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Objective moral ambiguity = Situations exist in which moral decisions must be made, but there are no absolutely clear and correct moral choices in the situation.
A rejection of moral ambiguity = In every case there is always a clear and objectively correct moral choice (clear, at least, to God, even if some humans have trouble seeing it).
Along these lines: Would God ever purposefully present (or passively allow a human being to be presented with) a morally ambiguous situation (i.e., a moral dilemma that has no objectively correct answer)? Is it possible that God might sometimes test humans by presenting them with a morally ambiguous situation?
Could there be some spiritual growth/enlightenment to be gained by being presented with a genuinely ambiguous moral situation?
Obviously theists of all sorts, as well as atheists and agnostics are welcome to jump in on this, but I am particularly curious about those who have strong backgrounds in the Old and/or New Testament Bible. Is there any textual evidence to clearly confirm or deny the possibility that the Biblical God might allow some realms of moral ambiguity?
Objective moral ambiguity = Situations exist in which moral decisions must be made, but there are no absolutely clear and correct moral choices in the situation.
A rejection of moral ambiguity = In every case there is always a clear and objectively correct moral choice (clear, at least, to God, even if some humans have trouble seeing it).
Along these lines: Would God ever purposefully present (or passively allow a human being to be presented with) a morally ambiguous situation (i.e., a moral dilemma that has no objectively correct answer)? Is it possible that God might sometimes test humans by presenting them with a morally ambiguous situation?
Could there be some spiritual growth/enlightenment to be gained by being presented with a genuinely ambiguous moral situation?
Obviously theists of all sorts, as well as atheists and agnostics are welcome to jump in on this, but I am particularly curious about those who have strong backgrounds in the Old and/or New Testament Bible. Is there any textual evidence to clearly confirm or deny the possibility that the Biblical God might allow some realms of moral ambiguity?
Would’ve helped if you had given an example of such a situation, but I guess it’s not an easy one.
One of the ways to deal with such a dilemma where there is an ambiguity in morality and you are not sure whether to go left or right, is
Imagine that God, heaven and hell were in front of you, what route would you take? Left or right?
And your heart should give you the answer.
But then again, which God are we talking about?
The Christian God? The Jewish God? The Islamic God? The Hindu gods? The Greek gods Roman gods? etc
They each seem to treat and operate differently as to how to deal with their followers.
My take: I dunno about God's involvement...but when faced with ambiguity...let's say..."Do I need to teach this person a lesson cuz they keep taking advantage, hmm?
What to do so I am not a doormat."
The answer is always the same to me ...I am not a teacher, my job is not to judge...but to be kind
and see God in the littlest of these. However, I handle it...do it with kindness.
Or in the least without thrashing the person.
PS...Oh, sorry, I do not believe God tests...God instituted a 'Brilliant Automatic System' called,
"Reaping what we sow"....we bring things into our own environment to overcome, thus learn...
albeit, from our subconscious mind.
Objective moral ambiguity = Situations exist in which moral decisions must be made, but there are no absolutely clear and correct moral choices in the situation.
A rejection of moral ambiguity = In every case there is always a clear and objectively correct moral choice (clear, at least, to God, even if some humans have trouble seeing it).
Along these lines: Would God ever purposefully present (or passively allow a human being to be presented with) a morally ambiguous situation (i.e., a moral dilemma that has no objectively correct answer)? Is it possible that God might sometimes test humans by presenting them with a morally ambiguous situation?
Could there be some spiritual growth/enlightenment to be gained by being presented with a genuinely ambiguous moral situation?
Obviously theists of all sorts, as well as atheists and agnostics are welcome to jump in on this, but I am particularly curious about those who have strong backgrounds in the Old and/or New Testament Bible. Is there any textual evidence to clearly confirm or deny the possibility that the Biblical God might allow some realms of moral ambiguity?
There's more than one god depicted in the Old and New testaments. One says that the idea of sacrificing children to gods would never enter his mind and he punished those who did it. Another one tests a father by asking him to sacrifice his son to see if he was willing to do it.
Would’ve helped if you had given an example of such a situation, but I guess it’s not an easy one.
The idea for this thread occurred to me in a thread about abortion in the political forum, but I would like to keep this thread focused on underlying spiritual/philosophical principles and not see it get hijacked by people just haggling over abortion. Here is a clip from my thought in that thread:
Quote:
Originally Posted by Gaylenwoof
I'm curious to understand the basic principles underlying various people's positions on the abortion debate. Are people willing to admit any moral grey areas or accept diversity of beliefs? Or does the issue necessarily always have to be sorted out purely in terms of "obviously good" vs. "obviously evil" with no middle ground?
In both threads I'm trying to explore the idea that there might be some room for compromise on certain hot-button moral debates (at least among people who are not at the far extremes of the issue) if we agree to the general idea that there might be objective moral ambiguity. The concept of "God" is not necessarily required in this debate but I think that, realistically, the people who, in general, are most likely to reject moral ambiguity are theists who believe that God always knows the one true morally good choice in every situation. But I'm wondering: Do traditional theist need to take this view? (I already know that certain liberal/non-traditional theists could accept moral ambiguity, but I'm less clear about more traditional/conventional varieties.) Could they accept the idea that, in some cases, there are no objectively correct moral answers? And, if so, how would this square with their various holy books? Or, if not, then on what basis do they reject the idea that there could be some moral growth associated with facing the challenge of a morally grey dilemma?
There's more than one god depicted in the Old and New testaments. One says that the idea of sacrificing children to gods would never enter his mind and he punished those who did it. Another one tests a father by asking him to sacrifice his son to see if he was willing to do it.
I think that lesson asks if there is ever a time, or for a meme, that is worth sacrificing our children.
"Never." is just not a rational answer and doesn't have to be addressed as anything other than irrational.
"at the drop of a hat." ... well, that is just mean spirited and dangerous.
An objective truth is independent of the existence of a god, so would a god have any control over an objective moral ambiguity.
And how can we answer for a god? Even the biblical god has different definitions.
To keep within the rules for this forum, God is a necessary part of the question, IMO. Without God (or a built-in purpose for existence) there can be no objective morality. Objective purposelessness allows for no objective morality - anything goes.
To keep within the rules for this forum, God is a necessary part of the question, IMO. Without God (or a built-in purpose for existence) there can be no objective morality. Objective purposelessness allows for no objective morality - anything goes.
Baloney.
People who don't believe in god are usually just as moral as those who do.
Beyond that, when there's a moral dilemma of some sort, there may not be a perfect choice, but there's always a best choice.
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