(October 8, 2015 at 11:55 pm)TRJF Wrote: Would worship:

I say we take a vote and promote her to the position.

I would like to note that I am hours ahead of you on that one.

(October 9, 2015 at 12:00 am)sinnerdaniel94 Wrote:

(October 8, 2015 at 11:50 pm)TheRocketSurgeon Wrote: Are you just asking random questions, or do you really not grasp why people have evolved as a cooperative, social species?

I am having a really, really hard time believing you seriously think those are valid questions. It simply does not follow that if we are not a theocratic state working from divine fiat, we cannot make moral judgments.

Societies make "just our opinion" decisions all the time. We enforce collective rules of behavior that seek to prevent harm to one another and allow for maximal individual freedom with protected individual rights and privileges. It is  all opinion, which is why we can lobby and attempt to convince our fellow members of society that a new idea is better than an old one. The Civil Rights Movement was exactly such a case. Yes, it was "just their opinion", but they managed to convince members of the majority that it was a good opinion, and one that should be shared generally by that society. A century ago, you could stand in the door of the governor's mansion in most states and declare that you're a white supremacist; now, I challenge you to find one willing to agree publicly that they believe one race is inferior to another. Society not only changed, it enacted protections that stopped people who didn't agree from harming those that most of us had realized deserved such basic dignity and social protection.

But it's still just our opinion. So what? Are you just trying to shame me because I'm not so arrogant as to claim I have The One Right Way To Live™ in a handy Believer's Guide in my pocket? Is it really so hard to grasp that there are often no "right" solutions, only effective compromises and/or "steps in the right direction", in the real world?

You're speaking in absolutes. Only a Sith deals in absolutes.

My questions are genuine. It seems like you're saying we should make these laws just like how I'm saying believe the bible. your statements have an absolute tone to them. how can you tell people what to do? you're just as "bad" as what God is commanding then.

I don't think you read what I wrote. So I bolded it for you.

(October 9, 2015 at 12:14 am)TheRocketSurgeon Wrote:

(October 8, 2015 at 11:55 pm)TRJF Wrote: Would worship:

I say we take a vote and promote her to the position.

I would like to note that I am hours ahead of you on that one.

Ah, but see, we differ in our views: I *do* take Emma as an ultimate authority :-D

Also, I would break commandments 1, 2, 3, 6, 7 and 10 for her, as well as that one about boiling a kid in its mother's milk. I mean... if she's into that sort of thing.

Me. Obviously.

Done

(October 9, 2015 at 12:42 am)Nay_Sayer Wrote:

Done

/thread

May Ceiling Cat haz mercy on you and do not want to eated you.

Quote:there are multiple verses saying not to kill. you're questioning why God commanded the Israelites to slay the Canaanites, and the answer is that God said the sins of the Canaanites reached such a level that they deserved to die. Just like how we execute murders in our society, God exercised His justice.

Yes, the Bible says not to kill, although what it actually means is 'Adult male Israelites should not kill other adult male Israelites, everyone else is fair game.' But I digress.

If God is powerful enough to create to create the entire Universe through an act of will, why did he need the Israelites to kill the Canaanites? God could have simply blinked them out of existence, thus removing the need for one band of nomadic semi-savages to slaughter another. On a related note, could you list the sins committed by the Canaanite and Amalekite infants that the Israelis butchered?

Maybe your society executes murderers. Mine doesn't. Apparently, we're on a higher moral ground than Jehovah.

Shall I tell you why God ordered the Israelites to slay the Canaanites? It's quite simple, really: The Canaanites had land that the Israelis wanted. The Israelites were going to get the land. The most direct way of accomplishing this was war (it typically is). The wholesale butchery had to be explained some how or other, so the Israelites came up with, 'God told us to do this. Yeah, that's it. The Canaanites were going all sinny, so we stopped the sin with genocide, which is clearly not a sin if God says it's ok.'

It never fails to astonish me how theists can't grasp the moral conundra like this that fill the Bible.

Boru

(October 9, 2015 at 12:35 am)TRJF Wrote:

(October 9, 2015 at 12:14 am)TheRocketSurgeon Wrote: I would like to note that I am hours ahead of you on that one.

Ah, but see, we differ in our views: I *do* take Emma as an ultimate authority :-D

Also, I would break commandments 1, 2, 3, 6, 7 and 10 for her, as well as that one about boiling a kid in its mother's milk. I mean... if she's into that sort of thing.

Did you mean "ultimate authority" or you just want to poke her a bit?

Firstly...


Secondly - there ain't no god that ain't pre-idealized. How many Jesus freaks are running around worshiping a swarthy Semite?