X-Message-Number: 19782
Date: Mon, 12 Aug 2002 09:54:53 -0500
From: Jeff Dee <>
Subject: Re: Religion and Cryonics(oh no, not again!)
References: <>

"John Grigg" <> wrote:
 >
 > > Thomas Donaldson wrote:
 > > What kind of just God would
 > > attack those who simply pay Him no attention at all? To do so
 > > suggests that God has some kind of personality defect, needing
 > > constant assurance from EVERYONE that He is worshipful by
 > > worshipping him. Such a God becomes far less than worth
 > > worshipping in the first place. If it isn't safe not to worship,
 > > then we should rightly spend our efforts on ways to avoid this
 > > immature Creature.
 > >(end)
 >
 > First of all, I believe God wants us to engage in worship for our
 > benefit, not God's.  Worship keeps us mindful of the gospel of
 > salvation, and our need to live it.

Believe what you want, but apparently we're talking about the same god 
who appears in the Old Testament. Now unless you are claiming the OT is 
a load of rubbish, this deity is a jealous god who demands worship and 
tortures everyone who will not bend a knee to him.

 > Joe Dees wrote:

How on Earth were you able to mangle my name this badly?

 > I do not subscribe to a radical view of life extension which rules out
 > all risk taking. I don't see a whole lot of point to remaining alive
 > unless I allow myself the freedom to take risks for the sake of goals
 > that I consider important. But thank you for your concern; I will
 > certainly watch my back.
 > (end)
 >
 > Having recently attended the funeral of some acquaintances who
 > were mountain climbers, I can understand what you mean.  I was
 > told privately that despite their great experience, top quality
 > equipment, and knowledge, they got very careless, and that cost
 > them their lives.
 >
 > It really irritated me to hear repeatedly how "God had decided it
 > was their time to go."  They made foolish decisions where they
 > really knew better, and the last gamble they took cost them their
 > lives.  I feel so sorry for the wives and young kids left behind. 


It irritates ME to hear people who believe in an all loving, all 
knowing, all powerful god excuse his inaction by criticizing the victims 
of his physical laws. If your god is all knowing then he knew they were 
in trouble. If he's all powerful, then he could've saved their lives no 
matter how foolish they were. And if he's all loving, then he'd have 
wanted to. If not for the sake of the climbers, then at least for the 
sake of the grieving families that you yourself claim to feel so sorry 
for. If YOU could've saved them, wouldn't you have? Of course. That 
makes you a better person than your god.

By presenting this happy little story in response to my plan to attend 
the Godless Americans march, you are implying that if I wind up getting 
shot then it's my own fault for being careless and foolish. And of 
course that implication irritates me as well. The fault will lie with 
the god-fearing shooter, and with RELIGION: the practice of 
indoctrinating people into believing irrational things. Only religion 
could motivate an otherwise sane person to commit murder for the glory 
of their invisible friend, to excuse the supposedly omnipotent invisible 
friend's inaction when his physical laws kill people, or to suggest that 
prostrating ourselves before a higher power is "for our own good".

-Jeff Dee

-- 
"It is as morally bad not to care whether a thing is true
or not, so long as it makes you feel good, as it is not to
care how you got your money as long as you have got it."
-Edmund Way Teale, "Circle of the Seasons", 1950

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* * * AA #1355 - Knight of the BAAWA since 10/26/99 * * *

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