05-26-2007, 12:02 AM
>>>Why do you need the second and third parts? Can't one do his best and not pray and not believe in Jesus?
Does it matter if you strive to be a good person in the name of Bhudda, Mohamed, or whatever? Does it matter if you just do it because it seems like the right thing to do?
I think in this case it matters _at least_ because Jesus defines what good is. Hopefully yoregano can explain more, because the quote, I think, means more to a christian than you know. But there are problems with the idea of just following some rules of good behavior. From a pragmatic sense, just think of the idea that there is an omnipotent being watching you all the time. It might be possible to game the system with a list of rules, but not when someone knows your every thought. And when you have a "good heart", it doesn't matter if there is an absence of rules in some particular situation, or whatever, you still try to do the right thing. I do think you would get a different result without the 2nd and 3rd parts though, even though it might seem subtle.
As an aside, I would like to see MacMagus' definitive list of what makes a person good, since we have to have one for how to get to heaven. But maybe he doesn't think there is such a thing as a good person.
>>I disagree. If I say, "Two plus two is four" that's just my opinion?
I suppose one could debate that sort of thing, but you could look at it as a particularly unanimous opinion. Actually, maybe the answer is that it isn't an opinion, so why would you have to identify it as one? I suppose part of the answer is also that you would almost never run into any statement that had that sort of unanimity in any discussion of even moderate complexity. At any rate, english teachers do teach kids not to start essays with, "In my opinion" ;-).
An example:
"There are waaay too many religions in this world and not enough falsifiable evidence for you to keep making sweeping allegations about God and existence in this kind of forum and have those allegations go unchallenged."
Is there the kind of unanimity on this statement that there is with your statement (2+2)? No, so I guess he should have said, "in my opinion". It gets silly, so it isn't necessary. And yes, that is my opinion, obviously. kj.
Does it matter if you strive to be a good person in the name of Bhudda, Mohamed, or whatever? Does it matter if you just do it because it seems like the right thing to do?
I think in this case it matters _at least_ because Jesus defines what good is. Hopefully yoregano can explain more, because the quote, I think, means more to a christian than you know. But there are problems with the idea of just following some rules of good behavior. From a pragmatic sense, just think of the idea that there is an omnipotent being watching you all the time. It might be possible to game the system with a list of rules, but not when someone knows your every thought. And when you have a "good heart", it doesn't matter if there is an absence of rules in some particular situation, or whatever, you still try to do the right thing. I do think you would get a different result without the 2nd and 3rd parts though, even though it might seem subtle.
As an aside, I would like to see MacMagus' definitive list of what makes a person good, since we have to have one for how to get to heaven. But maybe he doesn't think there is such a thing as a good person.
>>I disagree. If I say, "Two plus two is four" that's just my opinion?
I suppose one could debate that sort of thing, but you could look at it as a particularly unanimous opinion. Actually, maybe the answer is that it isn't an opinion, so why would you have to identify it as one? I suppose part of the answer is also that you would almost never run into any statement that had that sort of unanimity in any discussion of even moderate complexity. At any rate, english teachers do teach kids not to start essays with, "In my opinion" ;-).
An example:
"There are waaay too many religions in this world and not enough falsifiable evidence for you to keep making sweeping allegations about God and existence in this kind of forum and have those allegations go unchallenged."
Is there the kind of unanimity on this statement that there is with your statement (2+2)? No, so I guess he should have said, "in my opinion". It gets silly, so it isn't necessary. And yes, that is my opinion, obviously. kj.