(Ron) God & Absolute Monarchs

K & L Hobbs lhobbs@wesleyan.edu
Mon, 14 Sep 1998 18:25:45 -0400 (00905829945, 3.0.3.32.19980914182545.006aee18@mail.wesleyan.edu) 


>>TILL



>>The same could be said of an absolute monarch or a tyrannical dictator.

 


>>He could tell his subjects not to kill another human, but then he

could


>>destroy as many of them as he wanted to.  Would he be moral according

to 


>>the standard that he has required of his subjects? ... 



>>



>RON



>  You are right Till, He IS an absolute monarch.  This ain't no 



>democracy! That's exactly the illusion though, that you atheists are 



>trying to perpetuate. Once the self that wants so badly to control 



>reality (like a crying baby) meets up with its true self it ceases to 



>exist.  [snip evasive preaching]



HOBBS

Ron, please try to address the issue raised. What difference does it make
whether this is ain't no democracy? The question is whether, if a
tyrannical dictator tells his subjects not to kill but then he himself
kills many, he would be moral according to the standard that he has
required of his subjects. 


To help you answer the question, try responding to this example: Suppose
an emperor decreed that it is wrong to punish people for their crimes by
carrying out the sentence on their children. So all the police and judges
in his empire have to catch and convict and sentence the actual
criminals; they can't try to get at a criminal by punishing his children.
But then suppose this emperor himself then punishes a criminal by
throwing his daughter in a dungeon. There's no question that the emperor
has the <italic>power </italic>to do this. The question is whether he
would be <italic>right</italic> to do so. Would he? 


If it helps you focus on the issue at hand, perhaps you can tell us
whether God had any good reasons for giving us the laws he gave us, or
whether they are all just arbitrary whims. For example, did God have any
reasons for saying that rape is wrong, or was it just an arbitrary choice
on his part and he could have said that rape is all right, or even
obligatory, thus making it so?