The Will of God and Ethics - Essay Example

The fundamental question of theology is, “Does God tell us what to do and therefore it is right, or does God happen to be right and tell us the right thing to do?” Does justice precede theology, or theology precede justice? The distinction is important. If one states that good precedes God, one might be being blasphemic, as God might do something evil; in any respect, obedience to God is a mere logical consequence, not a highest duty. But if one states that God precedes good, the question is, why?

As Sayre-McCord puts it, “Many have thought the right answers to these questions are found in an appeal to God. On their view, moral principles are the expression of God's will — they are His commands to us — and they get their authority from their source. In important ways, though, this merely shifts the puzzles back a step. Whatever problems one might have making sense of eternal transcendent standards re-emerge when trying to make sense of an eternal transcendent being who might issue commands.

[O]ne is also left with the difficulty of explaining why God's commands are authoritative” (2007). . in light of which He counts as morally perfect), in which case speaking of morality as consisting of God's commands will not explain the origin or nature of these independently existing standards.Alternatively, one might eschew an appeal to God's knowledge or goodness and claim that there is no independent standard for God's will and nature.If we reject the idea that God's commands reflect His knowledge of right and wrong, and reject as well the idea that God is all good, it seems reasonable to wonder why his commands have any special authority” (Sayre-McCord, 2007).

Euthyphro exposes some of the obvious logical dilemmas of the theological position admirably. Socrates asks Euthyphro, “What is the meaning of "attention"? For attention can hardly be used in the same sense when applied to the gods as when applied to other things. For instance, horses are said to require attention.” When Euthyphros offers that piety is other obedience or care of the Gods, it begs the question, why would omnipotent entities care for what a human being has? Either the gods want the obedience of people who can offer them nothing, in which case the gods are either petty or helpless, or they do not, in which case the gods do not care.

This difficulty is especially applicable to the modern world: Assuming an omnipotent and good God essentially obviates the idea of obedience or sacrifice, since God can get anything He wants. Further, Socrates exposes the issues of theodicy and hermeneutics, the question of what God or the Gods want. “And further, Euthyphro, the gods were admitted to have enmities and hatreds and differences?” If the gods had differences, then how could one be pious? Try to represent the general opinions of the god, or only obey directives of all the gods? Since