Subject:
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Re: What does it take to be a true Christian?
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.off-topic.debate
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Date:
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Sun, 28 Oct 2001 14:57:19 GMT
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Viewed:
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422 times
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In lugnet.off-topic.debate, Larry Pieniazek writes:
> In lugnet.off-topic.debate, James Simpson writes:
>
> > "I know that some people say the idea of a Law of Nature or decent behavior
> > known to all men is unsound, because different civilizations and different
> > ages have had quite different moralities. But this is not true. There have
> > been differences between their moralities, but these have never amounted to
> > anything like a total difference. If anyone will take the trouble to
> > compare the moral teachings of, say, the ancient Egyptians, Babylonians,
> > HIndus, Chinese, Greek and Romans, what will really strike him will be how
> > very like they are to each other and to our own...I need only ask the reader
> > to think what a totally different morality would mean"
>
> I wonder if C.S. Lewis examined the Mayan belief system? The Mesoamerican
> system of gods is pretty alien. They are neither good, nor bad, taken as a
> whole, just more powerful.
Being simply more powerful doesn't imply, to my mind, a difference of "kind"
in moralities, only a difference of "degrees." Though the Mayan Gods
weren't moral authorities of any particular kind, I'd wager that moral codes
still existed within the Mayan civilization--codes that on many levels we
would find very familiar--such love for one's kin, fidelity, honor in
battle, etc., etc. I don't think that it is possible to demonstrate any
absolutely "other" form of morality having ever existed in human socieites.
Certainly some cultures have been more extreme than others--but we only call
them more extreme because some concepts were emphasized to the nth degree.
Again, differences by degrees; not kinds.
>
> Further, I have to wonder if the ethos of "be willing to sacrifice your
> life, on the altar, with the priest plucking your still living heart out to
> show the crowd, if it's required of you" is just self sacrifice taken to its
> logical degree?
Clearly it is. But most cultures have valued self-sacrifice to some degree.
The same moral principle is in action in your example above as in "laying
down one's life for another"; it is the idea that at times it is the better
state of affairs to sacrifice one's life for the good of XYZ (whether it be
your own children, the state, or a hypothetical set of gods doesn't really
change the assumptions of the principle.) Nor, I should add, does the act
of sacrifice necessarily prove the validy of the principle; it merely
validates the fact that principle X (in this case self-sacrifice) is a moral
code that has been valued to some degree or another throughout human
history, and has in this case merely been taken to an extreme, and in the
cultural context of the Mayans, logical conclusion.
james
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Message is in Reply To:
 | | Re: What does it take to be a true Christian?
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| (...) I wonder if C.S. Lewis examined the Mayan belief system? The Mesoamerican system of gods is pretty alien. They are neither good, nor bad, taken as a whole, just more powerful. Further, I have to wonder if the ethos of "be willing to sacrifice (...) (23 years ago, 27-Oct-01, to lugnet.off-topic.debate)
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