Test results... or responding to responses!

So the test went very well (I got 100% on it).  It was mostly a short answer/essay test so I did have chances to give the book answer and have room left over for the real answers.  The portion of the test where it really came out was with the two questions about divine command and natural law theory.  The test question will be in bold, my written answer will be in italics, my teacher's response will be in red, and my response to my teacher's response will be in blue.

I understand that it is impossible for either me or my teacher to present complete defenses for our positions with little comments on a test.  My only intent is to not just think of my first response to someone's question, but also how to think of possible responses to my first responses.

Please characterize Divine command theory.

This is the idea that "God says it, therefore  it is."  Normally it is characterized by God having made an arbitrary choice about what is good and what is bad.  If that were the case, then it's possible that God could have made bad to be good and good to be bad.

However, I would argue that although God (the Christian God of the Bible) has made commands about what His people ought and ought not do, it was in no way an arbitrary choice.  His commands are based on His holy nature so no matter what He has commanded it is always true and correct.  His is the standard by which all morality and ethical theories are judged.

Would it have been true prior to His commandments?  If so, then it's not His commandments that make it true.  God says "It's wrong to murder" - if it's already wrong to murder, then it's wrong for some reason independent of His saying so.

No, it wouldn't have been true prior to His commandments because when it comes to God there was no 'prior'.  He has always existed and His nature has always been perfect and holy.  So whether or not He has verbally 'commanded' does not matter.  His perfect character has never changed.


Please characterize Natural law theory.

This is the idea that natural laws (lying is bad, nurturing infants is good) just exist and we are able to figure them out by being in the is world and experiencing it.  Thus, God is not necessary.

However, there are two problems with this.  If God does not exist, objective moral values and duties do not exist. [I don't see this]  Objective moral values and duties do exist. [How do we know this?]  Therefore, God exists.  So rather than thinking that God is not needed, on the contrary, He most certainly is. [Even by your argument he is necessary only for the raw existence of moral values - the determination of these values may yet be done on His absence.]

1. Objective moral values and duties are those things that are right/wrong  independent of anyone thinking them to be right or wrong.  If God does not exist, why should I think there is a realm of universal and objective behavior when all anyone has experienced are particular and subjective events?

2. We know that objective moral values and duties do exist because God has written that knowledge in our hearts.  That knowledge is shown by the way we live.  We KNOW that it objectively GOOD to nurture children and it is BAD to torture them.  People who say, "morals are just whatever floats your boat" contradict themselves by their reactions to immoral behavior.  This contradiction needs to be brought to light.

3. C.S. Lewis said that if you're out on a boat in the middle of the ocean there are three things that you need to know.  One is why are you out there?  Two is how do you stay afloat?  And three is how do I keep from bumping into other boats?  The thing is that the last two questions to not matter unless you know WHY you are out there in the first place.

Because God has written his law onto our hearts, we know that we shouldn't bump into other people (boats).  The only reason why people would want to stop there would be to avoid the first question, WHY are you here in the first place?  True, you can live harmoniously with your fellow neighbors without acknowledging God's existence (Romans 2:14-15), but WHY should you pick moral virtues over moral vices?  That WHY is only supplied by God.

The other problem is that unless unless there is some authoritative source to confirm the idea that lying is wrong, how would you know for sure that lying is wrong?  Someone could have the idea that lying is wrong and another may say that lying is great.  They could ask a third party but he would be just expressing another opinion.  Unless there is some outside source of knowledge there can be none amongst people.  God is that source and furthermore He has written moral knowledge in our hearts and in His Word. [could that outside source be intersubjective(?) (agreement/assurement/?)]

I couldn't read those last words so I can't really comment on his comment!  Too bad.

So that's that.  Nothing too heavy, but again, it's good to be prepared.

Thanks for reading!