Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2(pesnta.1.2) 9/5/84; site scc.UUCP Path: utzoo!linus!philabs!prls!amdimage!amdcad!amd!pesnta!scc!steiny From: steiny@scc.UUCP (Don Steiny) Newsgroups: net.religion Subject: Re: Re: Omnipotence, justice and suffering: a very long question. Message-ID: <521@scc.UUCP> Date: Thu, 25-Jul-85 16:00:01 EDT Article-I.D.: scc.521 Posted: Thu Jul 25 16:00:01 1985 Date-Received: Sun, 28-Jul-85 06:55:06 EDT References: <1034@phs.UUCP> <501@scc.UUCP> <307@rti-sel.UUCP> Organization: Don Steiny Software Lines: 36 > In article <501@scc.UUCP> steiny@scc.UUCP (Don Steiny) writes: > > > If you don't believe in god, then there is no question to > >resolve. Good and evil become subjective. What is good to me > >is good to me, what is evil to me is evil to me. If someone > >gets eaten by a lion, it is not too good for the person, but > >it is great for the lion. If someone gets ripped off it is > >not good for them, but it might improve the life of the person > >who did the ripping off (or his or her dealer). > > Why is it that so many of you always assume that `secular humanists' > always operate in a state of subjective self-interest? It seems to me > you've got your minds made up about the reasons we nonreligious > barbarians do the things we do. Of course, you don't just trash the > secular humanists; I see someone has done a pretty good job on the > followers of Islam, recently. Don't you just LOVE sweeping > generalizations, folks? > > I'm an agnostic. Most of you probably assume right off the bat > that life has no meaning for someone like me, right? Wrongo, I am amazed that you would believe that I am a Christian or something like that. I am an agnostic too! I think self interest is a wonderful mode of operation. Some people get a lot of pleasure out of doing things for other people. There is nothing about believing that good and evil are relative that makes me a barbarian. All it does is allow me to understand the points of view of different people, and save me from delemmas like "why did god create evil?" -- scc!steiny Don Steiny @ Don Steiny Software 109 Torrey Pine Terrace Santa Cruz, Calif. 95060