Atheists: How do you reconcile your views with your lifestyle choices?

reply to post by TylerDurden2U


Im an atheist, yet I CAN obey the ten commandments. Just because I dont believe in Jesus and everything in the bible doesnt say I can't obey them. I mean, I don't even know all ten of them but most people subconsiously live by them because most of them like you can't kill or steal are common sense. Just because they're described in the bible doesn't mean the christians have a patent on them. Although they like to think they have a patent on the whole concept of a world.
Morals are inside you. Morals are NOT a religion. Morals are free for you to choose and follow whatever religion you chose.

Originally posted by TylerDurden2U
reply to post by cloudyday

 

if a child was raised on the street stealing to survive, and cant read or write, then the morals coming from inside would be different than your morals. gods 10 commandments established 1 set of morals for everyone.

People identify themselves in multiple ways at the same time. Like one person might be a conservative, Catholic, Alaskan, Marine veteran who was raised on the street as you describe. If you change that person into an atheist, he/she will still have moral values coming from all the other groups.

reply to post by Herman


Where do I get my morals from? I think.

forget morality. act from your humanity. there are too many calculations to made to be moral. Act from your very nature and you will see the love that is within us all

reply to post by Duckling


The Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:2-17 NKJV)
1 “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before Me.
2 “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My Commandments.
3 “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.
4 “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.
5 “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God is giving you.
6 “You shall not murder.
7 “You shall not commit adultery.
8 “You shall not steal.
9 “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
10 “You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor's.”

reply to post by TylerDurden2U

i have posted the commandments. before the commandments, was there another list of morals to follow? if there was please post them. no you cannot be moral without the commandments, as they are a basis for morality.

reply to post by cloudyday


so you are saying morals come from religion. I agree.

Devastatingly simple:

It is my right as a free thinking human being to do whatever I damn well please as long as its does not infringe on the rights of anyone else to do what they please. One caveat : the state determines the boundaries of behaviour for minors.

So, for example:
* I can take drugs if I wish but not if the consequences of my demand is harmful to anyone else (think about it).
* I can shag who, when , how, how many, sexual orientation as log as everyone involved is consensual.
etc etc.

Now the awkward bits :
* Free speech, like the Nazi's spouting their obnoxious beliefs or that woman on the tram in the UK.
* Being unfaithful.

with free speech , those Nazi's are free to believe and express their belief AS LONG AS I am free to avoid what they say. So the woman on the Tram was wrong because she was inflicting her beliefs on others who were incapable of not listening. She was infringing on their rights to not being insulted and abused.

She was perfectly free to say EXACTLY THE SAME THINGS on a street corner where people could avoid her.

Anybody can be unfaithful as long as their partner agrees. Simple one really. The difficulty is in identifying what is a "right to do anything". It is not just physical it is also mental but only insofar as it is direct. So being unfaithful directly influences my partner. My atheism may offend christians BUT it does not directly affect them. It's indirect affect which they choose to be offended by. I do not "target" my belief at them (like the woman on the tram).

So if you hurt someone - wrong.
If you verbally offend someone who cannot avoid the verbals - wrong.
If you believe ANYTHING - perfectly OK.
If I express my belief where people can avoid my preaching - perfectly OK.
If I express my belief where people cannot avoid my preaching - wrong.

reply to post by biggmoneyme


was ted bundy not acting out what is in his heart? What about Hitler?

If religion equated to living moral lives, then the world would be a far better place. How cute that it seems those without a religious affiliation appear to have a better understanding and following of personal moral codes than followers of a god! The silent example does far more to further his cause than the noisy hypocrite.
I was raised christian by a woman who drank, committed adultery, and still had the gall to act pious when it served her purposes. Therefore, I learned from her mistakes, and am a better person for it! Just because there are commandments doesn't mean that the 'followers' are playing by the rules. They can say they're sorry to their god and he'll let it slide. Why else do mass killers and child rapists embrace christianity and proclaim their newfound faith to the parole board every day? Worse yet, mass killers can say they're doing their chosen sin in the name of god, or allah, or whomever....so its a vicious cycle. I do not pretend to bow to a belief of sheep or parasites. I do not bow before a creation of man.

reply to post by malcr


then isnt it immoral for you to post your beliefs on here? I mean the whole world can read it.

reply to post by volafox

if you do something good, no one knows, if you do something bad, everyone knows. the difference is what?

reply to post by TylerDurden2U


You know within. You know that you have honor, and you do not need to justify yourself to others. You have virtue and that will be all the reward you need.

reply to post by volafox


then muslim islamic jihad on ny city is admirable and honorable?

Originally posted by TylerDurden2U
i have posted the commandments. before the commandments, was there another list of morals to follow? if there was please post them. no you cannot be moral without the commandments, as they are a basis for morality.

Yes, many centuries before Moses, the people of Kemet had 42 commandments. Kemet was near Egypt. Moses was raised in Egypt. Hmmmm......

iamspirituality.com...

Read through them at the link and see if any look familiar.

Originally posted by TylerDurden2U
reply to post by cloudyday

 

so you are saying morals come from religion. I agree.

Morals come from religion, but I think they also come from many other places like family, friends, experiences, etc.

What is it I need to reconcile? Are you trying to imply that,despite my belief in a godless universe, I am still operating under His system of morality, and in a state of denial about where these warm fuzzy moral feelings come from? Nope sorry. I live the best way I can, I'm not in the habit of second guessing everything I do because some guy with an old book is telling me otherwise.

reply to post by TylerDurden2U


I agree that they are basis of morality. But you dont have to be a christian to live by them. Most people do live by them (at least number 5 till 10 for those do not say you got to honor a higher power) and they've never read the bible. So im just saying your statement: "an atheist cant obey the 10 commandments, so they have to be different." is bullcrap. There are african tribes that never heard of the christian god, that do not kill or steal. Maybe the christians are the first to document it but they dont have a patent on it. Everyone can live and act by them and isn't that the whole point? You should be happy that the world is becoming a better place with the commandments, not accuse people of plagiarism because they're athiest and trying to do good.

Love thy neighbour - as long as they're christian. Right?

reply to post by cloudyday


that went to church.

reply to post by Duckling


i was refering to the ten commandments, not the two commandments, or the commandments that i feel like following today. It is a perfect set of laws, that work together. they may not suit you, but you dont have to answer to me, just my God.