Re: A Christian Answer to Euthyphro's Dilemma

On Mar 15, 2:44 pm, Qarel <text...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
On 15 mrt, 20:16, Friar Broccoli <Elia...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:



On Mar 12, 4:37 pm, sdguy2005 <samrig2...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

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 Euthyphro's Dilemma."http://www.theologyonline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=47024

I was interested that a problem that has long been at the
center of my thoughts has such an ancient name. So I skipped
down to the:

Conclusion

Is something good because God commands it so (i.e., because He
decides that a certain trait, like honesty, will be good rather
than bad)? No. Scripture reinforces the judgment of the
conscience that God put within man, both of which indicate that
morality, like truth, is non-contradictory and could not survive
even the potential of embracing immorality.

Is something good because God recognizes it as good? Yes. Then
to clarify:

* Is the standard He judges by anterior or superior to Himself?
No.

* Is He Himself the standard that He judges by? Yes.
Righteousness is the description of God's own nature.

* If the standard is Himself, how could God know it is valid? By
the eternal concurring witnesses of the Trinity.

* How does God reveal His standard to men? This and so many
other questions go beyond Euthyphro's Dilemma. But see Battle
Royale VII, Does God Exist?, Bob Enyart vs. Zakath for more
information, available for free online at TheologyOnline.com's
Coliseum or in print at KGOV.com.

Thus the Christian answers the skeptic with a logically
consistent explanation of how morality can flow from God Himself
without requiring that God arbitrarily decide what kinds of
traits will be considered "good," by showing how the triune God
can objectively know righteousness.

Euthyphro's Dilemma is not the Christian's dilemma. Socrates'
questions do not undermine the integrity of Christianity but
rather provide the opportunity to show the strength of the
triune God, for a three-fold cord is not easily broken and by
the testimony of the Trinity's three witnesses the matter can be
established. An atheist reading A Christian Answer to
Euthyphro's Dilemma does not have to convert to agree that the
dilemma has been answered, yet he cannot honestly use this
dilemma again against Christianity unless he demonstrated a
fatal flaw in this answer. So the triune Christian God, the
mystery of the Trinity, Three Persons in One God, is the one God
whose testimony we can trust because He recognizes something as
good when it is consistent with His own nature. And He can
affirmatively know that His divine nature is and always has been
good by the three eternal concurring witnesses within the
Godhead. Jesus continued (John 5:31-32, 36-37) in that Gospel
passage: "If I bear witness of Myself, My witness is not true
[credible]. There is another who bears witness of Me, and I know
that the witness which He witnesses of Me is true [and] the
works which the Father has given Me to finish_the very works
that I do_bear witness of Me, that the Father has sent Me. And
the Father Himself, who sent Me, has testified of Me."

Does anybody think that this even resembles a reply?

Friar Broccoli
Robert Keith Elias, Quebec, Canada Email: EliasRK (of) gmail * com
Best programmer's & all purpose text editor:http://www.semware.com

--------- I consider ALL arguments in support of my views ---------

No, and I am a Christian. In the first place I thoroughly
dislike it when people start using the Trinity in arguments,
as if it is something that is well understood. It isn't;
it is essentially a mystery, not a completely satisfying
answer.

More importantly I see a problem with the third point:

* If the standard is Himself, how could God know it is valid? By
the eternal concurring witnesses of the Trinity.

This only removes the complaint about disagreeing Gods,
not the complaint (used against unitarian Gods in the
same article) of self-deception by God. When three agree
they are not right by definition. The witnessing that the
article talks about and that is supposed to save God from
self-deception, refers only to actions within the trinity
itself (if we can ever talk about such things), not to
the actions of the trinity outside itself. And then the
complaint against the unitarian gods returns in full
force.

My personal dilemma goes a bit deeper than that. I ask myself:
Suppose the supreme being was in no way good. What standard
could I use to discern, what is truly good, against his will?

Nevertheless, I agree that your statement of the problem
exposes a clear flaw in the argument presented.

Cordially;

Friar Broccoli
Robert Keith Elias, Quebec, Canada Email: EliasRK (of) gmail * com
Best programmer's & all purpose text editor: http://www.semware.com

--------- I consider ALL arguments in support of my views ---------

.

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