Thanks for the answers...
Submitted by Tygyr on April 12 1999 at 19:07:13
In reply to A brief question... Submitted by Tygyr on April 11 1999 at 19:40:46
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Hi, Thanks for the answers. There are some interesting perspectives here :) I'd love to discuss this at length with every one of you, but I can't so I'll just sum up my thoughts. I suppose on reflection what I'm asking is "why aren't the Ten Commandments good enough? Why be more specific?" It just seems strange to me that a god who supposedly created us let us have so much diversity and then tells us it's not part of the Plan. Andy's idea of the snowflakes is interesting, but I find it doesn't reassure me very much. A world with nothing but snowflakes is a dull one indeed. In the same vein Orwell writes about a society where everyone acts as demanded by Big Brother - this is chilling. What's the practical difference between Orwell's Big Brother clones and God's ones? To be instructed in a point-by-point way on how to live my life gives me the message that I'm not valued as a person but as a thing, an object, like a Lego toy. I'm not sure I feel comfortable with that. I suppose, really, I believe in what could be called a "constitutional deiarchy" ;) Wzzy said that "do no harm" is a noble cause... an extension of "love thy neighbour". That's sort of my point - why should one need to be more specific? If God really cares about love, why (say) condemn loving actions like homosexuality? If God really is tolerant then what's all this blanket-statement "thou shalt bloody well not"? The only conclusion I can draw is that this God is quite frankly intolerant... which, whatever reasons He may have for being so, doesn't make the injustice any better. Intolerance is intolerance even dressed up as "it's for your own good". Again, my way of cutting through the issue is to basically do what I feel is right. I work on the idea that if God is really a good guy then he'll accept me doing my best in whatever way suits me; and if he doesn't then he's IMHO not worth looking up to in the first place. Really, I can't lose - I either get an understanding God or miss out on one who I wouldn't get along with. It's an interesting point to throw about, and you have given me several as well. Thanks for writing. Tygyr |