Euthypro Dilemna

Hi T&ULet's take this back to the beginning. In the beginning God was. Then he created beings (angels & people) with a free will. One of them being lucifer. Now as such there is nothing right or wrong with pride (or "glorifying"). Lucifer gave glory to something that did not deserve it (himself). In that sense it was simply an incorrect thing to do. i.e. it was not the truth. So what is truth? It is not a moral as such. Telling the truth may be moral but as such truth just is. God is truth i.e. his reality is correct. A lie and the truth are always in confrontation just because of what they are. Basically everything immoral (or sin) is this type of conflict.Take murder for example. There is a conflict because we act as God if we take life. God is the one who gives and takes life. If we show pride and think that we know better than God then this is a lie. It is "incorrect". If God tells you to kill something then this is not incorrect because everything belongs to God therefore he is the appropriate authourity who can give and take away as he sees fit.So in essence sin is wrong because it does not reflect who God is. And because God is truth all sin is essentially a lie.So morals aren't decided by God or anyone else as such. Rather, they come as extension of what is true as opposed to being a lie.Hmm... This is not very easy to understand, but it is not an easy thing to put into words. Will keep on trying to find better ways of saying what I mean, but hope the above is helpful in the meantime.
Thanks,Arphy

Hi T&USorry I haven't replied earlier. Also I won't be replying in order.Giving and taking away: In general there is a principle that if you make something you also own it or are responsible for it. While God allows us a certain amount of freedom because we are creatures with a freewill it doesn't mean that he doesn't let us go completely. Just as a parent doesn't dictate everything that a child does but still mantains some rules and provides guidance. Why? Because they are responsible for the child. In the same way God ultimatly has control of our lives because he made us. So it is his choice as to how much freedom he wants to give us. Just as in your example with the robot it is up to the programmer as to how much freedom the robot can have. That is just the nature of being a creator. If you limit the robot's freedom, is it not up to the descretion of the creator as to what those limitations should be? Because he knows everything. Truth is that which is correct (i.e. opposite of a lie). It is universal and not objective. Things presented as facts are either correct or incorrect. we glorify God in that we acknowledge who he is e.g. our creator. To not acknowledge this is a lie. Because it is the truth that he is our creator. He tried to recieve acknowledgement of something that he wasn't. In other words he was using a lie to recieve acknowledgement i.e.it was against the truth. I wouldn't really regard this as a moral law. It was a law given to the Israelites in order to identify them from the surrounding people. Although there are also some people who suggest it was given for medical reasons. The law isn't about what is right or wrong as such.Hope that clarifies some things,ArphyEdited by Arphy, : No reason given.