Objective Moral Values and Duties Show that God Exists

The moral argument ties into our common experience of right and wrong. If you think that there really is such a thing as "right" and "wrong" and that there is a meaningful difference between the two, then it follows that God exists. Let"s examine why: "Premise One: If God does not exist, then objective moral values and duties do not exist. "Premise Two: Objective moral values and duties do exist. "Premise Three: Therefore, God exists. Premise One: If God does not exist, then objective moral values and duties do not exist. This ties into what philosophers call the "grounding" problem. If God does not exist, then there is nothing "out there" that can ground moral "right" and "wrong". Think of it this way, if a child pretends to be a construction worker as a game then he does he earn a salary? No, of course not. Why not? There is no employer outside of the child"s fantasy that can "ground" his employment. The child is only a construction worker in his own mind. If "right and wrong" only exist in our own minds, then they are no more real than the child"s construction job. We are just "pretending" that there is a right and wrong, but there is nothing in reality that these ideas correspond to. If God exists, then he is an objective reality in which "right and wrong" can be grounded. Right and wrong correspond with God, right being those things that correspond to his nature and wrong being those things that don"t. Since God is the objective grounding for all reality, morality is objective if it is grounded in him. Keep in mind that we are not saying that "right and wrong" are objective because God exists. We are saying that "right and wrong" are only objective if God exists. We aren"t assuming God"s existence, we"re saying that God is the only candidate to ground objective moral values. If God does not exist, there is just no viable alternative candidate to be the grounds for objective reality. All of our thoughts and feelings about "right" and "wrong" are in our own heads, no more real than the Tonka truck that little Timmy plays with. Premise Two: Objective moral values and duties do exist. We all know this to be true. We have a real experience of right and wrong. We expect others to adhere to the same code of conduct that we do, and we"re indignant when they don"t. This belief in right and wrong is so basic for us, that we can"t really escape it in practice. Some might try to deny that right and wrong exist in order to win an argument, but in practice they can"t live that way. Think about it, are things like rape, murder, racism, hatred, exploitation, dishonesty, and the like evil or are you just pretending that they are evil? Do you think people should avoid behaviors dominated by these things or do you think they are really no different from love, compassion, and selflessness? Are you really just pretending that there is a difference between saving people and murdering them? It seems obvious that none of our experiences of right and wrong are just "made up" or pretend. There really are evils in the world, and an evil is one type of objective moral value. If it exists, then objective moral values exist. Premise Three: Therefore, God exists. This just follows logically and inescapably from the first two premises. If objective values can only exist if God exists, and objective values exist, then it follows that God exists. So the question for you is this, is there a real difference between right and wrong or are you just pretending that there is? If the difference is real, then God exists.