God's Work, and Other Notes
Lori 7 said:
what extremity? opening my eyes? being accountable? admitting i'm wrong? rejecting the things that hurt myself and others?
Just how are
you being accountable?
"better than for nothing huh?"
Just what are you admitting to being wrong about?
What extremity? Well, okay, you're justifying God's abuse of another human being, and for personal gain.
i don't do that because i'm afraid. i do that because i give a shit...unlike yourself
You give enough of a shit to defend a rapemongering God?
Come on, Lori. Just
stop and think about what you're saying. All you can do is lash out at humanity in order to defend your own idea of God. For some reason, you
need this version of God you've construed in your mind, and rather than accept that it is a brutal and vicious God—perhaps because that would reflect on that god's creator—you instead attempt to indict the entire human species for being as that God made us?
You don't see the extremity in that?
When a church leader learns that one of his flock is exploring dangerous behavior, the appropriate course of action, regardless of what God wants, is
not to rape her and set her on fire.
Ordinarily, this is not hard for a person to figure out. The youth leader—the rapist, arsonist, would-be murderer—could
not figure it out, though.
So here's the thing:
"hearing that story makes an impression on me, about how dangerous lust is."
We don't even need to get into Lightgigantic's silly bit about DNA. Any psychologist will tell you that you are dealing with a deviant state of mind in this rapist. Delusional? Antisocial in extremis? Schizophrenic? It's hard to tell, as his legal representation has done is
blame the victim and explain that his "young", "immature" client is really, really sorry, so please don't give him a harsh sentence.
And you're trying to make this about lust in general? How does that even work? You might as well say that Jeffrey Dahmer made an impression on you about the dangers of gourmet cooking. Just as there is a difference between the
sinful excess of steak au poivre, a bottle of wine, and a three hundred dollar tab to the one, and
cannibalism to the other, there is a difference between the
sinful excess of being horny and
raping someone and then setting them on fire. Rape and arson as a sexual assertion are
exceptionally deviant. That you would connect this manner of rape to mundane lust is something you're going to have to explain.
where's your hostility coming from tiassa?
Well, to put it simply:
"because i believe in the possibility of a right existence, i demand that from god, and i (and others) are willing to do whatever it takes, and sacrifice anything and everything, to see that it's manifest.
i think we have to believe in something before it can be manifest, and i and others do, like it's our job."
That reads like a threat. Against the entire human species. Such as you're arguing—
"hearing that story makes an impression on me, about how dangerous lust is."
—we might as well say that in raping and attempting to murder a young woman Mr. Hermogenes is doing God's work.
i may or may not be doing you any favors. i don't give a shit which side you're on so here's an idea...if you don't want answers, then stop asking questions.
Oh, it's not a matter of not wanting answers. Rather, your cruelty is breathtaking.
• • •
GeoffP said:
Anyway, my personal impression of God is the watchmaker (no, not a micro or macroevolutionary one) that, having wound the universe, lets it run, but holds the door of redemption based on relative moralist choices: each tested according to their measure.
Theologian Jeffrey Burton Russell reminds:
The doctrine of double effect cannot relieve God from responsibility .... It seems impossible that an omniscient God does not intend what he knows absolutely will result. God knows, surely and clearly, that in creating the cosmos he creates a cosmos in which children are tortured. (21)
If an atheist tosses six million people into crematoria, or starves out a steppes population for unfavourable political aspirations, what lesson is this supposed to be teaching us about atheism? None.
So are you equating atheism to
life, or
God?
____________________
Notes:
Iaria, Melissa. "Youth church leader in sex, petrol attack". The Sidney Morning Herald. June 20, 2011. News.SMH.com.au. June 23, 2011. http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-new...ader-in-sex-petrol-attack-20110620-1gb8m.html
Russell, Jeffrey Burton. Lucifer: The Devil in the Middle Ages. New York: Cornell University Press, 1984.