MAN is a moral creature by virtue of transcendent wisdom intrinsic to a moral code that is immune to the instincts and impulses of any one generation — instincts that hold animals captive, but from which man is free to escape. However, when humans abandon absolute morality in favor of the rights and wrongs relative to their own time period, they voluntarily constrain themselves to the instincts and impulses of one generation. They thus partake of the same circumstantial basis to which animals are in bondage and, in so doing, conjoin themselves to animals, i.e., to a form of life that is incapable of moral behavior. As we have seen, animals are incapable of moral behavior in an absolute sense. They have knowledge provided only by their immediate environment; and in the absence of human intelligence, as they store, retrieve, and process this knowledge, they do so with an intent and expectancy whose only thrust is immediate gratification.
Psalms 92: 1-9
1 It is a good thing to give thanks unto the LORD, and to sing praises unto thy name, O most High:2 To shew forth thy lovingkindness in the morning, and thy faithfulness every night,3 Upon an instrument of ten strings, and upon the psaltery; upon the harp with a solemn sound.4 For thou, LORD, hast made me glad through thy work: I will triumph in the works of thy hands.5 O LORD, how great are thy works! and thy thoughts are very deep . 6 A brutish man knoweth not; neither doth a fool understand this. 7 When the wicked spring as the grass, and when all the workers of iniquity do flourish ; it is that they shall be destroyed for ever:8 But thou, LORD, art most high for evermore.9 For, lo, thine enemies , O LORD, for, lo, thine enemies shall perish ; all the workers of iniquity shall be scattered.
21 comments:
61,81,42,0,B,0
Here comes the atheist again to challenge your unwarranted assumptions. Who defines "God's truth"? Is morality never relative? The book you like to quote from says owning other people is moral. Is it? Was it moral then, but now it is not? Sounds pretty relative to me.
If our nation was founded on Christianity, why is there no mention of Jesus, the bible, or even god in the abstract in our Constitution?
If your particular god exists and has a moral code he wants us to follow, why can't he or doesn't he communicate that to everyone in a way that we can comprehend without any misunderstanding? All Christians can't even agree.
Exodus 21:20-21 (NIV)
20 “Anyone who beats their male or female slave with a rod must be punished if the slave dies as a direct result, 21 but they are not to be punished if the slave recovers after a day or two, since the slave is their property.
I am a Christian.
I also am an American that greatly values the fact that our Founders had the great insight to allow religious freedom in this country.
I agree with you John. Christian beliefs ARE being compromised.
However, those Christian beliefs are not being compromised by any government, different religion, or competing philosophy.
Christian beliefs are being compromised by Christians themselves. Too many Christians have abandoned the teachings of the bible in favor of listening to the political ramblings of self serving political candidates and their followers promoting narrow views as if they represent what it means to be Christian. Too many Christians have lost sight of the teachings of Jesus concerning helping the poor, the elderly, and the sick.
Jesus never asked a blind man if he had the money or insurance to pay compensation for a healing touch. Jesus simply reached into his loving heart, took pity, and helped someone who was suffering.
When real Christians show their faithfulness by doing their best to act like Jesus did and helping those less fortunate than themselves, they help themselves get closer to God.
When showboating political Christians talk big about hot topic political issues in an effort to drive people apart, it drives people away from becoming Christians, because they want nothing to do with the divisive politics. That's sad, because those people are being driven away from Christianity by those who are not acting like Jesus. Those driven away have been misled.
Don't sweat the petty bickering and those sewing seeds of fear and doom.
Love is the answer.
Love God.
Love your enemies.
Love thy neighbor as yourself.
Once you do that, the other stuff cannot hurt you, for you will already have reached salvation.
Try reading the "Songs of Solomon" it is fair steeped in flowery inuendo, enough to make a puritan blush. Then there is the story of Lot, well we won't go there.
There are only ten laws handed down by God to Moses and they will hold a man in good stead. There are too many laws on the books that come from a misguided interpretation of Gods intent.
So animals (other than us) are incapable of moral behavior? Really, John? Just to take one example, is good parenting moral behavior in humans, or just instinctual?
Also, what in the heck do cowboys know that makes them special? In that one picture, it seems one is smoking and one is overweight. Yes, they really seem to know "what life is all about".
Sometimes your religious writings are interesting, but this one is feels more like a regurgitation. Just sayin.
Pam in CO
Our "Founding Fathers" as quoted below -
1. Millions of innocent men, women and children, since the introduction of Christianity, have been burnt, tortured, fined, imprisoned; yet we have not advanced an inch towards uniformity. What has been the effect of coercion? To make one half the world fools, and the other half hypocrites. To support roguery and error all over the earth."
2. "As I understand the Christian religion, it was, and is, a revelation. But how has it happened that millions of fables, tales, legends, have been blended with both Jewish and Christian revelation that have made them the most bloody religion that ever existed?" ---
3. Lighthouses are more helpful than churches.
4. This would be the best of all possible worlds if there were no religion in it.
5. Christianity is the most perverted system that ever shone on man.
1. Thomas Jefferson, from "Notes to Virginia"
2. John Adams, letter to F.A. Van der Kamp, Dec. 27, 1816
3. Benjamin Franklin
4. John Adams
5. Thomas Jefferson
Many religious activists have attempted to rewrite history by asserting that the United States government derived from Christian foundations, that our Founding Fathers originally aimed for a Christian nation. This idea simply does not hold to the historical evidence.
Of course many Americans did practice Christianity, but so also did many believe in deistic philosophy. Indeed, most of our influential Founding Fathers, although they respected the rights of other religionists, held to deism and Freemasonry tenets rather than to Christianity.
a thoughtful and well considered comment Mr. Grant... sorry you elected to remove it, but after wading through N/p, I am in need of snotty, vindictive catharsis.
being less capable and less inclined to go easy on the self indulgent Sunday sniping of Noble(sic) and mile high pamit, I'd just like to request that pamit post an image of herself so I could take a crack at judging her based on her appearance as she so gleefully did with the cowboys...
right after the perfunctory "regurgitation. Just sayin."
if you want to wallow in the mud dear pamlette, be prepared to get some on you. It gets tiresome to turn the other cheek to ninnies who just want to hear themselves cackle - now get up on your hindquarters and howl about how un-Buddhist this comment is.
Why so serious? mortality making you sweat, or just a lot of free time? hope you find this "relatively" snide... have a super, sparkly day!
just testing the vaunted atheist sense of humor
... more slightly delayed gratification, my apologies Mr. Wells
oh, BTW Nooble(sic)
regards, your friend Shiva
true dat
Stew, I see you deleted your comment but it's in my email so I'm going to respond anyway. The only assumption I make is that it is possible for me to learn about the world around me by observation. Why don't you first prove that there's no tooth fairy and then I'll set about proving there's no god? I'm not the one making the claim. Theists are. The burden of proof is on them (you).
If Christianity is not a religion as you and Bill O'Reilly claim, then we should notify the IRS right away. It will really help with the deficit once we get all the back taxes from the Christian churches.
Please explain to me in what context it is moral to own another person and beat them almost to death with no consequences.
No one disagrees that some of the founders of this country were Christians. What is at issue is whether they founded it on Christian principles. They didn't. It was folks like you and Joe McCarthy that put god all over everything because of superstitious fear, looking for the bogeyman in every corner, destroying lives.
remmij, I think I posed some interesting questions that would make a caring and thoughtful person pause and reflect. I do appreciate your response.
And remmij (sic), god forbid I should use my real name on a blog comment to have you make fun of it. Very Christian of you.
Here is a news flash for Dale.
The Ten Commandments are not Christian Law.
The Ten Commandments were handed down by God to Moses to become JEWISH LAW.
That said, I'm not attempting to anger Jews. I'm simply pointing out the differences between Old Testament Jewish Law, and New Testament Christian Law.
The beauty of religious freedom in America is that Jews are allowed to practice their religious beliefs, and Christians are allowed to practice their religious beliefs.
It is too bad that the "Political Christians" have confused ancient Jewish law with Christian Law as given to us by Jesus Christ which true Christianity believes supersedes ancient Jewish Law.
Matthew Chapter 22:
35 Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying,
36 Master, which is the great commandment in the law?
37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
38 This is the first and great commandment.
39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
knoble - thin skinned and repressed anger - labeling too - how uncaring and without thought of you, I'm hurt by your callousness. Kind of a closet bully wannabe... but I'm sure you're getting better after you were traumatized in your latent childhood.
Very atheistic of you... Nob forbid. wah, wah.
Was it good for you? or do you still have pent up ath-anxiety you want to share - you have an app that lets you troll sites that mention words like christian or god or do you find them all by yourself so you can demonstrate how contemplative you are regarding your sorry, singular and finite existence in the cosmos?
But hey, thanks for clearing up that tooth fairy thing - good to see your prodigious intellect is sorting out some of life's remaining mysteries... you do have your hands full - see you next Sunday, you might save yourself yet. Continue to have a super, sparkly day, your friend Zuul
the sun must be really hot there in texas.........................
the sun must be really hot there in texas........................
the sun must be really hot there in texas........................
Leave him alone!
John Wells is going with the flow.
With all those evil monstrous nosey christian people with guns all around him he has to make himself look harmless.
Go all the way, John !!!
Survival is the only true law from the true G*D!!
I fail to see the point in all this other than it's now the place to show off your sunday asshat.
shame it's electronic, I've some mullet to wrap
I've heard it said that this life is like one grain of sand on a beach and that heaven or hell will be like all the grains of sand on a beach. The Christian opts for heaven thru the acceptance of Jesus and repenting of their sins. Good message John.
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