If Jesus is God, then I pity his performance…
Do not feel compelled to click on my ad above. – BUM
"For example, I think that Christian’s beliefs are absurd, dangerous, and that we should work to convince Christians of their error through dialogue."
-Wow. You’re that worried about Christian’s and their beliefs? Aren’t there more absurd and dangerous things in the world you could be "dialoguing" about? Just my opinion.
[Serenitys Peace]
You’re right. I’m surprised that you didn’t remember the note that I left you back in May…
Posted on your entry "Weekend" 5/22/2005
"So, what if you die and find out the whole Christian belief is true? What would your reaction be?"
I would be amazed at the incredible disappointment that Jesus was – if Jesus was God, he had the ability and opportunity to speak out against slavery, for equal rights for women, for human rights, for democracy…for that, if Jesus is God, then I pity him for his performance. [A Thinking BUM]
See? I bet we agree. There are plenty of absurd and dangerous things in the world to be concerned with.
Do you you happen to know of any pro-slavery; or anti-women’s rights; or anti-human rights; or anti-democracy people on OpenDiary that perhaps I could dialogue with? I’ve found the Christians easily, these others…harder to find. Let me know if you find them.
But your note… didn’t really respond to the entry that you left it on. The entry was talking about how it’s not the place for the government to promote prayer, or religion, or a particular religion. It’s simply not what the government is supposed to do. So what are your thoughts on that argument?
Actually, you’re starting from a false premise here. Jesus was certainly against slavery, for human rights, etc. But you’ve failed to consider the point of His ministry. The point of His ministry was to change lives. To change the hearts and beliefs of sinful human beings. Once they repented of their sins and allowed Jesus to change them, being against slavery, for human and womens’ rights, etc…
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…would follow. Remember that Jesus is God, and as such, God’s teachings are Jesus’ teachings. All you have to do is search elsewhere in the Scriptures to see what God taught, and those are Jesus’ words also.
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“Once they repented of their sins and allowed Jesus to change them, being against slavery..would follow” Paul, who undoubtedly was changed by Jesus, was supposedly not against slavery: “Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything; and do it, not only when their eye is on you and to win their favor, but with sincerity of heart and reverence for the Lord.” – Colossians 3:22.
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RYN: I mentioned that the IDEA Club at UCSD’s webpage hasn’t been updated since 2003. Do you know if this club is still operating? Also, did you attend any meetings of the Vanderbilt club? If so, what were they like?
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i feel so honored 🙂 yeah, i had forgotten about that note..May? heh. Anywho, i was just posting a random thought on there…don’t really care to get in a convo about the prayer and all at this moment…And sure, i’ll point any anti-women activist, proslavery peeps right your way 😉 lata bum
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The “Jesus as advocate for slavery/the subjugation of women/blah blah blah” argument is asinine. The issues suggested in that list are modern concerns which were simply facts of life in the time of Jesus. Chattel slavery was not the order of the day in the era in which Jesus lived. Without the view of humanity and nature espoused by Jesus, the modern debate never would have happened.
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and you can burn in Hell 🙂 **sorry, in a bit of a mood today**
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**EDIT TO THE ABOVE** and if you wonder what i am refering to you… it is to the… when you die and if you find out christianity is true….. and then you tell Jesus he’s done a crappy job 🙂
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How would you know what “neutral” is unless you have some evil to compare it to? How would you know it isn’t good? Evil is the opposite of good, not neutral.
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Also, consider the fact that evil does not exist unto itself. So your argument that things don’t have to be evil, just not good, one can classify evil as something that’s not good. Consider this: Darkness does not exist. All darkness is is the absence of light. How much darkness is present depends on how much light is present.
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Also, cold does not exist. Coldness is simply the absence of heat. How cold it is depends on how much warmth is present. In the same way, evil does not exist unto itself. Evil is simply the absence of good. How evil something is depends on how much goodness is present. There is nothing good about a murder or rape, so they are absolutely evil.
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As I mentioned in CC’s diary, good doesn’t “exist” either. Unlike heat, which is brownian motion in molecules, or light, which is energy, there is no real world equivalent to “good” that exists in external reality independent of human minds. Neither good nor evil “exists” in the absolute sense, rather, they are descriptions of what we find desirable and undesirable.
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In other words, the analogy doesn’t work because it assumes that good has a real existence in the same way that light and heat do.
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Oh, something I have to throw in because it just occurred to me this morning. We are discussing evil’s place in the world. Consider this about the “neutral object” argument: If an object is neither good nor bad, it is “neutral”. I’ll grant you that. But if evil didn’t exist, there would be no way to consider anything “neutral”, and thus, neutrality would not exist.
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If there is no evil in the world, then there is no capacity for evil. If there is no capacity for evil, nothing could be neutral, because everything would be good, as there is no capacity for evil.
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Think of it like this. There is good tasting food, bland food, and bad tasting food. To know good food, you only need to compare it to bland food. There’s no need to taste anything bad, ever, to appreciate good food. You just need a comparison.
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One thing you’re forgetting, though, is that after God created, He called everything “good”. So if God created the world with no capacity for evil, then there would be no bad or bland tasting food.
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“If an object is neither good nor bad, it is “neutral”. I’ll grant you that. But if evil didn’t exist, there would be no way to consider anything “neutral”, and thus, neutrality would not exist.” You are still speaking of good and evil as if there are real measurable qualities that exist out in the world. They are not. All objects are value-neutral until humans come along and label them…
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..Now, I do not mean by this that morality is entirely subjective or relative because there is some objectiveness and commonality to what we as a species consider as “good” and “bad.” As far as the “capacity to evil” – humans have the capacity to act in certain ways. Again these actions are not evil in and of themselves. We label undesirable actions evil.
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So unbelievably random but… Do you think God believes in aliens? xx petrify
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“…that we should work to convince Christians of their error through dialogue.” -you I want you to really think about what you said here. And also, if Christians are in error of what they believe, then what truth are you measuring it by….science, research? Wonderful things…but by themselves, do nothing to satisfy my life, soul, and heart.
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