Subject:
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Re: The Brick Testament: A Family Stoned and a City Massacred
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.off-topic.debate
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Date:
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Mon, 13 Sep 2004 17:24:53 GMT
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Viewed:
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1891 times
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In lugnet.off-topic.debate, John Neal wrote:
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Jesus summed it up nicely into: “Love God with all of your heart,
soul and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself.”
That’s all you really need to know and do.
But I think you are being a little disingenuous WRT to worshipping a God.
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How so? (And I ask this sincerely!)
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If you could describe an ideal God whom to worship, what would He be like? I
have an idea what you will say, but I want to hear about the God of Dave!
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My spider-sense tells me that this is an attempt to trick me into formulating an
ontological argument for God’s existence, but I’ll give it a try anyway.
First of all, I’m not sure that I would worship any being for two reasons:
Any entity who requires my worship isn’t worthy of my worship.
Any entity who’d be bothered by my lack of worship isn’t worthy of my worship.
I might really, really admire some entity or other, and I might have tremendous
respect for some entity, but worship? I can’t see it, honestly. Maybe I have
trouble with the definition, since it’s steeped in a kind of belief that I do
not share--could you provide a guideline for what “worship” entails? I mean,
during my zany youth I “worshipped” a certain actress who shall remain nameless,
but I suspect that you have something else in mind in this context.
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You can believe the sky is
yellow (or that God doesn’t exist), but as long as you respect others and are
a good person, what’s the big, ahem, deal? God is much more interested in
how we treat each other WAAAY more than what we believe IMO.
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Forgive me, but this strikes me as a major shift in the way you articulate your
belief. I find this formulation more palatable, but I must confess that it
surprises me.
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Well, don’t assume that an atheist will automatically mock the bible. I may
not believe that the book was inspired by a deity, but a secure believer
should hardly consider a differing viewpoint to be mocking.
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Hmmm. Most atheists I know have a pretty condescending attitude towards
religion.
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Tit for tat. I have seldom---correction: I have never met a self-professed
Christian who did not, upon learning that I’m atheist, make some sort of “aww,
that’s too bad” declaration, as if I have a mental shortcoming to be pitied. I
can generally shrug it off, in much the same way that it means nothing to me
when people laugh at my utter ignorance of baseball or golf, but the sentiment
is condescending regardless of my thick skin!
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Leviticus is still commonly invoked to condemn homosexuality or excesses of
alcohol consumptions. I note with interest once again that condemnations of
shellfish consumption are less common, as are entreaties not to touch
menstruating women. Hmm...
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Look, just because one is a Christian doesn’t mean that they are necessarily
clear thinkers. There is great confusion among Christians WRT to
understanding the OT in context of the NT.
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This, too, seems to represent an evolution in the way you articulate your view,
and honestly I welcome it! The problem is that the self-professed Christians
who have the power to dictate public policy are very seldom challenged by
similarly powerful Christians with opposing views. Almost invariably the
default answer is “well, I disagree for the most part, but at least he’s basing
his view on the Bible.”
That may be a fundamental logical difference between atheists and theists; no
two atheists will ever agree solely because a book instructed them a certain
way; the argument must stand on its own without resorting to the deus ex machina
of biblical invocation. Of course, this doesn’t judge the underlying
intelligence of the atheist or theist--merely a difference in logical approach.
I admit, though, that I prefer the atheists’ rhetorical method.
Dave!
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