Subject:
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Re: Goodness of Man? (was: Re: Merry Christmas from the Libertarian Party
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.off-topic.debate
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Date:
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Sun, 2 Jan 2000 02:35:01 GMT
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Viewed:
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1656 times
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On Sat, 1 Jan 2000 19:20:13 GMT, "John DiRienzo"
<ig88888888@stlnet.com> wrote:
> Jasper Janssen wrote in message <38850a4f.919486838@lugnet.com>...
> > On Fri, 31 Dec 1999 19:21:12 GMT, John Neal <johnneal@uswest.net>
> > wrote:
> I take back what I said. I think Larry could tell you his objective
> definition of good, which I agree with. I will try myself. Life-affirming
> = good. Perhaps God has a better definition of good than that, but I
> haven't heard from him.
You need some qualifiers, or you'd better drop dead now in order to
avoid your immune system killing any bacteria, yourself from
swallowing one-celled creatures and eating and drinking, and to
provide a fertile bredding ground for maggots and funghi (which are
all life as well, and in much greater numbers than you...)
> I guess he could not create other gods (weird, since he is omnipotent and
> all - maybe he just doesn't want the competition; he likes his monopoly!),
If I were immortal, and a god (see other discussion), I think I would
become bored very very quickly (ie, a few billion years, I'd a had
it).
> so he created lesser beings. He lets us know pain, so that we might know
> pleasure. He lets us sin, so that we may know his mercy. (a little
> plagiarized, sorry Bill). Perhaps we are an ant farm and he wants to see
> what we do with the tools he has given us.
The last is actually the most likely, IMO, if anything.
If there is a god, though, I don't think he would be omnipotent
(mostly because the very definition of omnipotent is a logical
contradiction).
> > But since there is no divine guidance, only the
> > blind-leading-the-blind kind, what exactly are we supposed to do?
>
> Seek divine guidance?
Which isn't forthcoming, unfortunately.
> Seek inner truth? Seek Good? Seek Perfection?
Absolutely.
> Not everyone is blind, and not everyone has to agree. It would be a lot
> easier, if He exists, if He just told us what to do (and maybe he does, but
> we're deaf). But like life is not fair and is harsh, it is also not easy.
I'm not sure that absolute good, as defined by the supreme being,
exists, but if it does, it's quite possibly not what we or anyone else
thinks it is. Therefore whether it exists or not is meaningless.
Jasper
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