Quote Originally Posted by Lemur View Post
Oh, moral gray areas are tough no matter what doctrine or philosophy you accept. I suppose things might be simple for a fundamentalist, but that's the appeal of fundamentalism, isn't it? No more messy decisions, it's all simple now.

Difficult moral decisions will always be difficult. (Exemplum gratum: You're in a horrible flood, holding two babies. You need one free arm to swim or all of you will die. Do you drop one child to allow yourself and one baby to live? If so, how do you choose which child to drop? Or do you attempt to swim with no arms, probably condemning all three of you to death? Explain your reasoning and show your work.)
Quite simply, I would roll onto my back and place the babes on my chest. In this way I would turn myself into a human raft, this is the only solution which offers a chance of us all surviving, and it has the added advantage that it conserves my evergy if I live, and I should remain bouyant if I die, therefore increasing the chances the babes will survive and be resuced.

The key thing here is that both from a traditional moral and utilitarian standpoint the priority should be to save the babies becauce A: they are helpless and B: they are the next generation.

I believe we as a species tend to over-complicate our relationship with the Divine. "Do good works" can be fairly easily derived from the Golden Rule, as per Rabbi Hillel. Nothing is going to make moral quandaries any less quandaratic (yes, I know that word doesn't exist, but it should).
I detest this concept of the "Golden Rule", repricocity is all well and good, but self sacrifice in the interests of other is far superior. If everybody does as he would be done to some will take with the justification that you should only have what you can take and hold - and they will take until taken from. On the other hand, if everyone seeks the best for others and not themselves everyone will be looked after.