Morality with and Without God

Marana Matrozza, W 6-8:40

9 October 2009

Morality With and Without God

Morality can be described as the good thoughts people have and the actions they partake in. Something God wants you to do and things that do not harm others are part of the definition of good, but good cannot exist alone. Good and evil are codependent on one another. Some say that good and evil are greater than God, which raises a specific question of God’s role in morality. Which came first, good and evil or God?

There is always a fine line when it comes to reality and theory. Reality is what people actually do, whether it is good or evil, but theory is what people should do, which only good can be done and no evil. Our guide, to help us turn our theories into realities, is God. His word and guidelines are translated for us in The Commandments. These ten important rules are what we, as God’s children, should turn to for reference to make a good decision. Also, without God and the Commandments he created, we would never really understand God when trying to fulfill our goal of turning theory into reality. Not only is God a translator, but he is also a filter for our choices.

As a filter to us, when we call upon God to help us with our good decisions, he helps us channel the good over evil. For example, God can be described as a bubble. God takes in moral concepts of good and evil, into his bubble, and filters appropriately. The good resume passing through the bubble, but the evil get deflected, or discarded. Without God, there would be no filter or bubble. Every moral concept would be accepted, eliminating the distinction between reality and theory.

Lastly, God can be portrayed most importantly, as an authority. Throughout the Bible, God refers to himself as a father; leading us to believe of Him as a superior figure. This is our connection to God and an important concept to understanding His moral standing. He explains that it is necessary for us to trust and obey...