RE: For good people to do bad things...
September 19, 2009 at 2:20 pm
(This post was last modified: September 19, 2009 at 2:21 pm by Ryft.)
Frodo is free to correct me if I am mistaken, but I believe his point was that the incorrectness of your "cherry-picking" response is a consequence of your incorrect view about what Christianity is. I have already made the case as clearly as possible yet evidently you still do not grasp it (and are displeased with the critical attention your definition of 'Christian' has been receiving), so let's try a different tactic.
I said that "murderous violence and terrorist activity follows from their beliefs, but those beliefs are not Christian beliefs. Christianity neither commands nor condones such appalling acts; more than this, it contradicts them quite diametrically." And your rejoinder to this seems to be that they might disagree, that they might produce cherry-picked verses from the Bible uniquely interpreted to indeed support such appalling acts. In order for your rejoinder to have rational warrant, can you demonstrate (as opposed to simply imagining) what verses could be cherry-picked to disprove my statement? For if your case can only be stated but not actually made, then it is a failed rejoinder.
P.S. Has it escaped your notice that Frodo no more assumes they are not True Christians™ than you assume they are True Christians™?
I said that "murderous violence and terrorist activity follows from their beliefs, but those beliefs are not Christian beliefs. Christianity neither commands nor condones such appalling acts; more than this, it contradicts them quite diametrically." And your rejoinder to this seems to be that they might disagree, that they might produce cherry-picked verses from the Bible uniquely interpreted to indeed support such appalling acts. In order for your rejoinder to have rational warrant, can you demonstrate (as opposed to simply imagining) what verses could be cherry-picked to disprove my statement? For if your case can only be stated but not actually made, then it is a failed rejoinder.
P.S. Has it escaped your notice that Frodo no more assumes they are not True Christians™ than you assume they are True Christians™?
Man is a rational animal who always loses his temper when
called upon to act in accordance with the dictates of reason.
(Oscar Wilde)
called upon to act in accordance with the dictates of reason.
(Oscar Wilde)
