On 04-09-98 Mark Bloss wrote to Day Brown... 
 MB>  DB> To say that some folks *choose* to be damned unto hell doesn't in 
 MB>  DB> my mind, take God off the hook.  They are as he made them.  Their 
 MB>  DB> actions, while seemingly of a free will, are not volitional since 
 MB>  DB> they lack the rationality to do otherwise.  Aristotle made pretty 
 MB>  DB> clear to me that only the rational mind has any choice; evildoing 
 MB>  DB> is not something a rational mind chooses to do.  
 MB>   
 MB>  "While we were yet sinners, the Annointing died for the ungodly." 
 
 MB>  But now some of us "decide" not to believe 
 MB>  it; and volition has everything to do with it - because _decision_ is 
 MB>  of paramount import to a soul.    And what, please explain, does 
 MB>  evildoing have to do with having power expended paying for what we 
 MB>  already did, so we don't have to suffer for it? 
I did not say, and neither did Aristotle, that evildoers do *not* 
suffer for their actions; indeed, he showed quite plainly that an 
evildoer *always* suffers... in this life, never mind the next. 
 
But before going into that, let me remind you, that quoting Bible 
verses does not support an argument in philosophy.  Thus: 
 MB> God says, and I'll 
 MB>  paraphrase slightly: "Why are you so blasted worried about what you 
 MB>  did that was wrong?  I already took care of that for you, dummy." 
Unsupported assertion one. 
 MB>  At least, that's the "Christian" bent.  And it _has_ to be the  
 MB>  Christian bent, because "Christian" _means_ Annointed of God, and 
 MB>  you can't have little annointed ones flying around if they aren't 
 MB>  really annointed ones, can you?  And how can you call non-annointed 
 MB>  ones "Christian"?  But this is what many people do, all the time, 
 MB>  without thinking about it.  If the Annointed One, Jesus, the "Christ" 
 MB>  (which literally means annointed of God) died so that we don't have 
 MB>  to die a permanent death - 
Unsupported assertion two.  Whatever Jesus thought he died for is
not proven, nor is whether he was right. 
 MB> and DOES it while we are yet unrepentant 
 MB>  evildoers - do you really think the "sins" we committed were what God 
 MB>  was so riled up about?  God wasn't riled up, He was willing to 
 MB> sacrifice 
 MB>  His own Annointed so WE could forget our sins. 
Unsupported assertion three. I see no evidence of Him riled up. 
 MB>  Do you really think our 
 MB>  screw-ups bother God all that much?  No.  He, I think, is more 
 MB> concerned that our screw-ups bother Us so much! 
The concern of God isn't at issue here Mark.  'Volition' presumes 
a *thinking* process.  No one talks of the volition of an animal, 
yet monstous criminals are called 'animals'.  The appellation has 
a finer degree of appropriateness than is commonly realized.  The 
habitual evildoer, according to Aristotle, habitually forgets the 
evil he has done because each of us *instinctively* wish to think 
well of ourselves.  This is born out by psychological studies you 
can find in any textbook; no appeal to Biblical, or any authority 
whatever is needed, useful, or sufficient.  The data supports it. 
 
Because he forgets the evil that he's done, he doesn't learn, and 
because he does not care about others, he does not understand why 
they act the way that they do.  Since he doesn't understand them, 
he *fears* what they may do.  Living in fear is a *painful* state 
that is universal among evildoers. 
 
To ameliorate that suffering, in Aristotle's times, they drank to 
stupification; today they turn to harder drugs; in any case, they 
find that they forget even their fear while stupified, and hence, 
they become- drug addicts.  How much more justice do you want? 
 
How much more evidence do you need to prove that evildoers aren't 
rational?  How can the irrational exercise 'free will'? 
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--- Maximus 3.01
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