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echo: barktopus
to: John Beckett
from: Robert Comer
date: 2005-11-14 07:42:08
subject: Re: Vatican: Faithful Should Listen to Science

From: "Robert Comer" 

> I'm not quite sure what "don't agree" with. Is there any
event that you
> did not cause (e.g. 9/11) which you would describe as bad?

> Sure, if you wrote down 10 bad things, it might later turn out that one or
> two of them later had some positive outcomes. However, if our language has
> any function, you must be able to think of some bad things!

Bad from my current POV? Certainly, lots of them.

> The alternate POV is to proclaim that everything is Deity's Will, and so
> must be great in some way, even if that way is presently hard to discern.

That's pretty much it.

> If I were the Deity, I would want my followers to have a little less
> sycophancy, and a little more common sense.

Here's where the leap of faith comes in...

>However, you are not addressing the logical point that it is
> a little meaningless to be grateful for rain, if in fact you are grateful
> for everything, even a drought.

Some things are harder to be grateful for, after all, I am human and I have
free will, I hurt and I don't like to see others hurt, but yes, in the end
I'm grateful for everything. (as a whole)

--
Bob Comer


"John Beckett"  wrote
in message news:u8ign1hc7lrg1jh23kh1kbbbrai0pucn0p{at}4ax.com...
> "Robert Comer"  wrote in message
> news::
>> > What I don't like about the "God's plan" reasoning
is that it prevents
>> > anything from ever being wrong. Did anyone here say that 9/11 was bad?
>> > How
>> > could you, knowing that it's part of God's plan?
>>
>> I can understand that but don't agree, on an individual level as long as
>> we
>> still have free will (maybe we don't, but that's another argument) we can
>> be
>> wrong, and in that wrong we can impede God's plan for us -- in fact, we
>> can
>> turn away from it altogether.
>
> I'm not quite sure what "don't agree" with. Is there any
event that you
> did not cause (e.g. 9/11) which you would describe as bad?
>
> Sure, if you wrote down 10 bad things, it might later turn out that one or
> two of them later had some positive outcomes. However, if our language has
> any function, you must be able to think of some bad things!
>
> The alternate POV is to proclaim that everything is Deity's Will, and so
> must be great in some way, even if that way is presently hard to discern.
> If I were the Deity, I would want my followers to have a little less
> sycophancy, and a little more common sense.
>
>> > If it ever makes sense to thank God when the crops have rain, then it
>> > also
>> > makes sense to curse God when there is a drought.
>>
>> That's a personal decision we all have to make, but cursing (or just
>> blaming) God isn't for me.
>
> Sure, a reasonable person is not going to curse a rock, let alone God
> (however, I personally feel that it is OK to occasionally curse your
> computer). However, you are not addressing the logical point that it is
> a little meaningless to be grateful for rain, if in fact you are grateful
> for everything, even a drought.
>
> John
>

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