“there is no God, there’s no right, there’s no wrong,”
Here is the flaw in the logic. Of course this behaviour would still be considered wrong, because: 1) It is illegal. It is a violation of criminal statutes that do not appear to be sourced, either directly or indirectly, from the Bible.
2) It is immoral, in that it violates societal mores.
One of the main problems with providing morals/ethics from God, is that the feedback system is very weak. You only find out whether you have violated God’s rules until after you have died. If you violate the law (which comes from the state) you find out much quicker.
The legal system, despite its flaws, is more effective in enforcing law and order for this reason. With judeo-christianity, you have this Schrodinger’s cat syndrome, where you can’t determine whether actions are “good” or “bad” until after death. Thus you have the bizarre situation where eternal damnation could hinge on reading skills.
Or worse, translation skills. It is possible that millions of people will end up in hell based on the translation difference between “kill” and “murder”.
something to think about.
Folks growing up in the ’50s, ’60s, ‘70s, and early ’80s will remember the existential threat of that era: communism.
ISIS has a long way to go before it can capture the fear of total nuclear annihilation. The vietnam war, the korean war, the cold war, domino theory, the day after, red dawn, war games, duck-and-cover drills in school...
Whenever I hear hand-wringing from these youngsters about ISIS, I have to chuckle. Back in my day we had real existential threats, sonny.
Now I’m going back to watch my copy of Rocky iV. On VHS of course.