1) Would a good God punish me for asking the hard questions?
If you asked the right questions you would not doubt it so wouldnt have to ask this question. IOW, if you have to ask, then you already know the answer.
4) Is belief, or faith, a good measure for morality?
Yes if it is the correct belief. Everyone has a heart and a conscience and know the difference between right and wrong.
Romans 2:15
15 They show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts sometimes accusing them and at other times even defending them.).../NLT
So when people think about doing something and if it is a bad thing then their conscience will accuse them! We all know this, even gay people know it. OTOH if you think to do a good thing, some sort of good deed for another who is in need, your consciece will speak to you then also and you will know that is a good thing to do. The moral thing to do. You conscience is a function of your spirit.
I believe that our heart that scripture speaks of so much, must be a composite of...The intellect, the will and the emotions (which are all 3 functions of the soul) then sir in some conscience and shazaam you have a heart! What your conscience accuses you of doing a wrong or thinking about doing it, it affects your thoughts, your will and your emotions so they are there.
The good thing about the heart being able to access your train of thought and lets you think about what you're thinking about doing, and your emotions which will either confirm or deny what is happening as you run it through your head and gives the sppropriate emotion for you to determine if it would be a bad outcome or a good outcome.
So you know darn good and well what's the right thing to do in any given situation. People usually associate emotions with bad emotions, fear and stuff like that but thee is joy in ones emotions also, if it is a good thing that you plan to do. And this is what people say is their heart. I love her. Good emotion.
But you cant see your heart. This isnt the flesh heart that I'm talking about. But you already believe that you have a heart, and a conscience for that matter. So do you believe in them? Do you have faith in your ability to make correct decisions? Ask the right questions? Are you unsure? Then how could you have peace in your spirit if you have no belief? Lord help our unbelief.
So what has been given to us that allows us to know where God stands on your question or idea to do something or whatever? The word of God of course. The Lord dont care what your feelings are, there is His truth. So we dont make decisions with our emotions or how we feel. How emotions make you feel is simply a early warning system that tells you something is up, either good or bad or unknown! There's a higher function of the heart that will give us the right and moral and correct thing to do in any situation. It affirms Hey thats bad Dont Do It! or I will do the right thing and...I feel it in my heart that it is the best thing to do.
When we go against our conscience or heart (like by disobeying the word of God) it hardens our heart and damages it. So scripture warns us to guard our heart diligently! If you dont then it gets worse and worse and even their conscience gets seared. How could that murder those two liittle girls and their mother? He has no heart.
Our conscience is part of our spirit, and our spirit talks directly to the Lord Himself. Our spirit and conscience always know the right thing to do. Dont disobey your own spirit or conscience or that will harden your heart.
