Right and Wrong, Good and Evil

While writing this, I realized that Matthew at Liberal Jesus made a post about the same topic. I'm still posting this, however, because I think that my post in part answers a question that he asks.

In a comment on Liberal Jesus, Micheal Ejercito said:

I find nothing wrong with the idea of God ordering Israel to do genocide. God determines what is right and what is wrong.

I personally loathe this explanation of morality. I cannot deny it makes sense, no. If God creates the universe and has ultimate power over everything in it, who are we to challenge his divine authority?

I personally do not think that we will ever need to challenge his authority. I base this belief on my second axiom of divinity: God is not a bastard. (The first axiom is, "God exists.") By this, I mean that I believe God is inherently good. I believe he loves us, that he loves his entire creation, and as such, he acts towards his creation in a moral fashion.

But does that mean that God himself determines what is right or wrong? What if God were to change his mind? And, as Matthew asks, what god gets to decide what is right or wrong?

Morality has to come from a place other than God for two reasons:

1. God does not seem to speak personally to every person, or at least, many people with dissenting moral beliefs continue to claim that they have each been spoken to by God.
2. If our opinion of what is right and wrong is based only on what God says, then why does it matter? We're not good people, we're just doing what we're told, because the person telling us what to do is bigger than we are, and he might beat us up.

The first reason is the most practical; everyday we all hear different opinions about what is right and what is wrong, and these people often claim that God has spoken to them (if not out loud, at least in their hearts). Even in the Bible, there are dissenting beliefs. James believes that Christians should be circumcised, and Paul thinks the practice is pointless and unnecessary. So when two people give us different explanations for what God thinks is right and wrong, who do we believe?

The second reason is less practical, but far more disturbing if given any serious thought. We assume God to be good, because the idea of an evil God is horrifying almost beyond our comprehension. But what if? If God were to tell you to do something you knew to be abhorrent and evil, and he said to you, "It is good if you do it, today, because I am making it good, for you, today," what would you do? Can good and evil be malleable based on what God wants at the time?

Like I said before, I do not think that God can be evil. I don't think it works with the concept of God. Basically, if God were to turn out to be evil, I would not consider that being God. If he was the only thing even approaching divinity, then I would have to believe that there was no God, just a capricious, evil, omnipotent being. But "good" is part of my definition for God.

But then I reach the same problem as before: how do I define "good?"

philosophy