[lit-ideas] Re: Socialist Beliefs
- From: "Lawrence Helm" <lawrencehelm@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 16 Jul 2013 18:48:52 -0700
And the alternative is? I was in an unfortunate argument with someone,
several someones in fact, on a Historum forum. The chief fellow had several
fallacies in his supposed argument while at the same time he was setting
himself up as an authority. I tried to put things into perspective for him
-- always a bad mistake, one of my many -- and he accused me of trying to
impress someone. I told him the exact opposite was true. I was at heart a
misanthropist. As a Christian I knew I shouldn't be, nevertheless I was.
My problem was that I could be so "unimpressed" with those on a forum that I
eventually declare a pox on all their houses and drop out. Several of them
continued doing unimpressive things so I dropped out.
Now, granted, as you say, I am guilty of not living up to my beliefs, but
should I abandon them for that reason? Or should I like Mike say "mea
culpa" and continue on. Christ was most critical of hypocrites, not
failures. And in terms of Christian doctrine, "Perfectionism" is a heresy.
This doesn't mean the standards are bad. In the West we've had Christian
standards for almost 2000 years. There have been slight modifications over
the years, but by and large they are unchanged. There have also been
attempts to transform them into a Social Doctrine: Marx, but also others:
Christianity without Christ.
I keep waiting for some serial killer to offer the defense: My public
schooling presented me with no standards. My society holds to no standards.
Therefore there is nothing wrong with my killing a few people. What's so
bad about that? You have too many people anyway.
Lawrence
-----Original Message-----
From: lit-ideas-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:lit-ideas-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]
On Behalf Of Eric Yost
Sent: Tuesday, July 16, 2013 3:28 PM
To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [lit-ideas] Re: Socialist Beliefs
>> The chef was French and decidedly unAmerican. He would sing the
Internationale as he worked as a kind of in-your-face snub at the owners.
I value the inspection of motives rather than beliefs. Why did Marx, who
never worked a day in his life, write Das Kapital? Why are so many
evangelical Christians, with their insistence on miracles in theology, in
other aspects of their lives, naive materialists? Why are people often, in
daily life, exemplifying the opposites of their proclaimed beliefs? The
people who "love mankind" are often quite nasty to individual people.
Beliefs are a type of symbolic self that people defend. Meanwhile they often
run roughshod over their beliefs, their shadows showing.
Eric
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