Divine Command Theory

[Linked]

I just watched a great episode of Crash Course Philosophy on Divine Command Theory: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wRHBwxC8b8I

Divine Command Theory states that morality is defined by God, so whatever God says is good is good. After reading through the Old Testament it is difficult to have any other view since God commands genocide and allows very evil things sometimes, and other times kills everyone for being evil for doing the same things. This leads to some problems, one pointed out in the video is when something changes from bad to good or vice versa. In the old testament we are instructed to do some weird stuff by today's standards, but then it just goes away, except for some of it because it really is good. How confusing. Can you say Polygamy, blacks and the priesthood, tithing requirements, Word of Wisdom observance requirements, changes to the temple ceremony, etc...?

It then gets into the Euthyphro Problem presented by Plato. The Euthyphro Problem asks whether right actions are right simply because God commands them, or whether right actions are commanded by God because they are right. The first interpretation leads to the issues described above. The second interpretation makes God beholden to a higher morality, so he is no longer omnipotent. Also, if there is a purer good than what God says, if we are seeking good why would we go to God, why wouldn't we instead go straight to the source of goodness?

[LSOF]

Divine command theory is essentially "might makes right" on a biblical scale.

[oliver_denom]

There are a number of examples of this within Mormonism too:

Jacob 2:24 - 30 - Polygamy is an abomination, unless God wills it.
D&C 19:7 - It's okay to deceive people about "eternal punishment"
JS to Nancy Rigdon - "That which is wrong under one circumstance, may be, and often is, right under another."

The problem with this isn't with God making moral claims, because I don't really see him around to make his will known or enforcing his commands, it's with the people claiming that God is making moral claims. Without an objective method for determining morality, the prophets of God have no one to check their words and pronouncements. They are beholden to no one. They can say one thing, and then do another claiming that God approves. They can arbitrarily pass judgement using gut feelings in one case but not another. We, the followers, might be moored to the commands of the prophets, but nothing moors them.

What's moral is what the prophets or his designated administrators declare it to be. This makes everyone else dependent on their authority, which explains why the most devout want to consult with the Bishop every time they have to make a major life decision. If moral truths were universal and unchanging, then there'd be no need to go through the church.

Make no mistake. When a person claims that God commands this and that, what they really mean is that they (the person) commands this or that. How do they know what God wants? Did he verbally speak to them or show up in the temple? No, they almost universally claim a spiritual experience or manifestation rooted in feeling, a feeling which was almost certainly planted by indoctrination within the community they were raised...unless they are con artists.

[deacon blues]

In Joseph Smith's mind, he was always right; Hence there could be no error in the revelations he received.

[Corsair]

I have a thoughtful, but quite conservative Christian acquaintance who has an interesting take on Divine Command Theory and the Euthyphro dilemma. He believes quite confidently that since God created everything, any rules God comes up with are necessarily good. "God's game, God's rules" is how he puts it. For Euthyphro, this means that God equals goodness by strict definition under this idea. So as long as the Israelites were following God's command to inflict genocide on their neighbors, they were still righteous. From our clean 21st century perspective we might be horrified but have no divine perspective to condemn them.

The problem with this isn't with God making moral claims, because I don't really see him around to make his will known or enforcing his commands, it's with the people claiming that God is making moral claims. Without an objective method for determining morality, the prophets of God have no one to check their words and pronouncements. They are beholden to no one. They can say one thing, and then do another claiming that God approves. They can arbitrarily pass judgement using gut feelings in one case but not another. We, the followers, might be moored to the commands of the prophets, but nothing moors them.

This is the crux of the problem. Ovce we have a firm testimony of what a prophet is saying then following that commandment is righteous no matter how the jurisprudence of a liberal, representative Democracy might feel. The LDS church does like the republican ideals of the American constitution, but the LDS church is not a democracy at all. It's a benevolent dictatorship led by Jesus Christ as interpreted by 15 apostles. This seems like a suspiciously useful reason for LDS leadership to continue preaching the value of a testimony of LDS prophets and not just the Christian ideal of a testimony of Jesus Christ.

[deacon blues]

The church started as a cult with Joseph Smith and later Brigham calling virtually all the shots. Since then, it is slooowly evolving into an authoritarian 1 (when he's mentally able) +2+12 try to make the best rules they can and handpick all their successors.

[deacon blues]

The church started as a cult with Joseph Smith and later Brigham calling virtually all the shots. Since then, it is slooowly evolving into an authoritarian 1 (when he's mentally able) +2+12 men organization who try to make the best rules they can and handpick all their successors.

[glass shelf]

When I learned about divine command theory, it helped me understand so many things. The LDS church teaches it to children as early as possible--see the story of Laban. Murder's wrong, unless God says so.

Rejecting the idea that anything stated by LDS prophets as being God's will was moral was when I gained back my own moral compass. It was a pretty big step to say, "Hey. I just don't agree with this. The church doesn't live up to my moral standards." It feels awesome, though, to no longer have that inner battle.