> Robin wrote: > Seems to me that you only need the concept of sin/fallen-ness if you're > already a Christian. If you believe that the world, life, etc. did not > come about as the intentional creation of a being, but simply through > chance and the forces of evolution, it makes sense that things wouldn't > work any better than they absolutely had to. Chance and evolution aren't > concerned with maximizing human happiness, or goodness.
Good points. Although I'm not quite sure what it means that things don't work any better than they have to. Why shouldn't things work perfectly? I guess I always thought that the evolution argument equated to "things are getting better," but perhaps that's not accurate or overly simplistic. > If you do believe that the world was created or designed, then of course > you need something to account for why things don't work better. (Though > blaming the creations rather than the creator seems a bit odd to me. I > *do* swear at my computer when it doesn't work well, but I know the fault > is really Microsoft's.) I understand your point. While I don't believe that God was created to explain the world, and then sin to explain its imperfections, that is certainly a viable argument. It is clearly possible that early individuals could have constructed their own theistic hypotheses that seemed to make sense. How they can get others to be convinced -- even today -- is a different matter altogether. Dudes like Einstein believed in God. I wonder why someone that smart believed something that other intellectual types find so unbelievable? That's not meant to be provocative -- it's just a question. > But really, why bother? We all know who on TIPS is a Christian and who > isn't Don't we have anyone on this list who fits into neither category? What about them? I would be very interested to hear the perspective of a religious psychologist from another belief system, or even one who isn't an adherent to the system but very knowledgeable of it. > and we seem to have these religion v. science battles every six > months or so. Why troll for another one? I'm not sure why you'd say this. I think this particular discussuion has been much more profitable and interesting -- at least for me -- than past ones. Are you suggesting we can't have a healthy discussion? Or that we already know who is going to say what? That assumes each of us is extremely predictable in our mindset. I'd hope that is not the case (although I can imagine you might read my writing and say "Gee, what a surprise he makes that argument again"). Also, with new people on the list, clearly they might have something to contribute. Have a good day, Jim ************************************************************************ Jim Guinee, Ph.D. Director of Training & Adjunct Professor President, Arkansas College Counselor Association University of Central Arkansas Counseling Center 313 Bernard Hall Conway, AR 72035 USA (501) 450-3138 (office) (501) 450-3248 (fax) "He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it" -Martin Luther King, Jr. ************************************************************************** --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
