I was listening to a Christian radio show yesterday. They were discussing that it is our duty to follow the standards set by God.

Has God set standards or did we humans set the standards?

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InterfaithForums.com-Where your ideas and beliefs count.

Depends on what you believe. If you believe that the scriptures (from whichever religion) were divinely inspired, then perhaps god set the standards. Now all that is necessary to do is to sort out what those standards are, which is a monumentally difficult task, to judge by the plethora of religious sects which have evolved almost entirely due to alternate readings of scripture.

If you believe that the scriptures were written by men, but that god still set the standards, then I suppose you will just have to listen to whomever you believe god is communicating those standards to. Benedict XVI, Billy Graham, Jerry Falwell, the Dalai Lama, etc.

If you believe, as I do, that we are pretty much left to our own devices, then we set the standards, and those standards will change as we change, and as our understanding grows.

In any case, we humans seem perpetually unable to behave according to any consistent set of standards. For those who adhere to divine standards, those seem dependent on the faith in question. For those who adhere to human standards, those are more dependent on local laws and jurisprudence.

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evangelicalhumanist: Greek "eu"=good and "angelos"=messenger. Spreading the good news of Humanism.

I agree. And I don't think that's a bad thing. We change daily. We grow daily. And what we thought was acceptable at 16 is very different than what is acceptable now. Even faith fluctuates in our understanding. It's a living thing.

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It is our duty to prove that GOD has standards or exalts Authority towards humans. For all we know GOD may not even have anything in mind for us.

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"There is one thing that organized religion is not qualified to teach and that is an individual's purpose."-GOD

And for all we know there is no God and we need to think for ourselves.

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You are the place where I find shelter left out in the cold.
You are the Hell in helter skelter