(January 25, 2022 at 1:01 am)Belacqua Wrote: These nine assertions are a license for self-indulgence, lack of discipline, reinforcement of one's own prejudices, and unkindness.
PART 1:
I agree. There should always be a limit to indulgence.
It’s difficult to write such social rules.
If it was a command such as “You must seek pleasure”, well how much pleasure, what kind of pleasure, when, where?
However, since it says represents, I can’t criticize it on that.
Quote:LaVey uses language to stack the deck, like "spiritual pipe dreams." Well, yeah, we're all against pipe dreams. Or "hypocritical self-deceit"; we're all against that, too. But anyone who signed on to these assertions would be in serious danger of falling into exactly that kind of self-deceit.
I assume #2 means that he doesn’t believe in an afterlife.
It is a matter of burden of proof.
The side that makes the claim that humans have an afterlife so far have not been able to provide any solid evidence.
After a certain amount of time, when no evidence surfaces, I think it is fine to call a concept a pipe dream.
Quote:For example, indulgence instead of abstinence. OK, I enjoy a good chocolate cake as much as anybody. Should I go ahead and eat until I'm 600 pounds? Aren't there really a lot of cases in which self-discipline is obviously a good thing? Do you have a little Oxycontin handy?
I agree.
This comment is related to PART 1.
It is similar to the islamic rule of “No drinking ethanol”.
Instead of setting the upper limit to 0 g, set it to a value where a person can drink and still not get drunk enough to jump out the window.
In fact, I don’t drink ethanol. I don’t like the taste. Wine is a little ok but still, I prefer water. So, what does that rule have to do with me?
It also turns out that drinking some wine has health benefits.
The mormons had the rule “Don’t drink hot drinks” which was interpreted to mean don’t drink coffee and tea. Because of the discoveries made by Chemistry, that rule changed to don’t drink things that contain caffeine. So now, they don’t drink Coca-Cola, Pepsi, pills of paracetamol that contains caffeine.
Then it turns out:
https://www.foxnews.com/health/coffee-co...vity-study
Quote:In addition to possibly helping to protect the liver, coffee could also aide in colon cancer patients’ longevity, according to a new study.
Researchers found that study participants who drank one cup of coffee a day had an 11% increased rate of survival compared to those who drank no coffee. They also had a 5% increased rate of living progression-free, or living without their cancer getting worse, according to the findings.
Meanwhile, those who drank even more coffee, or more than 4 cups a day, were found to have a 36% increased rate of survival and a 22% increase rate of living progression-free.
“It’s known that several compounds in coffee have antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and other properties that may be active against cancer,” Chen Yuan said.
^^^^^So what about all the mormon priests who were saying that Joseph Smith had scientific knowledge from god that coffee and tea contained caffeine and that he knew that these 2 products are bad for you. (**** I do not know if it is Joseph Smith who created the no hotdrinks rule).
Quote:4. Satan represents kindness to those who deserve it instead of love wasted on ingrates!
It’s a very personal thing. If I judge that someone is a major jerk, I lose interest in being friends with that person.
Let’s quote Jesus:
Quote:Matthew 22:34 KING JAMES VERSION
But when the Pharisees had heard that he had put the Sadducees to silence, they were gathered together. {22:35} Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying, {22:36} Master, which is the great commandment in the law? {22:37} Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. {22:38} This is the first and great commandment. {22:39} And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
^^^^^Apparently, you can command someone to love someone else, from the point of view of Jesus.
Quote:5. Satan represents vengeance instead of turning the other cheek!
I agree but it depends on the situation. It’s good to try to make peace with your local citizen but there is a limit. The turn the other cheek rule of Jesus is not going to always work.
What about neighboring countries? If they invade you and destroy your cities, are you going to turn the other cheek or use all your resources to destroy them?
Reality is complicated. Jesus is not a survivalist.
I prefer to be like a mirror. Try to make peace but if the other person is a major jerk, then be like him to him.
Quote:7. Satan represents man as just another animal, sometimes better, more often worse than those that walk on all-fours, who, because of his “divine spiritual and intellectual development,” has become the most vicious animal of all!
In term of biology, yes, we are an animal.
As usual, reality is complicated. Some inventors wanted to get rich and improve the lives of people. For example, cars and trucks, plastic bags and plastic products.
Unfortunately, they did not think about pollution, they did not establish a system of recycling.
They did not think about how the population was going to reach 7 billion, 10 billion, 20 billion.
Modern life is comfortable. People don’t want to return to the old days of riding horses and using wood stoves to warm yourself.
Some of them are not even interested in alternative energy sources.
