Posted by Elizabeth on September 15, 2001, at 14:11:18
In reply to Re: two wrongs..., posted by JahL on September 15, 2001, at 9:33:33
> Are you saying that you believe because you fear the consequences [hell] of not believing (an action Pascal's Theorem would endorse, but only for reasons of logic) and that you want a second bite of the cherry [the eternal afterlife]? How selfless would that be?
It would be completely selfish, of course. I also think it's intellectually dishonest to go through the motions of practising a religion when you don't really believe in it.
(It's "Pascal's Wager," BTW. A theorem is a proven statement, generally one derived from axioms of mathematics or logic.)
> Mmmm. I can be altruistic (most of the time) w/o the old carrot (heaven) & stick (hell) routine. Just thinkin' aloud...
That's because you're a good person -- you have more laudable motivations than self-interest. I think Jesus would say you're a good person too.
BTW, it's arguable whether Jesus ever claimed to be literally the "son of God," as San seems to believe he did. Even if he did say that and knew it to be false, of course, that doesn't negate all the good things he did and said, IMO. Everybody has told a lie at some point; more broadly, we're all "sinners." That doesn't mean there aren't any good people in the world. The universe isn't black-and-white/good-and-evil, as fundamentalists of many different religions seem to believe.
> BTW It's not the 'Heathens' (ie non-believers or 'independent thinkers') who are at each others' throats.
It's interesting, isn't it? The fact that some extremist religious leaders seem to be encouraging the violence (e.g., by telling young men that if they go on a suicide mission they'll be rewarded in the afterlife) may be contributing! My understanding is that murder is considered a Very Bad Thing in most religions, so it's hard for me to see how they can possibly justify acts like this to themselves, but I guess they do somehow.
-elizabeth
poster:Elizabeth
thread:11152
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20010915/msgs/11410.html