{"id":93759,"date":"2021-12-31T13:41:43","date_gmt":"2021-12-31T20:41:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?p=93759"},"modified":"2022-01-11T20:14:37","modified_gmt":"2022-01-12T03:14:37","slug":"if-god-does-not-exist-is-everything-permitted","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2021\/12\/if-god-does-not-exist-is-everything-permitted.html","title":{"rendered":"“If God Does Not Exist, Is Everything Permitted?”"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"At<\/a>
In this photograph, taken five days after the liberation of the concentration camp at Buchenwald, the future Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel\u2019s face is visible just to the right of center. If you move your cursor to that position, his face will be outlined with a yellow square.\u00a0 (Wikimedia Commons public domain image)\u00a0 Serious question:\u00a0 Can atheistic naturalism sustain a moral argument against genocide or against slavery?\u00a0 The Nazis believed that, by eliminating or enslaving non-Aryans, they were furthering the interests of their own \u201ctribe\u201d and creating \u201cLebensraum\u201d for its expansion and flourishing.\u00a0 Given their social Darwinist presuppositions, doing so, in their view, was a moral imperative.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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***<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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A new essay appeared at noon today, Utah time, in Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship<\/em>.\u00a0 I regret to say that I wrote it.\u00a0 I don\u2019t regret my authorship of the essay because I disagree with anything that it contains, but because I don\u2019t like the fact that this is the second Interpreter<\/em> essay in a row by, well, me<\/em>.\u00a0 I hadn\u2019t intended to author this year\u2019s Christmas message, which was published last week.\u00a0 But circumstances forced my hand.\u00a0 Anyway, here is this week\u2019s offering:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIf God Does Not Exist, Is Everything Permitted?\u201d<\/a> by Daniel C. Peterson<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Abstract:\u00a0<\/strong>Can people be good without believing in God? Obviously, yes. They can. Is atheistic naturalism capable of supplying a foundation for morality? That is a separate question, to which more than a few theists have answered No. However, a relatively new book by a very prominent student of religion and society suggests otherwise. A rational morality can, it argues, be founded upon atheistic naturalism \u2014 but it will necessarily be a modest and quite limited one, lacking universal scope and without a belief in human rights as objective \u201cmoral facts.\u201d<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

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***<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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As has been my practice for a while, I now offer links to some articles from a prior issue of Interpreter.\u00a0 Perhaps you\u2019ve forgotten them, or perhaps you missed them.\u00a0 Or perhaps you\u2019ll want to take another look at one or more of them:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cOh, That I Were an Angel!\u201d by Daniel C. Peterson<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Abstract:<\/strong>\u00a0<\/span>Alma\u2019s conversion experience was both unusual and unusually powerful, and yet he fervently wished that he could provide others with the same experience. So much so, in fact, that he actually feared that he might be sinning in his wish by seeming to oppose the will of God. Increasingly, though, I\u00a0find myself sharing that wish. My involvement with the Interpreter Foundation can correctly be regarded as one manifestation of that fact. I\u00a0invite others to join us.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cBe Ye Therefore Loyal, Even as Your Father Which is in Heaven is Loyal,\u201d by\u00a0Taylor Halverson<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

Abstract:\u00a0<\/strong>The scriptures are saturated with covenantal words and terms. Any serious or close reading of the scriptures that misses or ignores the covenantal words, phrases, and literary structure of scripture runs the risk of missing the full purpose of why God preserved the scriptures for us. This is especially true for the Old Testament and the Book\u00a0of\u00a0Mormon, which emerged out of an Old Testament cultural context. Research during the past century on ancient Near Eastern covenants has brought clarity to the covenantal meaning and context of a\u00a0variety of words and literary structures in the Old Testament and the Book\u00a0of\u00a0Mormon. This article builds on that revealing research to show that the English word \u201cperfect\u201d in a\u00a0covenantal context in scripture can also be represented with the covenantal synonyms of \u201cloyal, loyalty, faithful, and trustworthy.\u201d God has revealed and preserved the scriptures as records of these covenants and of the consequences of covenantal loyalty or disloyalty. The Lord\u2019s injunction to \u201cbe ye therefore perfect\u201d (Matthew\u00a05:48) is beautifully magnified when we realize that we are not simply asked to be without sin, but, rather, to \u201cbe ye therefore covenantally loyal\u201d even as God has been eternally and covenantally loyal to us.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

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\u201cAncient Sacred Vestments: Scriptural Symbols and Meanings,\u201d by Donald W. Parry<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Abstract:\u00a0<\/strong>In this essay Parry starts with the symbology of ritual vestments, and then discusses in detail how the ancient clothing worn in Old Testament temples are part of the rituals and religious gestures that are conducted by those who occupy the path that leads from the profane to the sacred. The profane is removed, one is ritually washed, anointed, invested with special clothing, offers sacrifices, is ordained (hands are filled), and offers incense at the altar, before entering the veil. Putting on clothes, in a Christian context, is often seen as symbol of putting on Christ, as witnessed by the apostle Paul using the word \u201cenduo,\u201d when talking about putting on Christ, a word mainly used in the Septuagint for donning sacred vestments (symbols also for salvation, righteousness, glory, strength and resurrection) in order to be prepared to stand before God. Parry then goes on explaining how priestly officiants wearing sacred vestments, emulated celestial persons who wear sacred vestments, making one an image of those celestial persons. He concludes with showing how the ancient garbs of the High Priest point to Christ.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

[Editor\u2019s Note:\u00a0<\/strong>Part of our book chapter reprint series, this article is reprinted here as a service to the LDS community. Original pagination and page numbers have necessarily changed, otherwise the reprint has the same content as the original.<\/span><\/p>\n

See Donald W. Parry, \u201cAncient Sacred Vestments: Scriptural Symbols and Meanings,\u201d in\u00a0Temple Insights: Proceedings of the Interpreter Matthew B. Brown Memorial Conference, \u201cThe Temple on Mount Zion,\u201d 22 September 2012,<\/em>\u00a0ed. William J. Hamblin and David Rolph Seely (Orem, UT: The Interpreter Foundation; Salt Lake City: Eborn Books, 2014), 219\u201340. Further information at\u00a0https:\/\/interpreterfoundation.org\/books\/temple-insights\/<\/a>.]<\/span><\/p>\n

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\u201cAn Ishmael Buried Near Nahom,\u201d by Neal Rappleye<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Abstract:<\/strong>\u00a0Latter-day Saint scholars generally agree that \u201cthe place called\u2026 Nahom,\u201d where Ishmael was buried (1 Nephi 16:34) is identified as the Nihm tribal region in Yemen. Significantly, a funerary stela with the name y s1<\/sup>m\u02bf\u02bel \u2014 the South Arabian equivalent of Ishmael \u2014 was found near the Nihm region and dated to ca. 6th century\u00a0bc<\/span>. Although it cannot be determined with certainty that this is the Ishmael from the Book of Mormon, circumstantial evidence suggests that such is a possibility worth considering.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 \u00a0 *** \u00a0 A new essay appeared at noon today, Utah time, in Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship.\u00a0 I regret to say that I wrote it.\u00a0 I don\u2019t regret my authorship of the essay because I disagree with anything that it contains, but because I don\u2019t like the fact that 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