(March 12, 2016 at 8:03 am)bennyboy Wrote:(March 12, 2016 at 3:49 am)Catholic_Lady Wrote: I said it can be lessened. I didn't say it was entirely mitigated, all the time, for every case. Every case is different. Furthermore, a predisposition to do bad things doesn't mean a person will do bad things. There are many people who were abused and neglected as children and never grow up to rape and kill others. It's not automatic, and people still have a choice. What happened to the likes of Hitler, Stalin, etc after they die is still a mystery to us though, as it's not our place to judge who's in Hell.
Who says it can be lessened? God? Did God tell you this? Did Catholic leaders tell you this? What happened to your "objective morality" (remember the OP?) in which things are either right or wrong, just because they are and not because of context or circumstance?
As for the many people who were abused but didn't grow up to rape and kill others-- this argument was expected, but it is weak. WHAT, exactly, differentiates those who do flip out and those who don't? Is it brain function? The degree of trauma with which they remember the rape? Was it a spiritual condition?
EVEN IF it is the spiritual quality of a person which causes them to fail the test and commit evil where others do not, what person chose his own spiritual quality? The prime causal event which led to that person being in a state in which he commited evil was not in that person's control-- it was in God's control. So the person hasn't really failed God's test; God has failed the person, in not giving him the same spiritual qualities that you or others were fortunate enough to be born with.
I'm expecting you to answer, "I don't know," and leave the actual rationale to God. But if you don't know anything about morality and the consequences of moral and immoral decisions, I wouldn't say your position is a very useful one. Your instincts to do good are much more useful than your ideas.
What we believe is that an act can be objectively wrong, in and of itself. Like, killing innocent people for example. That's objectively wrong in our beliefs. But a person who is mentally insane and just blacks out one day, grabs a gun, and walks into a mall shooting at people, has less culpability than a person who is completely conscious and meticulously plans out and executes a mass shooting.
Our justice system works in a similar way, actually. Murder is illegal, period. But a killer who is insane and blacks out one day will get a much lighter sentence than one who is not insane and premeditated the murder. Murder is still murder. It's still illegal. But culpability can change depending on circumstances, state of mind, etc.
"Of course, everyone will claim they respect someone who tries to speak the truth, but in reality, this is a rare quality. Most respect those who speak truths they agree with, and their respect for the speaking only extends as far as their realm of personal agreement. It is less common, almost to the point of becoming a saintly virtue, that someone truly respects and loves the truth seeker, even when their conclusions differ wildly."
-walsh
-walsh
