Posts by hamilcarr

This is a good question, I didn't except you to ask such a postmodern ultra-sceptic question. I would say that we need to redefine these qualifying terms in light of scientifical findings. Since cooperation apparently raises our species' fitness, I would affirmatively claim larger spheres are better.

384

A STUNNINGLY simple question about JOHN 3:16 "For God so Loved the world."

by Terry in

on what basis did god so love the world?.

the world of mankind had been condemned to death by god's curse in eden!.

god viewed mankind as "dust on the scales".

hamilcarr

Let's go with the theory that evolution is the "moral" driver. That means a blind dice-thrower, devoid of emotion, is at the helm of our morality. And you term that a basis for civilization?

Two bold claims again: 'blind dice-thrower' and 'devoid of emotion'. Variation may be rather 'blind', even though evolutionary theories differ in this respect, but 'natural selection' certainly isn't. It's a process by which environmental factors actually 'steer' the evolution, although the term used may be too godlike. More recent theories on evolutionary psychology have come up with the term 'survival of the fair'. Why this moral value? Because evoluition operates upon populations, not individuals, the more so with social animals like humans and other primates. Social animals, thus, can only be successful (evolutionary fit) when individuals cooperate. Morality emerges bottom-up, not top-down as thought before. This is one of the major shifts in contemporary sciences.

384

A STUNNINGLY simple question about JOHN 3:16 "For God so Loved the world."

by Terry in

on what basis did god so love the world?.

the world of mankind had been condemned to death by god's curse in eden!.

god viewed mankind as "dust on the scales".

hamilcarr

Auld Soul,

The realisation that people with totally different beliefs and divergent political systems have the same elementary moral codes, points at the fact that morality somehow is part of our "nature" in whatever shape or form. Theft, rape and murder are never considered virtues, while generosity, altrutistic behavior and willingness to cooperate are seen as virtues in almost all societes, even in more "primitive" cultures (cf. potlatch).

9

Governing Body as Jehovah God revealed in latest WT study

by hamilcarr in

the watchtower study of this week (15/2) is entitled 'jesus christ - the greatest missionary'.

compare the following phrases on the modern-day identity of jehovah and jesus:.

as one of jehovah's witnesses, however, you likely think of the missionaries sent out by the governing body to preach the food news in various lands around the earth.. concerning his heavenly father, though, jesus christ said: "i am a representative from him, and that one sent me forth.

hamilcarr

the GB is NOT needed for the rest of us to get our "food at the proper time"

That's the way it ought to be. It is remarkable how the WT organisation rapidly changed its sola scriptura to a sola ekklesia doctrine after the 1980 debacle.

384

A STUNNINGLY simple question about JOHN 3:16 "For God so Loved the world."

by Terry in

on what basis did god so love the world?.

the world of mankind had been condemned to death by god's curse in eden!.

god viewed mankind as "dust on the scales".

hamilcarr

Reality really exists. Thoughts about reality exist - but only in the mind.

I strongly believe God exists, but not in the theistic definition. Because theists want everyone to believe God is necessarily a personal creating God, many non-theists are reluctant to use the term God in referring to realities. Theists, however, have no dominance over the term God.

384

A STUNNINGLY simple question about JOHN 3:16 "For God so Loved the world."

by Terry in

on what basis did god so love the world?.

the world of mankind had been condemned to death by god's curse in eden!.

god viewed mankind as "dust on the scales".

hamilcarr

Your "clear moral norm" is an invention of your mind and is, as with all humans, inextricably paired with your "clear moral abnorm"; that immorality peculiarly yours that you don't talk about nearly as much in polite social circles.

I wouldn't agree with this. The "clear moral norm" is a reality on which our civilisation is built. Morality isn't the product of our culture and civilisation, but rather the opposite: civilisation is the result of our biologically rooted moral potential (which may be emprically confirmed by comparative behavioral studies).

384

A STUNNINGLY simple question about JOHN 3:16 "For God so Loved the world."

by Terry in

on what basis did god so love the world?.

the world of mankind had been condemned to death by god's curse in eden!.

god viewed mankind as "dust on the scales".

hamilcarr

To put Terry's question to you: On what basis do you cherish individual lives?

The evolutionary endowed need for cooperation. Throughout mankind's history, one may remark a broadening of the sphere with which one cooperated, from family, tribe, nation to entire humanity and for some even entire creation. Organised religion got stuck in the tribal-national phase (a fortiori those who accept the OT as a divine revelation).

88

What Does An Ultimately Cruel Universe Reveal About God?

by hamilcarr in

an interesting unanswered question raised by inkling in my thread on creation and god, which i'd like to devote a separate thread to: i would love to hear from some of the resident fundamentalists on this one.... why did got create a achingly beautiful, but ultimately cruel and twisted universe?.

.

[ink].

hamilcarr

Too many big words for me and my gods.

Rather essential actually. Once you startusing axioms, there's no ground for further discussion. Therefore, my question was very important and appropriate.

384

A STUNNINGLY simple question about JOHN 3:16 "For God so Loved the world."

by Terry in

on what basis did god so love the world?.

the world of mankind had been condemned to death by god's curse in eden!.

god viewed mankind as "dust on the scales".

hamilcarr

Is 'morality' our natural instinct? If the atheists are right, our 'morality' and our 'morality' alone permitted all the atrocities mankind has perpetrated against one another.
In which case, 'morality', or the inherent nature of man, or the results of these is actually the 'God' against which Terry and others truly rail, rant, and raves. Which is an odd display of self-hatred at worst, or possibly of hatred of one's own species, or at very least, hatred of the natural processes which spawned the thoughts of the species.

Morality is not our natural instinct, but our common fate.

Our immorality permitted all the atrocities, but since I DO cherish individual's lives, no matter their background, I have a clear moral norm according to which I act. That's the big difference with the theist: he/she imagines his neighbor being slaughtered or burning in hellfire and therefore has no moral norm to act in accordance with.

The 'inherent nature of man' can hardly be called a God, or it must be a gnostic demiurg. Don't buy that nonsense, AuldSoul, it's very cheap!