Originally posted by JimL
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Secondly, irrespective of whether you are presently cognisant of it, there is a definite logic or rationale behind Christian theistic beliefs. A human’s relationship to God is, first and foremost, that of a creature to its Creator. I will readily grant that the concepts of sin and redemption are incoherent apart from the reality of God as Creator. (Even God’s sovereignty is logically [and chronologically] subordinate to his role as Creator. The former proceeds out of the latter.)
The entire system of Christian thought begins and ends with God. Apart from God, nothing else is. God alone is without beginning, self-existent, inherently immortal, and everlasting. Everything else – that is, all that is created – owes its existence and sustenance to God: material and immaterial, visible and invisible.
Morality and immorality, righteousness and unrighteousness, good and evil, are defined by God. God is sovereign over all of his creation. The standard for righteousness has been established by God. Therefore, as Creator and Lord, it is God’s prerogative to require obedience and establish consequences for disobeying his commandments. The attempt of humans to usurp the role of God as rightful lawgiver and judge, to take upon themselves the authority to define what is right and wrong according to their own reasoning, is the essence of sin (as demonstrated in the narrative of Genesis 3).
As an agnostic, you have no solid foundation on which to stand for morality. You have no reference beyond an anthropocentric, culturally defined, malleable, non-absolute, subjective sense of right and wrong. The key word is anthropocentric: man-/human-centred. God has no place in your world view.
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