nytimes.com — The moral sense is as vulnerable to illusions as the other senses. It is apt to confuse morality per se with purity, status and conformity, reframing practical problems as moral crusades. The science of the moral sense can advance it, by allowing us to see through the illusions that evolution and culture have saddled us with.
Aug 3, 2008 View in Crawl 4
Closed AccountAug 5, 2008
Romans: For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves: Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another
apokalypsenowAug 6, 2008
The invisible technicolor pachyderm in William Shatner's sock drawer was mine - feel free to use it in all its resplendent invisible majesty.
Closed AccountAug 6, 2008
Eir, I am sorry I did not respond thoroughly to you, I am out of time now and will try to continue this dialog before long...
s0l0s0ul_Aug 6, 2008
Wow, I'm sorry Apok, but for the first time I have to disagree with you on this statement:"an omnipotent god could have made it such evil choices did not exist"While this statement is true, it is not evidence against the existence of God. God could have made us beings with the inability to make choices, but satisfaction, which is a truly powerful human emotion, would be lost. Without the ability to make the wrong decisions, we would lose the incredible satisfaction of making the correct decision. Here is another way of looking at it: if you have a child, which would be more satisfying for you? A child that you could program to love you, or a child whose love you had to earn? The idea of programming a being to get a desired result, removes the warmth from love, which is so desired in love, and turns it into a cold, logical, programmed action, which I dont think anyone who has really experienced love, would define true love as being.The Christian God, is by belief, a personal God, and wants us to experience life and relationships on a personal and intimate level. That being said, the fact that we are able to make "good" and "bad" decisions, does not disprove the existence of a Christian God, but rather supports the idea.
eir574Aug 7, 2008
@ApokalypseNow,I knew for sure that I recognized that quote from the very first few words, and the whole way through I was trying to place it. One can find wisdom in the strangest places . . .
ben0Aug 13, 2008
Basically what I said dude, but yeah exactly.