youngearther wrote: So are you saying that Sir Issac Newton could produce good results by being dishonest? Even if his motivation is to not be caught in a lie or to be humiliated in front of his peers he is still using the Biblical concept of honesty.
DOUG
Several points need to be mentioned here.
A. You said Newton used
absolute morality. So show that when Newton was being honest, he was not just using morality, but using
absolute morality. How are you going to show this?
B. Why do you say that honesty is relevant here? How is the principle of honesty an example of absolute morality when the Bible shows that lying is not always wrong? In fact, God commands it! If you are pretending that honesty is a moral absolute, check out these Biblical counterexamples:
1 Kings 22:23:
"Now therefore, behold, the LORD hath put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these thy prophets, and the LORD hath spoken evil concerning thee."
See 2 Chronicles 18 for another account of the same story: 2Ch. 18:20-22
Finally, a spirit came forward, stood before the LORD and said, `I will entice him.’ “`By what means?’ the LORD asked. “`I will go and be a lying spirit in the mouths of all his prophets,’ he said. “`You will succeed in enticing him,’ said the LORD. `Go and do it.’ “So now the LORD has put a lying spirit in the mouths of these prophets of yours. The LORD has decreed disaster for you.”
So God tells a spirit to go and lie. This is done at the specific request of God. The Lord put the lying spirit in the mouths of the prophets, says the Bible. Therefore, the Bible depicts lying as a good thing on some occasions. In fact, since God commands the lying in this case, lying is not only good, it is
morally obligatory. There cannot be an absolute prohibition against lying if it is sometimes morally obligatory to lie.
Ezekiel 14:9 also tells us:
"And if the prophet be deceived when he hath spoken a thing, I the LORD have deceived that prophet..."
So your Bible God lies, and orders lying. Where is the absoluteness? I can provide more examples of God lying, and of people lying--even lying and getting praised for it from God's representatives. You have no case for saying that the Bible depicts honesty as a moral absolute.
Solve these problems and I'll be glad to load you up with more.
youngearther wrote: I also see by your statement that you believe in the Biblical concept of Uniformity of Nature because "Anybody else doing the same experiments would get the same results." This could only be true if the Biblical concept of Uniformity of Nature were true.
The Bible does not have the concept of the uniformity of nature. Quite the contrary. It depicts miracles, which are
violations of natural law. That is the exact
opposite of uniformity of nature.
And not only does the Bible not endorse the concept of the uniformity of nature because of miracles, it has God
changing nature, such as the creation of the rainbow after Noah's flood (Gen. 9:12-13)? That is not uniformity of nature, that is the exact opposite. The Bible is clear that we should not expect nature to be uniform.
The Bible also has nature change when Adam & Eve eat the magic fruit (Gen. 3:7). Adam & Eve changed human nature? So not only does God change the uniformity of nature, people can do it too! And when God changes how women will give birth, so that it will be painful (Gen. 3:16), that is changing the uniformity of nature as well. And the nature of the serpent was changed (Gen. 3:14), further changing the natural order.
Need more examples of this too?
So you claim absolute morality in honesty and the uniformity of nature,
but the Bible opposes each! You're 0 for 2.
youngearther wrote: Next I am going to prove I am better looking than Doug
Thanks for proving that you are out of intellectual ammo.
"We could have done something important Max. We could have fought child abuse or Republicans!" --Oona Hart (played by Victoria Foyt), in the 1995 movie "Last Summer in the Hamptons."