Alternately, the not-quite-so-confused combination that the above have causal relationships: in other words, that God has correctly informed us about which things have bad consequences; or that God will reward us (a good consequence) for obeying the deontological rules he set up; or that our moral sense (“it feels wrong”) is a flawed attempt (thus, in need of both correction and forgiveness) to model or follow God’s laws.
Fair enough. Although, one thing about theists I’ve only recently noticed is that they don’t always anthropomorphize God as much as we like to imagine they do. A lot of the time they just think of Him as a kind of abstract force that’s sort of analogous to a human mind, and maybe isn’t distinct from even our sense of morality.
So in order to think that way and still claim the moral high ground, they do necessarily have to be confused.
Alternately, the not-quite-so-confused combination that the above have causal relationships: in other words, that God has correctly informed us about which things have bad consequences; or that God will reward us (a good consequence) for obeying the deontological rules he set up; or that our moral sense (“it feels wrong”) is a flawed attempt (thus, in need of both correction and forgiveness) to model or follow God’s laws.
Fair enough. Although, one thing about theists I’ve only recently noticed is that they don’t always anthropomorphize God as much as we like to imagine they do. A lot of the time they just think of Him as a kind of abstract force that’s sort of analogous to a human mind, and maybe isn’t distinct from even our sense of morality.
So in order to think that way and still claim the moral high ground, they do necessarily have to be confused.