Proof that God is morally good & other properties of God

THE PROPERTIES OF GOD: - A Dialog

A Forum member once asked me: : Is God morally good? Is God necessarily so?

As I define God, and as I define 'morally good', God is morally good. The relationship between the two is a deduction......in that sense it is 'necessary.' So, Yes: God is necessarily morally good.

My Reasons:

God =definition= Energy & Information & Intrinsic Value composed by Intrinsic Value, recursively, ad inifinitum. [ The usage of the term "Intrinsic Value" here is borrowed from the Formal Axiology of Robt. S. Hartman. It entails an uncountable infinity of properties , a dense continuum of the highest conceivable, and noblest values, those which people are willing to give their lives for, and get intimately involved with.] "Energy" is a central concept in Physics; and "information" is a term crucial to "Information Theory." It implies structure, and negentropy.

Morally good =definition= Self corresponding fully to an improving Self-ideal; a person being completely true to his own true Self. This is a definition with the Science of Ethics. "Ethics" itself is that discipline that arises when individuals are seen as Intrinsic Values, i.e., as precious treasures of value, not to be defiled in any way, but to be loved and appreciated. [The definition of "morality" offered is not circular, contrary to appearance. For details as to what it - and also the definition of "Ethics" - might mean, see this link to a manual by M. C. Katz: http://tinyurl.com/24swmd
For the easier-to-read, popularized version, see this P.D.F. file, a paper, entitled, LIVING THE GOOD LIFE.] http://tinyurl.com/24swmd
Since Ethics is an Intrinsic discipline, and God is the ultimate Intrinsic Value, what they both have in common is Intrinsic Value --- in R. S. Hartman's sense of the term. Therefore, they eventually merge, and one of God's attributes would be moral goodness. Q.E.D.

The God I defined -- and would ask you to accept -- is not omniscient, not omnipotent (but is powerful enough, as you will see once goodness is organized and mobilized), but is omnibenevolent. God is Love.
And Truth, and Beauty. And integrity. And morality.[/B]

Another Forum member responds:
Is your conclusion about the intrinsic value and inviolability of individuals supposed to follow somehow from the earlier statements about God and continually improving Self-ideals? How?? I see no coherent chain of inference here.

Dr. Katz responds:
"God, Buddha, The Force, Yahweh, the singularity, the unicity point -- call it whatever you like -- the result is the same. Science and religion support the same truth -- pure energy is the father of creation.

"Religion is like language or dress. We gravitate toward the practices with which we were raised. In the end, though, we are all proclaiming the same thing. That life has meaning. That we are grateful for the power that created us. .... Faith is universal. Our specific methods for understanding it are arbitrary.

"Some of us pray to Jesus, some of us go to Mecca, some of us study subatomic particles. In the end we are all just searching for truth, that which is greater than ourselves.....Science tells me God must exist. My mind tells me I will never understand God. And my heart tells me I am not meant to."
Dan Brown (pages 93-94;143. in ANGELS AND DEMONS.)

I see that my effort to be concise did not work, and I must be more wordy. This, then, is my theme:


GOOD GOD!!
My definition of "God" may be put into plain language by indicating that I take God to be our Ultimate Value. [See the writings of Paul Tillich on this subject.] I agree with R. S. Hartman and Anselm that
God is that than which there is nothing more valuable.
{Anselm actually said "that than which there is nothing greater" but greatness is to me a vague term. 'Valuable' is--thanks to Formal Axiology-- precise.} God is a collection of all the values that mankind has ever rated highest.

Contemporary Physics tells us that everything is energy or is a transformation of energy (including matter). Therefore energy is highly valuable -- it's indispensable!

Hence, Theorem One is: God is Energy.

The same reasoning holds for Information. It also is highly valuable. Therefore,

Theorem Two: God is Information.

Aristotle declared that God thinks about God thinking about God, etc. Analogously, I see God as a continuous upgrading of value. In the philosophical discipline known as Formal Axiology, "Composition" has a special meaning: to "compose" one value by another is to enhance or upgrade the first value by the second. In the Calculus of Value this is symbolized by V-to-the-V-power, in other words, by exponentiation. [In the same way, disvaluation is symbolized by V-sub-V, defined as V raised to the negative-V power.]

So when I spoke of "Intrinsic Value composed by Intrinsic Value" this is what I meant. To compose a value is to enhance it, such as for example, putting whipped cream on a dessert. Another example: "I love how you love me!"

When you, Andy, gave me the compliment of a civil reply -- albeit a quite critical one -- you were composing value, in the above sense.

To my mind, when a student asks a good question of a teacher, that is a composition also.

(1.1) We don't understand what energy is, but we feel its effects. Do we therefore call Physics (which is the science of transformations of energy) "pure gibberish"?

(2.0) The definition of "morality" I contributed here was an attempt to say in English what is best understood in Logic, with variables; namely: [x is a member of the class named X. An individual is a member of the unit-class containing himself, and bearing his own proper name. This is a Self-Concept. Every concept has a name (sign, label, designator); a meaning; and an application -- as philosophers would say: an intension and an extension.] Our Self, the X and its intension, is our meaning, the meaning of our life. If we correspond with it, if we are in resonance, to that extent we are moral. If we are in full correspondence, we are "congruent" or "whole." Such a person is, so to speak, a "prince among men," a "gantze kerel," a "real mentsch."

Hartman offered five proofs that Intrinsic Value is the most appropriate and fitting value for human beings -- as they are the creatures capable of reflecting, ad infinitum, upon their own reflections. That which refers to all of a collection is of a higher logical order than the collection, according to Russell & Whitehead. If the collection (of reflections) itself is of order aleph-null (denumerably infinite), the higher order is aleph-one (nondenumerable.) The measure of Intrinsic Value (by definition) is that value which is nondenumerably infinite.

When an individual Intrinsically values himself or herself, and Intrinsically values other persons, that individual is corresponding with his/her rational Self. That person possesses MORALITY, as I define the term.
Since I thought that the formal logic may be off-putting, I popularized it and tried to say it in English. But you say you didn't understand it. I thought, Andy, that you had looked up Formal Axiology, had read Dr. Hartman's "The Measurement of Value".and knew what "value composition" is; and that you knew the three basic Dimensions of Value, S, E, and I: Systemic, Extrinsic, and Intrinsic. But I guess I had jumped to a conclusion. That's why you were able to call it "gibberish."
Before A. H. Maslow wrote about "Self-actualization" I doubt that anyone set that as a goal for himself or herself [although they may have aimed for the more fuzzy goal of "Self-realization."] Once, however, Maslow specified what self-actualization meant, and gave very concrete examples, people could reach for that, and make it their own self-image. (E.g., "I want to be like the founder of Google" or "I want to be like Ruth Benedict." {1887-1948} ) --------It became an 'improved self-ideal.' If a person who only identifies with his own immediate family now reaches out to identify with the Family of Man, that is, according to Confucious, acting properly, and according to Arthur Koestler, becoming aware of a larger holon, I would call that "an improved self-image." So when I spoke earlier of coming into correspondence with an improving self-image, that is what I meant.
As far as the accusation of circular reasoning -- it seems to me that every definition offered in ordinary common language is circular, in that we could chase around the entire dictionary defining our words. That is why I prefer axiomatic systems, which start with some undefined terms and build from there. [Though we agree that this approach could scare away some readers.]

Theorem Three: God -- as here defined -- is worthy of worship.

Proof: Since God (by definition) is the highest value of which we can conceive, if anything was seen as more valuable, we would perforce automatically make that our God, and give that our adoration.

Theorem Four: We are co-creators of and with God.

Proof: We create new values; we are constantly doing this for ourselves, such as when we set out a new goal to which to aspire...in the process we are creating God (or at least a higher conception that we have of God). And our values influence what we are and what we may become -- in this sense our values create us.

Theorem Five: God is Beauty, Truth and Goodness.

Proof: These are all high values that would be included in any empirical survey as to what are the highest values. Hence, they are part of God They are properties of God, just as a pencil may be said to be (relatively) thin. So when it is claimed that God is Integrity, God is Liberty, I am using "is" in the same sense as "A pencil is thin." My God is all-good, but not all-powerful nor all-knowing. If anything good occurs, if anything is created, God should get the credit for it. If anything bad happens, like human suffering and anguish, God knows nothing about it, has nothing to do with it.

Theorem Six: God is moral.

Proof: Since morality is a high value (being that which a person has who Intrinsically-values himself and other people), morality is a property of God -- God being the collection of all the highest values, the ultimate value.[/B]
If God brings you to it,
He will bring you through it.

Happy moments, praise God.
Difficult moments, seek God.
Quiet moments, worship God.
Painful moments, trust God.
Every moment, thank God.

----------Thomas Kinkaid.


I have given the reader enough to think about, so I will break it off right here. My subject is inexhaustible, my space is not.