Owning Mahowny
May 22nd, 2014 at 4:58:57 PM permalink | |
Pacomartin Member since: Oct 24, 2012 Threads: 1068 Posts: 12569 |
Father, I have read a fair number of philosophy texts in my life, but I confess that the definition given below is very difficult for me to understand.
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May 22nd, 2014 at 5:33:03 PM permalink | |
Evenbob Member since: Oct 24, 2012 Threads: 146 Posts: 25011 |
They don't, and they aren't sociopaths. They don't understand cause and effect at that age. I have a grand daughter who just turned 2 and from a year old on, you constantly are teaching them right from wrong. All day long it's a dialog of don't do this and don't do that. Be nice to kitty, don't pull his tail. Don't hit the dog, it's not nice. This is how they learn, kids that age no nothing of sharing or morality, they have to be taught. I mentioned before that the missionaries in CA gave up on the natives and started focusing on the kids. They could not convince the natives that sin existed, they could never conceive of such a thing. They got so sick of being hounded that they pretended to believe, but would go back to their old ways as soon as the priests left. If you take a risk, you may lose. If you never take a risk, you will always lose. |
May 22nd, 2014 at 6:01:21 PM permalink | |
FrGamble Member since: Oct 24, 2012 Threads: 67 Posts: 7596 | I think your anthropology, your logic, and definitely your history are wrong. If kids at that age don't understand cause and effect then you are in effect not teaching them morality or right and wrong you are pointing out to them that when you pull the cat's tail it hurts. You don't have to say be nice to the cat just teach them that pulling the tail is not being nice to the cat. Anyway, I just happen to think we are born already knowing right from wrong, it's in our nature. After all we are made in the image and likeness of God. Despite you holding up the example of two year olds I think it is obvious that we want to do good and naturally feel shame when we don't do what we know we should do. Why we don't do what we know we should do is the mystery of original sin. Let's take this discussion back to that thread shall we? Finally the missionaries in CA came with a message of how the people could truly free themselves from the guilt of their actions they knew were bad, it began with letting them know they are unconditionally loved by God even in the midst of their struggles. Again it is not hard to convince anyone that sin exists and that you and I are sinners, the hardest thing to convince them, you, and I of is that even in our sin we are loved and forgiven by Jesus Christ. I find it insulting and not intelligent to say that those who believed that they were loved despite their mistakes by God were just pretending. History does not bear you out nor does the example of so many people who finally found the answer to our human condition in the Gospel of Jesus. “It is with the smallest brushes that the artist paints the most exquisitely beautiful pictures.” ( |
May 22nd, 2014 at 6:46:42 PM permalink | |
Evenbob Member since: Oct 24, 2012 Threads: 146 Posts: 25011 |
There is so much wrong with the entry, I'm just going to address the first wrong premise. Morality in nature does not exist. It's a concept, an idea, it's made up to make a point. Because it's not real, sin can't be real. My wife has been trying to get me to accept Jesus and my savior for 30 years. I always tell her, sure, just prove to me there is something to be saved from. Prove sin exists. So she quotes what other people say about it, which isn't proof at all. Morality exists, but only in our heads. We aren't born moral or immoral, we learn what it is as we go along. Saying a person is born in sin is not true, in fact it's impossible. If you take a risk, you may lose. If you never take a risk, you will always lose. |
May 22nd, 2014 at 6:59:58 PM permalink | |
Evenbob Member since: Oct 24, 2012 Threads: 146 Posts: 25011 |
Nope. All you have to do is be around little kids after they start walking and figuring things out. They know nothing about right and wrong, all they know is exploration and feeling. How many toddlers drown in pools every year or die falling out windows or down stairs. You have to teach them everything, including and especially how to interact properly with others. This is why religious groups, Catholics especially, get to the kids at the youngest age possible. Get the ideas into their heads early enough and the guilt and shame of living will follow them to their graves. Why wife is Baptist. One of her favorite questions to me is, aren't you ashamed that Jesus died on cross for you and you ignore him? I usually answer, how about the other 100,000+ men who got crucified, should I feel guilty about them too? If you take a risk, you may lose. If you never take a risk, you will always lose. |
May 22nd, 2014 at 7:19:28 PM permalink | |
FrGamble Member since: Oct 24, 2012 Threads: 67 Posts: 7596 |
okay there is actually a lot of things I agree with in this last post. I'm sorry if I've come on too strong, but I think you can appreciate how baffling it is to me to meet someone who thinks there is no sin. The first premise is actually right down your aisle. Evil is a privation of good not a thing unto itself. Sin is a deformed desire for good and there is no such thing as a perfectly evil act. Maybe this can help you get your head around the reality of sin. Sin is bad, but it has elements of good in it, just twisted around. If sin was all bad nobody would ever commit it. I also agree that we aren't born moral or immoral, our choices determine that. As I said before the doctrine of Christianity does not say that you or anyone is born in sin. We are born awesome children of God who have been weakened in our nature. I really don't know what you are looking for in regards to proof for this reality. I am proof of it and so are you. We are hopelessly imperfect beings with hopeful dreams and desires for perfection. This is the paradox of the human person and I don't know how you can either deny it or explain it in any other way than sin. “It is with the smallest brushes that the artist paints the most exquisitely beautiful pictures.” ( |
May 22nd, 2014 at 7:59:10 PM permalink | |
Evenbob Member since: Oct 24, 2012 Threads: 146 Posts: 25011 |
Good and evil do not exist except as an opinion. What's good for one is evil for another. A simple observation of life proves this every day. Consider the casino. I look at losing as a bad thing, it does me no good and I hate it. The casino considers me losing to be such a good thing, they go out of their way to try and make me lose. Good and evil are a matter of your position in the event or idea. By themselves, they don't exist. Sin is just another opinion, built on other faulty opinions, that have no existence outside of our minds. If you take a risk, you may lose. If you never take a risk, you will always lose. |
May 22nd, 2014 at 8:14:33 PM permalink | |
Wizard Administrator Member since: Oct 23, 2012 Threads: 239 Posts: 6095 |
Father, you've said before that without god there is no morality and that good and bad are just empty philosophical concepts, if I understand your argument correctly. You've also expressed surprise when atheists have found a moral code that you approve of. So, it comes as a surprise that you now say that we all have a natural sense of right and wrong within us. I agree with the statement, but it seems at odds with things you've posted before. Hopefully you won't ask me to dig up exact quotes. Knowledge is Good -- Emil Faber |
May 22nd, 2014 at 8:31:35 PM permalink | |
Evenbob Member since: Oct 24, 2012 Threads: 146 Posts: 25011 |
Did he really say that? I said essentially the same thing in another post a few minutes ago. Sin is also an empty philosophical concept. And a really empty one because it leans on other empty concepts for its validity. If you take a risk, you may lose. If you never take a risk, you will always lose. |
May 22nd, 2014 at 8:38:06 PM permalink | |
Wizard Administrator Member since: Oct 23, 2012 Threads: 239 Posts: 6095 |
I don't remember his exact words, but that was the gist of it. That without god there is no morality. Knowledge is Good -- Emil Faber |