Llwellyn Posted December 27, 2006 Share Posted December 27, 2006 Today doctors use medicinal maggots to clean wounds by dissolving dead tissue and to disinfect them by killing bacteria. These actions stimulate proper healing. Medicinal maggots have three actions: 1) they debride (clean) wounds by dissolving the dead (necrotic), infected tissue; 2) they disinfect the wound, by killing bacteria; and 3) they stimulate wound healing. When maggots infest humans or other vertebrates, it is called myiasis. Naturally-occurring myiasis can be beneficial to the host, but sometimes it is harmful. The type of maggot and the circumstances surrounding the infestation are factors that can determine whether the infestation will be mutually benefitial parasitic. Medical Maggots Treat As They Eat The Maggot's Point of View If the maggot could talk, what would it tell you about its conduct and intentions with respect to the sick human? It may say something like this: "I repayeth them that hate me to their face, to destroy them: I will not be slack to him that hateth me, I will repay him to his face." Deut. 7:10 KJV. Or, the maggot may make this comment: "I will bring on you all the evil I have threatened, until I have destroyed you from existence." The maggot will not state that he eats you in order to heal you. All he knows is that he eats you. The Doctor's Point of View But what would the doctor say? He would say: "This will hurt. The maggot will do its work, but I apply the maggot to your flesh in order to fix you and to bring you to health and wellbeing." If you were really fortunate, he might say, "Because I am so altogether alien to wrong, because it is to me a heart-pain and trouble that one of my patients should be ill, there is no extreme of suffering to which, for the sake of destroying the disease, I would not subject them." Platonism rather than Christianity There are many religious perspectives that picture God as the Doctor employing the maggot, rather than as the maggot: George MacDonald says: "All pains, indeed, and all sorrows, all demons, yea, and all sins themselves, under the suffering care of the highest minister, are but the ministers of truth an righteousness." (Mary Marston, Vol.II, p.321). Certain Eastern Orthodox Christians agree: "There are punishments imposed upon us by God, or rather evils done to us by the devil and permitted by God. But these punishments are what we call pedagogical punishments. They have as their aim our correction in this life. . . . If we consider hell as a punishment from God, we must admit that it is a senseless punishment, unless we admit that God is an infinitely wicked being. " The River of Fire. These two statements are basically expressions of a Platonist worldview and Platonist theology of God-Man relations, which can be studied in the Gorgias dialogue. Analysis. It would be about as sensible to try to avoid Yahweh's retribution as it would be to excape the appetite of the maggot when you have necrotic tissue. It would be about as sensible to be angry at Yahweh and rant about him as it would be to be angry at the maggot who wishes to eat you. Yahweh may wish to punish you with no corrective intent, but what patient or doctor worries about what the maggot intends to do to the patient? And sometimes, even maggots turn into butterflies! What do you think about this thought experiment? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shawn Posted December 28, 2006 Share Posted December 28, 2006 Unbelievable post, Llwellyn!!! I was struck quite directly by your arguments. As a former Christian, I have seen 'corrective actions' moved against me (and others) for doing things. I once was assaulted by a 'demon', and I assumed it was from Bible God for doing something really evil (I did something real bad, when I was a Christian). I fought like hell, and almost died a few times. I was really angry at Bible God. I kept fighting, refusing to obey. I eventually won, but I was stubborn to the point of death. I cried out, "Go ahead, kill me now. Send one of your angels, even two, and chop my fucking head off, then toss me into hell! DO IT, DAD!!!" Now I fought for 2 years! Yes, 2 years! I refused to take the easy way. I don't know if Bible God expected me to resist like that, I think part of it was a surprise. Maybe not. But I was aware of Chi Gong, so I went over the line further and used it to fuck the 'demon' up royally. The thing said I was "rebelling against GOD!" it actually told me to repent from my heart, and it would leave me. Boy, here I go... I said, 'FUCK YOU, AND DIE!!!" I proceeded to repeatedly chi strike it with such violent force it shook and cried out. Yes folks, the amazing world of Tai Chi...the nice small asian man on the beach, moving slow and peacefully, perhaps planning on pruning a bonsai tree...WHAM!!!!!! LOL! Anyway, I think Bible God can be abusive in his attempt to 'fix' or 'correct' somebody. A few too many 'maggots' here, and they needed to be hit with a 60,000 gauss negative ion blast, IMHO, instead of Trapper John, M.D. I didn't need that kind of treatment from Bible God, I needed to be loved. Fucking barbaric ignoramus! Man Llwellyn, I'll be thinking about this one for awhile! Shawn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Godless Wonder Posted January 2, 2007 Share Posted January 2, 2007 So, unbelievers are necrotic tissue in this analogy? And presumably believers are the living tissue, and what, society is the entire body? In what way is this the case? What evidence do you have for any of these assumptions, that any gods exist, and that any punishment is meted out by any gods with no corrective purpose (or even with corrective purpose)? You're trying to justify the notion of hell (I guess), but even had you justified it, it is still just a notion. And, an analogy is not an argument. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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