A Christian Answer to the Euthyphro Dilemma

[sdguy2005]

Hi everyone. I thought some of you might be interested in reading this
article that was posted at TheologyOnline.com called, "A Christian
Answer to the Euthyphro Dilemma."
http://www.theologyonline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=47024

In case you're not familiar with Euthyphro's Dilemma, it's a
philosophical argument that atheists like to use to claim that
morality cannot flow from God, because any absolute moral standard is
either a) arbitrarily commanded by God, in which case even murder
would be OK if He said so, or b) a moral standard external to God
would exist, which would mean that some being is superior to Him.

This particular answer to the dilemma proves that only the Christian
deity (a triune god) can objectively know that an absolute moral
standard exists, because of the consistent, eternal witness within the
Godhead.

Interesting stuff. Check it out!

[quibbler]

On Mar 13, 3:32 pm, sdguy2005 <samrig2...@yahoo.com> wrote:

> In case you're not familiar with Euthyphro's Dilemma, it's a
> philosophical argument that atheists like to use to claim that
> morality cannot flow from God, because any absolute moral standard is
> either a) arbitrarily commanded by God, in which case even murder
> would be OK if He said so

That's not really the point. The point is that it becomes vacuous to
say, "God is good" <aka omnibeneficient> if "goodness" is ad hoc
redefined to be "whatever god wills". Conceptually it is still
possible for god to will something which would not meet external
standards of goodness. To take another example, satan could be said
to be "good" if he too is extended the exorbitant privilege of having
his actions defined as "good" by default. But this is little more
than argument by assertion as it stands.

[Bob Enyart]

O quibbler, every point you raised is handled by that Christian
Answer
to Euthyphro's Dilemma at TheologyOnline.com at
http://www.theologyonline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=47024.
You raise an excellent objection about "God is Good' being a
tautology
(empty statement). Except that is answered at the link.
You raise an excellent objection that the devil would be good if his
actions were defined as good. Except that is answered at the link.
You raise an excellent objection to "argument by assertion." Except
that is answered at the link.

Pastor Bob Enyart
Denver Bible Church & KGOV.com

[Mani Deli]

Nobody knows anything about any gods. There is no evidence, so you
can't have a rational argument about whether he's this or that.

Indeed, some religions say he's good but there is no evidence.