Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!think.com!sdd.hp.com!mips!dimacs.rutgers.edu!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: harling@pictel.uucp (Dan Harling) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Re: Non practicing RC with a few words to say. Message-ID: Date: 23 Jun 91 01:01:20 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Organization: PictureTel Corporation Lines: 49 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu In article hobrien@pluton.matrox.com (Hugh O'Brien) writes: > > I will stop here for now. However, I do have a few last words. >The bible is just one of many books in the world, don't let it rule >your life. Ultimately, "religion" is you, yourself. When you die, >and if there is a judgement, then it will be based on who you are, >and who you know yourself to be. You can have sex out of wedlock, >and do a million other things that are not approved by the religious >powers that be, and still be a good person. True, you can be a "good person" (whatever that means) and do the things that you mention, as long as you define "good" to include these potential behaviors. >If you are a good person, >then you deserve to go to heaven, if it exists, just as much as someone >who has said the rosary every day of her/his life and adhered to the >moral code of such_and_such religion. You are half right. I agree with the second clause of this statement: that adherence to a particular religious moral code is not a prerequisite for salvation. However, I must disagree with the first clause: "If you are a good person, then you deserve to go to heaven." There is no Biblical basis for this statement; the only way you can support this is by using your own understanding of "good" and "Heaven." > Also, there exists the VERY distinct possibility that death brings >absolute nothingness. Your state of conciousness is nothing more than >a manifestation of the processes of your body burning food. But if my state of consciousness is purely the result of physical processes, then consciousness, reason, and will are all predetermined by efficient cause. This means that these things may seem rational to us, but there is no reason for us to believe they are true. Free will is therefore certainly an illusion, and reason amounts to thought patterns which we have found to work adequately in practice. > Hugh O'Brien ______________________________________________________________________ Daniel A. Harling PictureTel, Inc. Rockport, MA Peabody, MA Opinions expressed herein are not necessarily those of PictureTel, Inc.; they are MINE, ALL MINE! (So there.) ---- === ====