That is THE big problem-mythologicaly speaking- that you get when you try to impose a "saviour motïf" on mono-theism.
The Saviour/hero winds up having to save you from god. To save you from god a hero has to be as strong as god, which leaves you with two gods and screws up the "mono" part of the theism.
Worst case scenario--in mono-theism--since there is only the god and people, to keep the god pure, evil is blamed on the people themselves. That leaves you with a very unhealthy paranoid delusion instead of a life affirming poly-theism. These religions tend to be death centered, and portray the world as an awful place.
------- The brain that was stolen from my laboratory was a criminal brain. Only evil will come from it.
i would guess evil people are responsable for their own evil acts. on the other hand bad (my personal value judgement that theses things are bad) things like mass extinctions, earthquakes, floods etc. seem to happen randomly.
quote: i would guess evil people are responsable for their own evil acts. on the other hand bad (my personal value judgement that these things are bad) things like mass extinctions, earthquakes, floods etc. seems to happen randomly.
like, you know, man, shit happens.
comrade billyboy
What a novel concept. Do you think it will ever catch on? Cause, effect and everything? Two years ago my deck collapsed. On one hand the reason is probably because the former owners hired Morons, Inc. to build the deck. They used nails instead of lags, 16" on center. On the other hand, since my right leg is permanently screwed up, I should blame the theists, girl scouts, Freemasons, Illuminati, and the Bad Astronomer. Lisa
If you're not living on the edge, you're taking up too much room.
Oh come on you guys you're not taking this seriously! (hehe) From the biological perspective, a human corpse is a bonanza, a life-affirming flood of manna, for things like carrion beetles, flies, and hyenas. From the human perspective, a death is a sad lessening of the richness we call collective humanity. From the perspective of a helium atom in the core of the star Sirius, a human death is meaningless. At least I assume it is meaningless. Oh heck, maybe helium atoms care passionately about human existence for all I know!
Anyway, so what do ya mean by "evil?" In the context of fundamental Christianity, I suppose all evil must come from God, because that's where everything else comes from. Christian apologists like to claim that God has some grand unknowable design which makes the mutilation of children in the Congo (for instance) a Good Thing. I think that's baloney. If there were a God as the Christians envision Him, I think He would an evil barstid and ought to be throroughly ashamed of His bad self. (Now I must admit that my understanding of "God as the Christians envision Him" is probably not what all Christians envision, or even what a majority of them envision--it's what I envision them envisioning, when I think about it.)
If you are not completely confused at this point, go back and read this post again. You soon will be!
But in all sober seriousness, the only worldview that makes sense to my limited intellect is that of nature: evil is meaningful only in a particular context. Human cruelty is most assuredly evil in the human context, and I abhor it. Kindness, compassion, forgiveness, all are necessary and, to my simple mind, the most admirable human attributes. But I do not have to feel compassion for the pulsar at the center of the Crab nebula, which exploded all those centuries ago, because, well, it's irrelevant.
Oh gads, I am running off at the mouth again. Someone stop me!
quote:Anyway, so what do ya mean by "evil?" In the context of fundamental Christianity, I suppose all evil must come from God, because that's where everything else comes from. Christian apologists like to claim that God has some grand unknowable design which makes the mutilation of children in the Congo (for instance) a Good Thing. I think that's baloney. If there were a God as the Christians envision Him, I think He would an evil barstid and ought to be throroughly ashamed of His bad self. (Now I must admit that my understanding of "God as the Christians envision Him" is probably not what all Christians envision, or even what a majority of them envision--it's what I envision them envisioning, when I think about it.)
Don't even bother questioning why bad things happen to children - it's to help build character and strength and gawd works in mysterious ways. We can't possibly know why he allowed this bad thing to happen to you but it's for your own damned good. Yeesh! How warped and twisted was the mind that says evil has purpose in producing good xians? It produces somewhat warped minds - that hopefully gets secular help and less messed up than it was. This is hurtful to the individual. The feeling of being subject to evil from the thing that is supposed to love and care for you really leaves a warped sense of love. Wonder why so many fundy xians grow up in abusive households?
"Say what you will about the sweet miracle of unquestioning faith. I consider the capacity for it terrifying." ~Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
How do I change the name of link while still retaining the link itself?
For instance, lot's of you folks do something along the lines of writing: "Get more information here" where the word 'here' is obviously not the original name of the link. When I try to do that, it kills the link.
Undoubtedly something obvious that I should be asking my 10 year old how to do...
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