"...I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me..." [Deuteronomy 5:8-10]
There is your argument. That it *IS* is objectively “good” to gloat at billions of people suffering infinite, eternal torment for the sins of a human lifetime.
End Bringer replied:
...Aquinas was talking about the “rejoicing” being that good and justice has triumphed (those billions of people DO deserve it), rather than being happy suffering is being inflicted in itself.
And then:
Aquinas’s... was saying it’s objectively good to be glad justice and righteousness have triumphed, rather than simply because people suffer. If people suffer BECAUSE justice and righteousness are triumphant than the only conclusion is that their punishment is earned.
Rejoice that billions of people will burn in hell! They deserve it.
Denyse O'Leary writes in her new piece at Salvo Mag:
"The new atheists have inherited that unmistakable self-righteous post-Sixties vehemence which doubtless feels good to the venter and those who share the venter's views, but makes no new point and advances no worthwhile discussion."
I thought it might be useful to list some of Denyse' own "worthwhile" additions to discussions on...
"I've sometimes said that Darwinism is the Enron of biology, but I hadn't realized that the Enron guys themselves were actually Darwin freaks. A friend tells me, re the Enron documentary, The Smartest Guys in the Room, Of interest to me was the unapologetically explicit philosophy of Darwinism which was prevalent at Enron from top management to commodity traders."
"I wonder how many... would prefer to be... mere evolved amoeba, as long as they knew that they would not be held accountable for their own behaviour?"
"...producing... infants... is not an intellectual enterprise. So whatever is going on with the intellect, and therefore about philosophy of science, is not Darwinian, apparently."
"If I weren’t so happy being a Catholic, I would be tempted to be a Jew. I wouldn’t be tempted to be an atheist/agnostic, because it doesn’t sound like anyone cares much."
Can anyone tell me what's wrong with this picture? Anyone? Bueller? Anyone?
On the seventh anniversary of the 9-11 attacks, she retreads the ludicrous creationist yawn that evolution equates with immorality:
"I wonder how many... would prefer to be... mere evolved amoeba, as long as they knew that they would not be held accountable for their own behaviour?
Of course, Denyse feels no fear about being held accountable for her own behaviour. She knows the baby Jebus is with her always.
She is apparently unaware of the benefits of civility, truthfulness, reciprocity, family bonds, social groups, or other such nonsensical notions. One can only presume that if it wasn't for God looking over her shoulder, she'd be out every night looting, raping and killing with all of us atheists.
What have morals and ethics ever done for us? For Denyse O'Leary, it seems, not so much.
A couple of days back, I went to see The Dark Knight, at the Imax in Glasgow.
I wanted to blog about its themes of vigilantism, criminality and personal responsibility; and its exploration of the corruption of power, the need for heroes, and moral ambiguity...
But all I can think about is my friend leaving his empty sweet wrapper on the floor as went to leave the theatre.
Maybe he'd been dazzled by the gargantuan screen, the foudroyant special effects, the ear-jarring digital stereo?
I picked up the wrapper and gave it to him.
He dropped it again. "They clean up the place", he said. "I paid eight quid", he said.
I picked the wrapper up again, and put it in the bin on the way out.
Back in the old days, before Denyse O'Leary started persecuting me for my lack of beliefs (and presumably marked me as beyond redemption), I used to get concerned Christians writing to me regularly, trying to save my soul.
Invariably they'd put me on to C.S. Lewis. I guess they thought that if one old smart guy was able to convince himself to believe in fairy tales, then I should too. I'm sure it was meant as flattery.
Sadly, they'd then try to convince me that all of modern science was a conspiracy against Jebus, and we'd quickly fall out. Such is the way of things.
This was all brought back to mind when Gmail threw a Lewis quote at me quite by accident yesterday:-
"We are what we believe we are."
I don't think that's quite true. But it's interesting to think about what Christianity says we are...
It says we're all flawed. That I've no problem with. But for many Christians, it says we're all bad. Fallen. In need of saving. Intrinsically, well, evil.
But if Christianity does say that, then what does that say about its God, who made us in his image?
If you take the Bible as gospel, God-given truth, then there's no doubting that its deity does appear to have some very human, very fallible properties. All evil is his doing, just as much as all good. He's jealous. He's moody. He plays favorites. He's open to flattery. He's insecure. And, golly gosh, he changes his mind.
If God does exist, and He really is an all-encompassing, universe expanding being, then does it really make sense for him to be like that? I don't think so. Who was it who said that all theology is basically an attempt to explain away the problem of evil. Now that is a smart man I'd want to be like.
Anyway.
My parents grew up as Christians, and they definitely grew up believing that people are intrinsically fallen (even if, as I think with most believers, they didn't actually think people were bad).
I grew up in a different environment... It was idealistic. People, I believed, were intrinsically good.
I was wrong. I confused the capacity for good with goodness in nature, just as I think much of Christianity confuses the capacity for "badness" with "badness" in nature.
What I've come to realize is that people just are.
It's what they do which defines them, not what they believe.
It's interesting, I think, that much of Christian theology is based around arguing specifically that this is not the case... That all that matters is what we believe - not what we do.
Hey ho.
And with that, here's another accidental discovery, Nice work, Dale - but I don't agree...
subscribe to PTET
