As much as I can agree with much of what you say, and am a non- christian believer in Christ... I am having a hard time digesting the 'meat' of you statement which is contained in the last sentance. By what means did the christian faith corner the market on knowing what is good for man? You must be reffering to the 'Pauline' brand of modern soothesayers that claim to follow Christ. The likes of wich would say to the starving man; "God bless you in the name of Jesus, I'll pray for you!" and not help the man's hunger or his condition.
On Sep 13, 1:39 pm, Alan Wostenberg <[email protected]> wrote: > Yes, you "can have a feeling of responsibility towards society and > consider it your duty towards it and do what is good for you and the > others". But what have feelings to do with doing good? > > A man comes upon a starving man, knowing little about human nature, > offers him a good thick steak and a glass of wine. But the starving > man cannot digest the food. The first man had a sincere "feeling of > responsibility", and really wanted to "do what is good for the other", > but utterly botched it, because he is ignorant of what is really good > for the other man. > > No doubt those with a "humanitarian mindset" mean well, and act in > accord with what they believe is good for fellow humans, just like the > Jihadist, or the mercy killer who euthanizes the sick patient, or the > abortionist, or Hitler. Everybody does what he /believes/ to be good > for his fellow man. But only those who /know/ what is good for their > neighbor can consistently deliver. > > On the Christian view, if we do not know Christ, we do not know what > man is, so it is quite impossible to do good for man, except by > accident. > > On Sep 13, 10:30 am, RP Singh <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > > A person can have a humanitarian mindset regardless of religion. You don't > > have to believe in God to be good , you can have a feeling of responsibility > > towards society and consider it your duty towards it and do what is good > > for you and the others. Patriots need not be religious , yet they feel a > > great responsibility towards their country. There are so many motives for a > > man to do good to others irrespective of religion. On the other hand people > > are known to indulge in vice and ask God's forgiveness later. > > > On Mon, Sep 13, 2010 at 9:00 PM, Alan Wostenberg <[email protected]> wrote: > > > Sure, "helping is primal". But the Jihadist, having a different > > > theology than the Christian, believes he is helping you by converting > > > you to Islam by the sword. Not so the Christian, for whom religion is > > > the "The voluntary subjection of oneself to God". > > > > The island of atheists? Sure, they'd "help others" for some definition > > > of "help" and "others". I know something about the Christian command > > > to love my neighbor but don't know the official atheist dogma on > > > helping others. If one acted like there were no God why would he > > > think he has any duty to help others? > > > > On Sep 12, 8:28 am, Slip Disc <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > AW; > > > > Yes there is............. > > > > I'll refer you to rigsy's sept. 6 10:15 am post as to my "theistic > > > > religiosity" comment. > > > > > Also, people use therapy and AA like a religion- in fact, they "use" a > > > > lot of things in lieu of religion. What about jingoism? <<<rigsy > > > > > Do you think no one would help anyone else on an island of atheists > > > > because they didn't have a religion to tell them to do so? Helping > > > > is primal and innate as nurturing; religion and faith is human > > > > construct and not necessity.- Hide quoted text - > > - Show quoted text -
