Text 4482, 188 rader
Skriven 2007-06-09 08:57:08 av JOHNJWILSON
     Kommentar till en text av JIM HOLSONBACK
Ärende: Republican realists?
============================
-> -=> On 06-07-07 06:37 JOHNJWILSON wrote to JIM HOLSONBACK <=-
-> 
->  -> -=> On 06-04-07 16:55 JOHNJWILSON wrote to DAN CEPPA <=-
-> 
->  ->  ->  BK> Like the snake handlers. And the child beaters. And a lot
of
->  ->  ->  BK> other things.
-> 
->  ->  -> Thus showing the freedom of religion is not absolute.
-> 
->  ->  JO> Snakehandling is approved by Paul to show faith...
-> 
-> -> Paul?  Where?  I think you may have in mind the questionable verses
-> -> at the end of Mark's gospel.
-> 
->  JO> Nope. Acts 28
-> 
-> I disagree (big surprise!).
-> Synopsis: After the shipwreck at Malta, Paul gathered brush to throw in
-> the warming fire.  A viper came out of the brush to escape the heat, and
-> latched onto Paul's hand.  Paul shook it off into the fire, and was
-> unharmed.
-> 
-> There is no indication there that Paul "handled" the snake, unless you
-> want to argue that shaking it off is the same as handling it...

...Well, it fastened on his hand...:-)

, and there
-> is no indication that Paul "approved" of handling that snake or any
-> other snake as a means of demonstrating faith, or for any other reason.
-> 
People around him thought it a miracle...'He is a God' as a result of
his 'handling'...

---------- 
-> ---<  >
->  ->  JO> ..And _I believe in TWO Gods...
-> 
->  -> Why?
-> 
->  JO> Because the One Great Law of the Universe is the Law of Opposites.
-> 
-> Where is this "One Great Law" to be found?

In Quantum mechanics. AND in The Church of Variable Likelihood...:-)

Yin and Yang of Taoism...

-> 
->  JO> Most every particle has its opposite...
-> 
-> So deities (real or imagined) must also?  Where can I find the opposite
-> of JohnJWilson?

When you meet my wife. :-)


-> 
-> Aside:  I once wondered if it might be interesting to have a clone made
-> of myself, but I figgered I probably wouldn't be able to get along with
-> the soab.

:-) !!! :-)


-> 
->  JO> The God most pray to is Omni-everything. Knowing the past and
future
->  JO> and uh...everything...He does not act. Why would he?
-> 
-> What makes you think that knowledge, even of the future, precludes
-> taking action?

What action could be taken? THAT God is perfectly content,
Action would be dissatisfaction with the things to be acted upon...


 Surely it doesn't work that way for beings at our level.

Of course not. We are filled with unintended consequences...

and 
-> I have good knowledge of my future- - tomorrow AM, soon after my
-> annoying dog insists that I get up out of bed and take her outside...

Good but not perfect. God only knows (To coin a phrase) what might happen
in your sleep...

 
-> And so much for the Founders' eloquent and inspiring affirmation:
-> "And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on
-> the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other
-> our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor."

Doesn't get better than that.

Even without the firm reliance on divine Providence.

I like the all men are created equal bit. 

It does not diminish it a bit to know they were
slave-holders, and their reliance was not always that firm.

 
-> Providence?  What a quaint notion- - the divine actively participating
-> in the affairs of men.  Boo on TJ for writing such a thing.  He should
-> have been summarily excommunicated from the ranks of the Theists for
-> writing such a thing!

No man is his book :-)

Ever read the Jefferson Bible?

 
->  JO> His Opposite however is a Goddess who is ignorant and seeks
->  JO>  nothing but knowledge of the Universe...the which man was invented
to
->  JO> help. WhatEVER you learn is appreciated.
-> 
-> And that's all she does when she gets that knowledge, appreciates it?

No! She SHARES it...

(My concept of heaven)


-> How? 

How Goddess works it? Mebbie She will share that, too...


 And that's why man was invented?

Yep. 


  Heck, even the shorter catechism
-> (formerly learned by children) starts right off with a more elegant and
-> interesting answer than that - - "Q1: What is the chief end of man?  A:
-> To glorify God, and to enjoy him forever."

That sounds ridiculous to me. The idea of Glorifying God is to assume 
God needs, wants glorifying. 

The purpose of man is to learn and in learning gain understanding.

 
-> ...sorry, I remain unconvinced- - you have yet to show anything
-> good about it.

Any impetus toward education is a good thing.
-> 
->  ->(Two Gods)
-> 
->  ->  JO> (One is content, the other is curious...)
-> 
->  -> Still into that undynamic duo thing?

Yep. Better than positing a Devil...and Evil.

To those who so believe: you should know better :-)

I still don't know why you prefer
->  -> knowledge to wisdom.

'Cause I know I can learn. 
-> 
->  JO> One is plentiful, the other very rare...
-> 
-> Isn't knowledge the more plentiful of the two?

Certainly.

 
->  JO> ============
-> 
->  ->  JO> ...It's pretty damn absolute. :-)
-> 
->  -> What is?
-> 
->  JO> I think the reference  was to ...uh...freedom of religion...
-> 
-> Good answer (and suspicions confirmed).

What suspicions are these? 
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