Faith or … poof!
Nov 29, 2007 Faith and Works, O Mores!
They’re having a freewheeling “God, Truth and Eternity” series of posts and related threads on Dean’s World. That’s one of that blog’s enduring merits — it doesn’t consider itself too fancy to have Square One debates early, often and wide open.
I wrote the following in response to a comment there, which is quoted in the indented passages here:
[T]he concept of a “God” who demands that I believe things that are logically indistinguishable from fairy tales or else he will punish me eternally… that is a God I find abhorrent, immoral and if not pure evil, then it’s hard to find something more evil than that.
Your logic is inconsistent. If there were such a God he would by your own definition transcend your definition, or ability to define, good and evil. And old argument, of course.
But I think more significant is that it really is a very egotistical formulation. Listen:
the concept of a “God” who demands that I believe things that are logically indistinguishable from fairy tales or else he will punish me eternally…
You are judging good and evil, and indeed divinity, based on your personal analysis of what is “logically indistinguishable from fairy tales”? Do you realize how many people, as smart as you, have so characterized assertions that have turned out to actually be true, in the worlds of science and history?
This is what people mean when they say that a certain kind of purported non-believer worships only himself. That’s what this formulation amounts to: If I — the height of cognitive evolution, and utterly devoid of bias — can’t figure it out, it’s not only impossible. It’s — what was the formulation again?
abhorrent, immoral and if not pure evil, then it’s hard to find something more evil than that
Du-hude!
November 29th, 2007 at 11:55 pm
So my choice is between g-d and a British homosexual?
In all seriousness (well, 60 to 70% seriousness), the significance of the photo escapes me.
Technically, it’s a pretty crappy photo (which I’m sure you understand). So I assume the text is the real message. Could you interpret?
November 30th, 2007 at 10:13 am
Technically, I think it’s a brilliant photo. It’s a picture of what I see every morning when I attend synagogue — a bag, with my name written on it in Hebrew, containing my phylacteries and my tallis, and a prayer book also kept in that bag. I place them down on the table and remove the prayer book, put on the tallis and then the phylacteries and say the morning prayers. Every day, no matter what. (Well, no phylacteries on the Sabbath.)
November 30th, 2007 at 11:13 am
Maybe I should have said “artistically”….
Anyway, thanks for the info. I get it now.
I think I have mentioned this before, but I don’t know much about the Jewish faith other than the basic higher level beliefs, things I picked up in some comparative religion classes I took decades ago. When it comes to more specific things like traditions, rituals, or differences in beliefs of various sects, I am embarrassingly ignorant.
So I appreciate it when you take the time to explain things like this.
November 30th, 2007 at 11:57 am
You’re quite welcome. It’s a shame you can’t “get” this one, actually. The guy’s initials spell out a well-known Yiddish word that’s not safe for Likelihood of Success.