Must god’s commands conform to moral standards?

Abstract

Abstract In both the Jewish and Christian traditions, God is presented as a lawgiver who has created us, and the world we live in, for a purpose. That purpose is not completely understood, but much has been revealed through the prophets, the Holy Scriptures, and the church. These sources teach that, to guide us in righteous living, God has promulgated rules that we are to obey. He does not compel us to obey them. We were created as free agents, so we may choose to accept or to reject his commandments. But if we are to live as we should live, we must follow God’s laws. This, it is said, is the essence of morality. This line of thought has been elaborated by some theologians into a theory about the nature of right and wrong, known as the Divine Command Theory. Essentially, this theory says that “morally right” means “commanded by God,” and “morally wrong” means “forbidden by God.”From a theoretical point of view, this conception has a number of pleasing features. It immediately solves the old problem about the subjectivity/ objectivity of ethics. According to this theory, ethics is not merely a matter of personal feelings or social custom.