Dear F,
Although the "super-natural" (or the "above natural") is a possibility, most of us often (and ALL of us occasionally) behave in accordance with our animal nature.
Our animal nature manifests in different ways, with diverse desires compelling us to "go with flows" that are, in one way or another, violent and violating.
In my own mind (and life) I think sex (while extraordinarily problematic) can be channeled to good ends.
Explosive violence on the other hand -- be it the megatonnage of ordnance (and napalm) we dropped on North Vietnam; or the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki; or the very real desire of many "good liberals and leftists" to want Donald dead -- impress me as expressions of animality that are much more difficult to chanel in any beneficial way.
Whereas most people are, to some extent, wary of the moral dangers attending unbridled sexuality, it is simultaneously true that ostensibly "religious" people are completely at ease with irrepressible urge to see others damned to The Lake of Unquenchable Fire because "God wants to damn infidels" and "by God, we will be his divinely-ordained helpers."
"I was walking across a bridge one day, and I saw a man standing on the edge, about to jump off. So I ran over and said "Stop! Don't do it!" "Why shouldn't I?" he said. "Well, there's so much to live for!" "Like what?" "Well... are you religious?" He said yes. I said, "Me too! Are you Christian or Buddhist?" "Christian." "Me too! Are you Catholic or Protestant ? "Protestant." "Me too! Are you Episcopalian or Baptist?" "Baptist" "Wow! Me too! Are you Baptist Church of God or Baptist Church of the Lord?" "Baptist Church of God!" "Me too! Are you original Baptist Church of God, or are you reformed Baptist Church of God?" "Reformed Baptist Church of God!" "Me too! Are you Reformed Baptist Church of God, reformation of 1879, or Reformed Baptist Church of God, reformation of 1915?" He said, "Reformed Baptist Church of God, reformation of 1915!" I said, "Die, heretic scum", and pushed him off. Emo Philips
Sexual predators (including Trump) are vile, nasty people.
But "Good Christians" and "Good Islamists" and "Good Jews" are, with stunning regularity, "Armageddon Cheerleaders."
Whatever Trump's moral failures, we must come to grips with the repulsive fact that he would not be president without the decisive support of "good, white Christians."
We Are Known By The Company We Keep: Evangelicals LOVE Donald Trump
"Has America Lost Its Mind?" 1A's Brilliant Interview With "Fantasyland's" Kurt Andersen
http://paxonbothhouses.blogspo
Televangelist Jim Bakker Resurrected: If This Doesn't Scare The Bejesus Out Of You, Repent For Your End Is Near!
http://paxonbothhouses.blogspo
Most Christians, whether they formally profess it or not, employ their outrage at "sins of the flesh" to justify (and deny/ignore) the categorical horror of their irrepressible urge to exterminate "The Other," whose "otherness" is reflexively represented as heresy.
If uninterested "acts of love" benefitting everyone equally -- even "the unworthy" -- were considered "the bar for salvation," it would be necessary to do even-handed, ubiquitous good while recognizing that "salvation by faith" (without such works) is an empty promise.
Knowing love as the only way to "cover our multitude of sins," and also knowing "what side their bread" is buttered on, organized religion does not set the bar at "Love" but at glib proclamations of faith in credal formulas whose obsessive focus actually erodes individual virtue.
"My Gripe With Christianity"
The Christian Doctrine Of Damnation... And The Destruction Of Christ-Spirit
The Christian Doctrine Of Damnation... And The Destruction Of Christ-Spirit
Compendium Of Best Pax Posts On Organized Religion And The Everyday Validation Of Violence
The Obsolescence Of God:
Good Religion And Bad
Love
A
On Tue, Oct 31, 2017 at 11:25 PM, FV wrote:
Damn,damn,damn.
What is the difference between one who can and one who cannot control inappropriate sexual behavior? It's not intelligence or ignorance, wealth or poverty, ethnicity or social status. Is it upbringing,family,friends that imprint what is o.k.? They must know it is wrong at some level yet do it anyway. They also must know it will be exposed sooner or later. Are they needy for love or affection?Like Clinton or Kennedy. What was the point. Just sex, really?What do they get out of it? Did you ever know anyone like this?I truly cannot understand. Maybe it's not understandable.Love
F
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