On Commitment to God

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asked 7 years ago

Is the Euthyphro dilemma relevant to the question of commitment to God, because if morality – i.e., good, evil, justice, etc. – are entities to which God is also ‘subject’ (‘The Judge of all the earth will not do justice’), then perhaps the obligation that I feel not to do evil because it is evil is not due to the general commitment to the word of God, but rather to these entities, and it would not be possible to extrapolate from this to the prohibition of Satan…? (This is in contrast to the possibility that good is good because God commanded it – then there is no question…)

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מיכי Staff answered 7 years ago

I will reiterate that I gave an example, not evidence. An example is always good. My argument is that if you feel such a commitment, it has a basis and there is no need to be bothered by the lack of a basis (every basis is also based on an initial feeling). The sense of obligation to God did not detract from the sense of obligation to morality. Even if we assume that morality precedes God in some sense, why wouldn’t this be a good example of how the sense of obligation is binding? As for the question about Euthyphro, in my opinion it is meaningless. There is no such thing before God and without God. Without Him there is no world and no humans, so what is the meaning of moral obligation in such a situation? Whose obligation? The only meaning can be in the question of whether He could create a world without moral positives, and here the answer is probably yes. Although there is room for the argument that in such a world they would not feel moral positives, it would still be valid. But this is a theoretical statement and not very interesting.

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ע' replied 7 years ago

Rabbi, I just now had time to read your answer. First of all, thank you very much.
Secondly, I still have a small question, the Rabbi said that morality is just a fish for a sense of obligation. But if we assume for a moment that morality and halakha are disconnected - then although I have no problem with the moral obligation - to which I feel a sense of obligation, the problem is the commitment to halakha, what do I do if I don't feel it…?

מיכי Staff replied 7 years ago

Feeling the moral obligation does not mean feeling that it is obligatory and that is it. After all, without God there is no morality (as in my fourth notebook in the 3rd century). Therefore, at its core, it is a commitment to morality because God commanded. But He also commanded the law. So what is the difference? Whoever is obligated to this is also obligated to this (to all His commandments).