Was God's Command Moral?

Ethics, Morality, and Sin

Moderator: Moderators

Ray the atheist
Scholar
Posts: 443
Joined: Wed Apr 01, 2026 12:28 pm
Has thanked: 13 times
Been thanked: 55 times

Was God's Command Moral?

Post #1

Post by Ray the atheist »

Preamble
 
This post hopes to demonstrate that morality and obedience are not the same thing.
Seems so simple to me, but not so simple for many Christians who defend the actions of God.

I have been mostly focusing on the story of the "Fall Of Mankind" where God first commands obedience to a human. I quickly noticed that no moral justification was offered for God's Divine Command.

Morality concerns whether an action is right or wrong, good or bad, by using moral principles and guidelines.
Obedience simply means following a command. A person can obey a command without that obedience making the action moral.

The Nuremberg Trials illustrate this distinction.
Obedience to an authority was not accepted by the judges as sufficient moral justification for the defendant's horrible genocides.
The same distinction applies to Adam and Eve.

God commanded them not to eat the fruit, but the command itself provided no independent moral reason explaining why eating the fruit was morally wrong.
The command established what God wanted them to obey. It did not establish morality. I sometimes think of the moral theory as "might makes right".

Hitler sure had the might.. And so did God.
The world didn't consider that Hitler's might made his commands "morally right".

QUESTION TO CHRISTIANS:
Do you consider God's command moral, and if so, why?

 
Definitions

Morality: principles or judgments concerning what is right or wrong, good or bad, permissible or impermissible.
Obedience: following a command or instruction given by an authority.
Authority: the power or right to give commands and require obedience.
Moral authority: authority claimed to determine what people ought or ought not do morally.
Moral justification: a reason explaining why an action is morally right, wrong, good, bad, permissible, or impermissible.
Divine command theory: the philosophical view that moral obligations are grounded in God’s commands.
Moral obligation:an action one is morally required to perform or avoid.
Independent moral reason: a moral justification that does not depend solely on the authority issuing the command.
 

Relevant Bible Verses

Genesis 2:16–17: “And the LORD God commanded the man, ‘You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die.’”
Genesis 3:2–3: “The woman said to the serpent, ‘We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden; but God said, “You shall not eat of the fruit that is in the middle of the garden, nor shall you touch it, or you shall die.”’”
Genesis 3:17: “And to the man he said, ‘Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten of the tree about which I commanded you, “You shall not eat of it,” cursed is the ground because of you; in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life.’”
 
Argument
P1: Adam and Eve’s command provided authority, but no independent moral justification.
P2: Morality requires moral justification, not merely authority.
C: Therefore, God’s command to Adam and Eve was not moral.
I study religiously motivated reasoning. I'm an agnostic atheist and I don't believe in the supernatural or superstitions. I genuinely want to engage your ideas charitably and respectfully. I value critical thinking, empathy, intellectual honesty, and civil disagreement. I am committed to understanding each other’s arguments, remaining open to correction, and discussing arguments rather than attack each other.

Ray the atheist
Scholar
Posts: 443
Joined: Wed Apr 01, 2026 12:28 pm
Has thanked: 13 times
Been thanked: 55 times

Re: Was God's Command Moral?

Post #11

Post by Ray the atheist »

[Replying to Bradskii in post #10]
Obviously not, as I don't believe He exists in the first place. But if I was a Christian then I'd really try not to discuss the problem of evil with anyone because I can't see how it can be reconciled with an all loving, morally perfect God. As regards situations like the Amalekites, then I wouldn't be able to accept that as an accurate depiction of what God wanted. I'd treat it as I would treat the flood - stories told by mortal men to warn us about a wrathful immortal God.
It's ok if you don't want to discuss the bible.

I won't force you to.
I study religiously motivated reasoning. I'm an agnostic atheist and I don't believe in the supernatural or superstitions. I genuinely want to engage your ideas charitably and respectfully. I value critical thinking, empathy, intellectual honesty, and civil disagreement. I am committed to understanding each other’s arguments, remaining open to correction, and discussing arguments rather than attack each other.

Post Reply