Tuesday, August 22, 2006
Too Lazy to Link
But Ward Sutton has a good cartoon about how similar Republican claims about Democrats are to the reality: just substitute "weak on terror" with "weak on the GOP", etc.
Meanwhile Ted Rall makes a very important point about how much we really actually actlike we believe in God. Although, it must be said, that the people he may have in mind actually don't believe good deeds get you into heaven but rather believe that faith is what saves ya -- so his point is slightly off.
Meanwhile Ted Rall makes a very important point about how much we really actually actlike we believe in God. Although, it must be said, that the people he may have in mind actually don't believe good deeds get you into heaven but rather believe that faith is what saves ya -- so his point is slightly off.
# posted by alberich @ 7:33 PM 
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Although, it must be said, that the people he may have in mind actually don't believe good deeds get you into heaven but rather believe that faith is what saves ya
I find that to be one of the most obvious Christian hypocrisies of all. I spent half of my life as a Pentacostal Christian and I can tell you first hand that the whole "Only by grace are you saved; through faith, not by works" belief is a nice mantra but doesn't apply much in practice. If it did, the entire theo-conservative Right would see its political platform evaporate. They may pay lip service to this belief as part of their dogma, but in practice, most Christians, especially conservative ones, live their lives as though works matter very much.
I think the entire notion of sin being an ancient hereditary curse is sick theology anyway, so a focus on doing good works makes more sense to me morally and practically. The belief that all humankind is doomed unless they beg for salvation strikes me as horribly wrong. I also see it as the worst kind of moral relativism; if good works mean nothing than neither do evil works have meaning. A child murderer that repents on his deathbed goes to an eternal reward, while a lifelong children's social worker goes to an eternity of torment for being a Freethinker. To claim that as the dogma of a just God is laughable.
I find that to be one of the most obvious Christian hypocrisies of all. I spent half of my life as a Pentacostal Christian and I can tell you first hand that the whole "Only by grace are you saved; through faith, not by works" belief is a nice mantra but doesn't apply much in practice. If it did, the entire theo-conservative Right would see its political platform evaporate. They may pay lip service to this belief as part of their dogma, but in practice, most Christians, especially conservative ones, live their lives as though works matter very much.
I think the entire notion of sin being an ancient hereditary curse is sick theology anyway, so a focus on doing good works makes more sense to me morally and practically. The belief that all humankind is doomed unless they beg for salvation strikes me as horribly wrong. I also see it as the worst kind of moral relativism; if good works mean nothing than neither do evil works have meaning. A child murderer that repents on his deathbed goes to an eternal reward, while a lifelong children's social worker goes to an eternity of torment for being a Freethinker. To claim that as the dogma of a just God is laughable.
You mean this one
and maybe this one?
About this "too lazy to link" excuse, if there is no avenging god there ought to be a law against it at least.
and maybe this one?
About this "too lazy to link" excuse, if there is no avenging god there ought to be a law against it at least.
Indeed ... these are the ones of which I wrote.
I think God will have mercy on me for this: linking is somewhat of a challenge on my machine as it has a habit of deciding (rather randomly, sometimes when it is convenient for it to do so, it doesn't do this) to copy any selected text into the clipboard ... so I need to juggle multiple windows, etc., in order to link.
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I think God will have mercy on me for this: linking is somewhat of a challenge on my machine as it has a habit of deciding (rather randomly, sometimes when it is convenient for it to do so, it doesn't do this) to copy any selected text into the clipboard ... so I need to juggle multiple windows, etc., in order to link.
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