You see? Your post says more about you than you might imagine. It points to your underlying motivation. On the few occasions that you do, you do not act decently for its own sake and as a matter of conscience, but rather because you are looking for a payoff. I suppose people who were born without a conscience or empathy need a crutch of one form or another to stay in line. However, it certainly wasn't enough of a crutch for the priests to which Free Thinker referred. Let's hope it's enough for you.
Does conquering, murder, rape and pillaging not have its own rewards? Is it not possible I simply evolved without a conscience, where is it written I'm supposed to be born with one? Who defines "decency"? Maybe my idea of "decency" is a quick coup de grâce for my victims. According to you guys there is no God, therefore no men of God. Just pedophiles in long robes.
People who are born without a conscience are sociopaths. That is the definition. No book will keep them in line. The above noted priests are but one convenient example. People with empathy and conscience who can understand the concept of fairness.
Or maybe they're just more highly evolved for survival. Is "conscience" defined by nature/evolution or man? Who defines "fairness" nature/evolution or man? Example: Is it "fair" that throughout the animal kingdom only the strongest males are allowed to mate? Why don't humans subscribe to this? Wouldn't we be better off in the long run if we did?
What does an alleged god of any kind have to do with the pedophiles in long robes to which Free Thinker referred? Try to follow your own string.
Really? You are so "highly evolved" that you would need to murder, rape and pillage for your survival had it not been for a book written at around the time of the Iron Age? Is that your argument?
No God = no real priests = pedophiles in long robes pretending to be men of an alleged God which some say doesn't even exist.
Your post does not answer my question. It is just a cluster of words strung together in the form of a sentence.
Maybe you could rephrase it for me. And while you're at maybe throw in a couple of answers yourself. 1)Is "conscience" defined by nature/evolution or man? 2) Who defines "fairness" nature/evolution or man? 3) Is it "fair" that throughout the animal kingdom only the strongest males are allowed to mate? Why don't humans subscribe to this? Wouldn't we be better off in the long run if we did? 4)Does conquering, murder, rape and pillaging not have its own rewards? 5)Is it not possible I simply evolved without a conscience, where is it written I'm supposed to be born with one? 6)To me the question is in the absence of God/heaven/hell why bother being moral?
Morality is about doing the "right" or "good" thing. From my observation, the only "right" or "good" thing that makes sense, and is not in conflict with religion or atheism...is the golden rule. For the most part, for most people who do not have serious mental illness does the following hold mostly true? If it is good to kill, then why do killers not want to be killed? Why do thieves not like to be robbed? Why do cheaters hate it when they get cheated? Why do liars not like to be lied to? So, it seems that it is human nature to hold up as virtuous and good...not to be killed, lied to, robbed, or cheated. So good and moral would be the way in which we want to be treated...and the golden rule suggests that we act morally, which is to treat others the way we ourselves want to be treated. Is the golden rule a product of man's mind or is it from God? That is a different question that could be debated, but morality as such, doing the right and good things are rather obvious if we only look to our own human nature and look to the way we want to be treated.