(Ron) Definition of Inerrancy (again, the concept of 'oneness')
Bryce Anderson bryce_anderson@yahoo.com
Sun, 6 Sep 1998 03:45:21 -0700 (PDT) (00905096721, 19980906104521.9638.rocketmail@send1c.yahoomail.com)
---Brian Dean <bridean@worldnet.att.net> wrote:
>
> >BRYCE
> > Again, you obviously misunderstand the concept of "oneness." If
> >you WERE me (which is basically the same as saying you were "one"
with
> >me) you would not be blowing away everyone who cut you off. You
would
> >be sitting in front of a computer, trying vainly to think of some way
> >to respond to someone who has basically called you an immorral,
> >homicidal road maniac. If you were me, you would be wondering why
you
> >idly lurk on this list instead of working on a fiction novel you
> >haven't bothered to look at this last week. You would be wondering
if
> >the hamburger upstairs is thawed and ready to fry up. In short, if
> >you were me, you would be doing exactly what I am doing.
> RON
> What?! Are you suggesting that you are able to control your
> overpowering instincts?
BRYCE
If the "overpowering instincts" you describe are the ones that
make me want to run people off the road, then certainly. However, the
fact that you even asked this question proves that you didn't get the
point of my post. If you were me, you would do everything I would do.
Unless you have evidence that I have "blown away" a large number of
motorists in the Salt Lake City area, you owe me an apology.
RON
Next you'll be telling me that you have a
> free-will!
BRYCE
I might, but if I did I wouldn't have any choice about the fact
that I said it. To the best of my knowledge, the only truly
'non-deterministic phenomena' are in the quantum realm, and even these
are strictly governed by statistics. So, unless I get trapped in some
"Schroedinger's Cat" type experiment, the events of my life have
already been determined.
Fortunately for you, you don't have to believe that, because God
gave you "free will." So even though He already knows everything
you'll do from birth to death down to the timing of your eyeblinks,
I'm sure you'll find some way to rationalize it so that you can
maintain the illusion of complete control over yourself (not that you
had any choice about it).
RON
And how could you possibly be "immoral" since there is no
> subjective basis for morality, and you and your actions are just the
> product of hormones and chemicals coursing through your system?
BRYCE
And yours is an "objective" basis for morality? If God says
killing off an entire race of people just because they attacked the
Israelites hundreds of years before, it is moral. If God orders the
Israelites to keep the virgin women of an conquered nation while
killing everyone else, it is moral. If God orders the burning of
witches and the stoning of homosexuals, it is moral. Why? Because
God ordered it, and He is wonderful, and we're puny sacks of bat
guano. You claim that your God is completely good, but that "good"
and "bad" are defined by his whim. The two claims suddenly turn into
a meaningless tautology.
RON
How
> could you possibly be offended since I obviously cannot control what
I
> am typing?
BRYCE
Look at the real world for once. People get offended.
Therefore, the emotion of "offense" is a brain state that does in fact
occur. Since I can't control which chemicals are acting where in my
brain, I have no choice BUT to be offended by your drivel.
RON
Perhaps you could throw some of these concepts into your
> novel and title it "A Clockwork Orange"? Or has that already been
done?
BRYCE
Uh, just one question: Did that sentence have some sort of point
to it?
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