Can an Atheist be Moral?
Re: Can an Atheist be Moral? [message #2823 is a reply to message #296] Sun, 13 October 2013 19:10 Go to previous messageGo to previous message
Seeker is currently offline  Seeker
Messages: 244
Registered: June 2010
Location: Las Vegas
Senior Member
I was watching a series of debates/discussions on Larry King Live in which he had a protestant, Spiritualist, catholic, Muslim, atheist, and Deepak Chopra.

They were asked various questions to see what they would say... A number of things were Extremely obvious... Wow!

But, I wanted to revisit this topic.

My thought is that truth exists independent of God. God did not create truth, He/She discovered it and aligned Himself/Herself with it. For an example of this, we know that if God lied then God would cease to be God. If God created truth or was the source of truth, then God could not lie because if God lied, the that lie would become truth. Everything God says would be truth because God said it even if it contradicted what was truth immediately prior to God saying it. If truth was whatever God said, even if it was not truth before he spoke it, then God could not possibly lie and could never cease to be God.

But there are a number of things that could cause God to stop being God...

Quote:
Mormon 9:19
19 And if there were miracles wrought then, why has God ceased to be a God of miracles and yet be an unchangeable Being? And behold, I say unto you he changeth not; if so he would cease to be God; and he ceaseth not to be God, and is a God of miracles.

Quote:

Alma 42:25
25 What, do ye suppose that mercy can rob justice? I say unto you, Nay; not one whit. If so, God would cease to be God.


What this means is that God is not the creator of truth. He/She abides by truth but is not the creator of truth. So too it is with us. We believe that if we can learn to align ourselves with truth that one day we also will become Gods.

So, truth exists independent on God, be it our Father/Mother in Heaven or our own exalted selves. Truth existed before us, it will exist after us. We can accept it and live by it or not.

What about Atheists? If truth is independant of God, then can they discover and live by truth without believing in God? The answer is an obvious yes.

What about moral truth? Can an Atheist discover and live by moral truth? For example, can an Atheist learn without a belief in God that murder is immoral and wrong? Or the could get a testimony that lying was bad or stealing was wrong. Not wrong because God said so, but wrong because it was immoral. Immoral not because God defined morality but because truth defines morality and murder is contrary to truth which is eternal and independent of God.

So, can even an agnostic can discover eternal truths regarding moral conduct, moral association, moral society, ethics, and even godliness. A belief in God does NOT preclude a belief in truth or true principles. Even without the law, an agnostic is capable of living a moral life because morality is not based in God, but God is based in morality.

~ Seeker

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