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Originally Posted by pianoperformer  You basically have three choices when it comes to God: - God has no moral standards and there is no punishment for murderers, thieves, etc.
- God has moral standards, and everyone who doesn't reach those standards are punished.
- God has moral standards, but realizes we can't be perfect, and so has a provision for covering for our imperfections, as long as we take the first step and accept that provision.
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Actually I can think of many more possible choices, such as
"God has flexible moral standards, which can differ greatly from person to person, depending on a wide range of factors, such as the person's individual personality, talents, opportunities, cultural background, social conditioning, and previous life experiences."
"God has moral standards, but failure to reach those standards doesn't necessarily lead to punishment, since God represents ultimate love, forgiveness etc"
"God, being whole, perfect and complete unto itself, expects, and requires nothing from anyone else, and therefore does not prescribe moral standards. We have free will to choose our own moral standards and free will to punish ourselves for failure to meet those standards".
"God is the ultimate mystery and as God is unknowable, we would not be able to know what standards, if any, he has prescribed for us."
Etc etc etc.
IMO, it's also rather irrelevant to go down this route:
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Do you really want a God who has no moral standards? Do you want a God who doesn't care either way if you kill someone?
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.... since atheists generally would also have strong objections to murder. You don't need to believe in the existence of God to be horrified by the act of murder.