What are the parameters for morality?

If there seems to be no immediate and definite answer to this, yes, you've guessed it ...since I'm blogging away again, it's a fair assumption that I've put some thought into it.

The good thing about blogs, is that they have editing potential ...so, if I put any more thought into it, I can update it.

So, what are the parameters to morality?   Well, without an absolute, there are none.

And if we create our own morality, the parameters will assuredly stretch.

And like Silly Putty ...the image will stretch with it.

                    It may be fun seeing yourself in different ways.

But, often we get confused by who is the real us?

When we look in a standard mirror, do we see ourselves for who we really are ...for who others see us?

That is not always accurate either ...our own image of ourselves, nor how others see us.

It really matters how God sees us.

And He sees us through the sacrifice for us ...through Jesus.

With that in mind, let's define morality.

Or let's look at how the dictionary defines it:  the character of being in accord with the principles or standards of right conduct.

'Right conduct' can vary from culture to culture, nation to nation, and people to people.  

It can be defined as what is accepted.  And there are cultures where cannibalism is practiced and accepted.  And others where they've had their children walk through fire.  In these cultures, it probably didn't start this way ...but one thing leads to another, and wrong things lead to more wrong.

So, really there is no right or wrong, unless there is a standard ...and that would be an absolute standard.  As mentioned earlier, it would be not just how God sees us ...but, also how He sees things, as right or wrong.

Our swaying standards strictly prohibit some things, yet tolerate even more severe things.  We send Michael Vick to prison, yet make Ultimate Fighting a sport ...and have public facilities, not for dog fighting, but for aborting our own.

I think 'we' are rather incompetent with deciding what is 'right' or 'wrong'.  God is in charge of morality ...and I suggest 'we' comply.

Okay, forgive me ...but, it is nearly seven years later, and I can't remember all I said in all my posts.  I just know I've reached my limit in blogs I've written, so if I say more I'll have to add to already existing ones. Perhaps you think I've said enough, but I'm sorry, this is not required reading ...yet, I'm required to think, as a requirement of existence.

When did morality begin to exist for us??

It seems to me that it began right after Adam & Eve ate the forbidden fruit.  Whether they felt naked to each other, or if they felt they didn't want God to see them naked ...well, I don't really know.  Did they look at each other differently, or look at themselves differently ...or both??

Ethics can be considered a code of conduct generally expected of people within an organization or field of study. Morality, as discussed earlier, does also deal with right or wrong ...yet, in a society which doesn't glorify God, it becomes not so much what is right or wrong, but that which least offends other people.

Morality has much to do with relationships ...those which God chose for us.  Animals are not considered immoral, as they do what they do.  Adam & Eve were to have roles, and their relationships were designated by God ...physically, emotionally, and spiritually. 

Some animals seem only to have a physical relationship, but other animals do much better than most of us humans.  Male and female swans have a habit of putting their heads together, and with their curved necks, they form a heart-shape image. It is not just an image though, they truly are loyal to one another. And the Emperor Penguins have many traits among them to be admired.  Eagles, otters, beavers, and angelfish are also very loyal.

One of the most loyal, not only to their mate, but also to their extended family ...is the wolves. But, mostly we don't view them as good, because of the way they are depicted in so many stories, giving young children nightmares.

Dogs can be very loyal to us, but often rather indiscriminate towards other dogs.  Horses have also demonstrated great loyalty to their owner.  And homing pigeons always seem to know where their home is.

Humans were created in the image of God ...to love their Lord, their God, and love their neighbor as themselves.  Though that often does not happen, that was the way it was meant to be.

Humans are to have a relationship with God, a family relationship with parents and children, and our relationships with those outside our families.

Adam & Eve realized they were naked, and crudely sewed leaves together ...later, God providing them with coats of skin. We all know that for Cain and Abel to be born, the animal skins had to make way for their own skin ...but, aside from mentioning the unmentionables, we all see how clothing serves a great purpose.  We don't have a problem with a baby running around naked, but not too long, as we would have a huge sanitary problem.  They need a diaper.  Yet, though we improve much as we grow older, we encounter other changes which necessitates good sanitary conditions to continue with some sort of clothing. There are other good reasons not to go around naked, but I am not going to continue with that issue.

When I worked in the children's division of the Mental Institution, one teenage girl said to me that if she was a couple years older, she would date me.  I laughed when she said that. Yet, when I noticed that she appeared hurt, perhaps thinking of her with the stigma of being mentally ill, I apologized to her by offering an explanation.  I said I was working professionally as an adult role model figure ...and I looked at, and treated each of them as a parent who cares for their children.  And I told her that since I looked at her as a daughter, the mention of her thinking of dating me ...well, it ruined that image of the proper relationship, and was a bit disturbing to me.  Again I apologized, stating that I laughed because it made me feel uncomfortable.  From that point forward, she called me 'Dad'.

Most people read much into this. We read of Adam & Eve ...and then of Cain and his brother Abel.  But, before I get into that ...look at what happens when a man has more than one wife?? We don't read much about how Solomon's wives responded to it, but most every other occasion there seems to be trouble. The temporary inability to have children affected Hannah, Rachel, and Sarah ...and a handmaid, or second wife did not provide a remedy without hurt and complications.

God shows us much with relationships.  We are to worship and glorify one triune God ...and we are to have one spouse, whom we are joined together with as set forth by God.  (Yes, there is a parallel ...as Jesus looks to us his bride.)  There is not to be another God, and it causes friction when a spouse conceives (whether true or not) she is getting an unequal amount of affection from her husband.

And with our children, we are to love them equally also.  As for their relationships towards one another ...they are to be brothers and sisters.

I believe that Adam was outside the Garden of Eden with all the other people (men and women) whom God created.  This is what I read in Chapter 2.  It says God formed Adam, then planted the Garden of Eden ...and put Adam in it.  I believe that after Adam & Eve were sent from the Garden of Eden, their son Cain, having killed his brother ...was sent away, and found a wife among the women created outside the Garden of Eden. Cain did not kill Abel to compete for their sister.  Competitively vying for attention is often not necessary nor healthy, but if the competition is within a household the problem is magnified. consider how worse if in bitter competition sisters fought to see who'd marry their brother.

An Athenian tragedy, called Oedipus, was a play written by Sophocles about 400 B.C., and it began much like the movie, Beauty and the Beast ...with a curse put upon the dad for his lack of hospitality.  Except, in this case, the lack of hospitality was that in his youth he seduced and raped the king's son ...the son of the king then committing suicide out of unwarranted guilt he felt, being the victim. Oedipus's dad is then told he will marry and have a son, and his own son will kill him and marry his wife (the son's mom). 

At the latter part of the 1800s, Sigmund Freud did not look at this kind of stuff as outlandish circumstances, a fate so wild that it had to be brought on by a curse ...no, he felt it was normal to desire that which Oedipus was cursed with. How can this be??

Well, Charles Darwin and others were already on their way to trying to insist our creation into this world was by explainable means that we can observe in nature ...not at all looking to God's act of Creation. Sadly, Darwin did not see relationships clearly either.  When he was debating in his own mind whether he should marry or not, his arguments against marriage were, "less money for books" and "terrible loss of time".  He did marry, so his arguments for marriage must have been more compelling to him, "constant companion and a friend in old age ...better than a dog anyhow".  The fact that he was often ill, may have played into his decision to marry a cousin, who had proved to be very adequate with carrying for a sick aunt, and she appeared to be eager to care for him.  To his credit, he did love children and was heartbroken when two children did not live to their first birthday, and especially hard on him was the daughter who died at ten years old.  Darwin did have seven other healthy children ...and they did seem to have a healthy perspective with one another, unlike what Sigmund Freud proposed to be natural.

Romans, Chapter one, states, "For the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood ...so that people are without excuse; because that, when they knew God, they glorified Him not as God, neither were they thankful; but became vain in their imaginations ...wherefore God gave them up to uncleanliness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonor their own bodies between themselves ...who changed the truth of God into a lie ...For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections ...and even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, ..."

We consider incest to be sexual abuse. Studies have shown that incest can bring on many disorders. Dissociative identity disorder (DID), previously known as multiple personality disorder (MPD), is a mental disorder accompanied by memory gaps beyond what would be explained by ordinary forgetfulness.  The personality states of mind alternately show in a person's behavior; conditions often occurring include post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), or disorders (especially borderline and avoidant), inclusive of depression, substance abuse, conversion disorder, somatic symptom disorder, eating disorders, OCD, and sleep disorders. Self-harm, self-mutilation, suicide, impulsivity and rapid changes in interpersonal relationships, non-epileptic seizures, flashbacks with amnesia for content of flashbacks, and numerous anxiety disorders are also very common. 
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder: The condition may last months or years, with triggers that can bring back memories of the trauma accompanied by intense emotional and physical reactions.  Symptoms may include nightmares or unwanted memories of the trauma, avoidance of situations that bring back memories of the trauma, heightened reactions, anxiety, or depressed mood.

Incest brings on so many disorders, yet moving away from God and embracing evolution seems clearly to be what we were warned about in the first Chapter of Romans. And seeing as incest looks to me as being also within a reprobate mind, I don't see God bringing about consequences (including the Flood), as a result of things He would have left us no option with.  

Adam & Eve ...and incest?? 

This goes against all the concepts of God's teaching about relationships, it is wrong, and it is immoral.  And I believe that all this became evident within their spirit when they ate the forbidden fruit. Morality and relationships are rather inseparable. Healthy relationships with God give each of us a good moral society.   

Romans, Chapter 5, states:

“Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, so also death was passed on to all men, because all sinned. For sin was in the world before the Law was given, but sin is not taken into account when there is no law.”

The one man spoken of, is Adam, but was Adam the first human to sin??  Wasn’t Eve the first to sin??  Or wouldn’t it at least be more accurate to say all sin came into the world through Adam & Eve?? 

No, as the Bible reads, Eve was not created yet, when God told Adam which fruit was forbidden to eat.  By nature of God’s response to their eating the fruit, it appears to me that Adam told Eve, not God.  So, the sin entered the world through Adam …as what the Book of Romans seems to be speaking to. And we all have the Bible, so we are told of the Word of God, we can say God speaks to us through the Bible …but, His Word is often passed on to us through the witness and testimony of others. Yes, we get His truth also from listening to others.  Eve got God’s message from Adam, and that is sufficient …and we read how God addressed that.

God spoke to the serpent about the ‘seed’ …and we see the line (seed) from Adam to Jesus.  Jesus prepared His disciples.  He mentioned the two great commandments: ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’  This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’

Matthew 7:12 states that Jesus also said, “Therefore all things whatsoever you would that men should do to you: you should do even so to them.” ---also referred to as the Golden Rule. 

Before Jesus came to earth, and also afterwards for people who were never reached with the Gospel, this knowing of God, and the Golden Rule would seem to apply.  Even unbelievers are accountable on many levels to love your neighbor as yourself. (Also as the Book of Romans, Chapter one, verse 20 states ---“ …they are without excuse.”)

The Great Commission is referred to Jesus telling them to make disciples of all nations. 

The Apostles told others about Jesus, and those who heard were held accountable to either accept what they heard, or reject it.

If you take the fullness of the Word of God, I believe most of it points to men and women being created outside the Garden of Eden ...only a couple points having to be clarified.  If I believe incest was a part of it, then I feel increasing questions have to be answered ...and I sincerely don't believe many of the explanations make much sense.  (https://putmorethoughtintoitwiththanks.blogspot.com/)

You can say, Darwin and others tried to make sense of it ...but, I am not trying to make sense through a departure from God.  I read the Bible with an open heart and an open mind, and I am so grateful for what God shows me.  Does it work for someone else, what I believe??  Well, maybe not on these few points ...but, I'm mostly comforted to know that we agree on Jesus, how He and the Father are One (also with the Holy Spirit), and that we can know Him for who He is by reading the Bible.  And as we accept Him, we can trust in His promises for us.