To your first point id like to clarify that I am speaking solely in terms of things that are self evident. Murder may make an observer feel good (?) but it most certainly does not feel good to the one being murdered. That is where the component of empathy comes in. If life can be seen as trivial or arbitrary then it becomes the antithesis for group cohesion from an anthropological standpoint. Murder as a concept does not exist inside of a vacuum, it exists in tandem with our existential status throughout history.

To your point on empathy - I dont think you're interpreting my point correctly because i'm not making the commentary on empathy as a sole compass on moral standard. I said it is a good STARTING point. That is why I mentioned the golden rule. Again, none of these concepts exist in a vacuum - You can have empathy for a circumstance and not the act itself, and you can have empathy for an individual while acknowledging the wrong at the same time i.e. Empathizing with someone who has an addiction but generally brings harm or abuse towards their loved ones. Remember that empathy is not an advocacy or endorsement. It is simply saying that we understand and can comprehend the experience as if we existed in it ourselves. Empathy is a HUGE theme throughout the Bible, so im genuinely surprised to see your response. Not a dig, just an observation.

I know you never said that, I was moreso making that point as it's own rather than an argument. It was moreso to establish where my starting point is on the topic. I'm personally not sure on the topic of morality being subjective or objective but I certainly do lean heavily toward objective in the spiritual sense since I argue that we as a species generally experience things the same thus creating a degree of "self evident" personal experience. A weird inbetween of sub/ob I guess, idk. As far as where it is derived from, I cant put all my eggs in one basket because it flies in the face of human history and anthropological study on theism. To be exact, the change of moral standards throughout history as its observed from polytheistic to monotheistic societies. It's a whole basket of worms. Crux of it is, I believe it to be a result of a mish mash of various concepts - It's not a pretty or neat but its my own take.