Sinning Against Your Brother

[Guest Davka]

I was thinking about sin the other day, and it occurred to me that there are two kinds of sin in the Bible: sin against God, and sin against other people.

 

The sin against God thing is just nuts. God is clearly OCD as well as psychotic, requiring all sorts of weird rituals whenever certain essentially benign activities are engaged in. So this kind of sin I reject out of hand as absurd voodoo nonsense.

 

But the second kind of sin, sinning against other people, that seems to have some value. The idea that causing material harm to another person is unethical makes sense. The idea that screwing your neighbor's wife or stealing his lawn mower is unethical also makes sense. It seems to me that the things in the Bible which are considered sins against your neighbor are rooted in rational thought. These are activities which tend to harm the social fabric, and which create a society that is unpleasant to live in.

 

In fact, it seems as if sin against God falls into the category of morality, while sin against people falls into the category of ethics. Morality can be very arbitrary, and varies wildly from one culture to the next. Ethical behavior, however, is pretty standard across the world: Don't lie, don't steal, don't hurt people. Sure, there are exceptions, but these are pretty widely accepted as good ideas.

 

So maybe the "sin against God" thing is just the whacko tribal rituals of the time, whereas the "sin against your neighbor" thing simply codified into religious law those rules which were already accepted in the culture? And maybe we can use the concept of sinning against your neighbor to our advantage culturally, by suggesting that not enough emphasis has been placed on this area in our culture?

 

Just thinking out loud...

[Franko47]

Actually, all morality proceeds from the virtue of total selfishness.

 

 

Historically, we as social beings invoke laws and ideas based upon our own security. I don't want to be stolen from, murdered or gang-raped, (or fondled for cash) and I certainly don't want anyone worshiping a God that I haven't approved. And since looking at my neighbour's wife conjures up some uncomfortable feelings, that should be a sin, too. However, in our modern times, someone missed the worst of all abominations, ginger-beer.

 

Yes, this foul and noxious soft drink is enough to make you want to end it all even if stranded in the desert. Radiator water would be preferrable. I'd like to go back in time and off the inventor of ginger-beer. Even if it had an alcoholic content it would still be foul. Not as bad as that mead the vikings drank, but still.... and while we're on the subject, how can you drink that Samual Adams stuff ?

 

And people getting up early on Sundays. That's got to stop. A chainsaw running at 9:00 am on a Sunday morning is just plain rude. There is still a case to be made for occasional waterboarding of such people, even within our own decadent society.

 

Yes, we've all become decadent. You know, people used to have a healthy fear of gays, marijuana, rock music and piercings, and things were good back then. Why can't we go back to making sinfull and illegal those things that we're afraid of ? I mean fear is a good indicator that something is wrong and evil, and if it's fun on top of that, well then we know it's straight abomination.

 

But no, in our modern lib-will society that all started with the separation of Church and State, we allow so much sin and evil and crime to go on. We let people over-eat into obesity.....oh wait, that's always been OK, but if they dare put a strange chemical in their body that changes their mood or causes euphoria, well it's off to prison with ye. OK, so we got that part right. And hey, there's nothing wrong with drinking twenty beers every night, at least you're not engaging in that noxious weed that they say enhances sexual pleasure (ohhh ! Death penalty for sure) and that driving while drunk was practically legal clear up into the 70's. Yup, those were the days. Heck, when I was sixteen the cops just made me pour out the rest of that half bottle of vodka. I still got to drive home, but like did my nabe have to park so far out from the curb that I wrecked both our cars ? Oh, well.

 

And yeah. If we're going to make war on another country, let's make sure that we condition everybody to "collateral damage". You know, all the kids and innocent folks that we will obliterate in order to complete our "objectives" which have absolutely nothing to do with protecting our economic system and our comfy lifestyle.

 

And witches. When did that end ? I thought we were still burning them. WTF ? They're weirdos. You'll note that everything went downhill after we discontinued that practice. We've had nothing but wars ever since. And pornography. Witches invented the internet. Ergo, Al Gore is a witch. Or he's an android. Just listen to his voice. A good human simulation, but I'm not fooled.

 

Yup, when you add it all up, I really miss all that lovin' my nieghbour that was brought in two millenia ago. Heck, even farther back to the first people. I miss all those rational rules and laws governing social behaviour. The consistancy of our morals, philosophy and sin. And I really resent these philosopher types coming along and claiming that we have such a ridiculous system of law and order that we're creating more social problems than we're helping.

 

So, a good point Davka. Nothin' like good ol' fashioned looking out for my brother. An honest creed for an honest society.

 

Let me know when it fucking ever happens.

 

 

Now excuse me while I swipe my nabe's newspaper; the paperboy missed my house this morning.

[Guest TheWendybird]

Actually, all morality proceeds from the virtue of total selfishness.

 

 

Historically, we as social beings invoke laws and ideas based upon our own security. I don't want to be stolen from, murdered or gang-raped, (or fondled for cash) and I certainly don't want anyone worshiping a God that I haven't approved. And since looking at my neighbour's wife conjures up some uncomfortable feelings, that should be a sin, too. However, in our modern times, someone missed the worst of all abominations, ginger-beer.

 

Yes, this foul and noxious soft drink is enough to make you want to end it all even if stranded in the desert. Radiator water would be preferrable. I'd like to go back in time and off the inventor of ginger-beer. Even if it had an alcoholic content it would still be foul. Not as bad as that mead the vikings drank, but still.... and while we're on the subject, how can you drink that Samual Adams stuff ?

 

And people getting up early on Sundays. That's got to stop. A chainsaw running at 9:00 am on a Sunday morning is just plain rude. There is still a case to be made for occasional waterboarding of such people, even within our own decadent society.

 

Yes, we've all become decadent. You know, people used to have a healthy fear of gays, marijuana, rock music and piercings, and things were good back then. Why can't we go back to making sinfull and illegal those things that we're afraid of ? I mean fear is a good indicator that something is wrong and evil, and if it's fun on top of that, well then we know it's straight abomination.

 

But no, in our modern lib-will society that all started with the separation of Church and State, we allow so much sin and evil and crime to go on. We let people over-eat into obesity.....oh wait, that's always been OK, but if they dare put a strange chemical in their body that changes their mood or causes euphoria, well it's off to prison with ye. OK, so we got that part right. And hey, there's nothing wrong with drinking twenty beers every night, at least you're not engaging in that noxious weed that they say enhances sexual pleasure (ohhh ! Death penalty for sure) and that driving while drunk was practically legal clear up into the 70's. Yup, those were the days. Heck, when I was sixteen the cops just made me pour out the rest of that half bottle of vodka. I still got to drive home, but like did my nabe have to park so far out from the curb that I wrecked both our cars ? Oh, well.

 

And yeah. If we're going to make war on another country, let's make sure that we condition everybody to "collateral damage". You know, all the kids and innocent folks that we will obliterate in order to complete our "objectives" which have absolutely nothing to do with protecting our economic system and our comfy lifestyle.

 

And witches. When did that end ? I thought we were still burning them. WTF ? They're weirdos. You'll note that everything went downhill after we discontinued that practice. We've had nothing but wars ever since. And pornography. Witches invented the internet. Ergo, Al Gore is a witch. Or he's an android. Just listen to his voice. A good human simulation, but I'm not fooled.

 

Yup, when you add it all up, I really miss all that lovin' my nieghbour that was brought in two millenia ago. Heck, even farther back to the first people. I miss all those rational rules and laws governing social behaviour. The consistancy of our morals, philosophy and sin. And I really resent these philosopher types coming along and claiming that we have such a ridiculous system of law and order that we're creating more social problems than we're helping.

 

So, a good point Davka. Nothin' like good ol' fashioned looking out for my brother. An honest creed for an honest society.

 

Let me know when it fucking ever happens.

 

 

Now excuse me while I swipe my nabe's newspaper; the paperboy missed my house this morning.

 

 

LMFAO okay I love this post LOL

[Mongo]

I was thinking about sin the other day, and it occurred to me that there are two kinds of sin in the Bible: sin against God, and sin against other people.

 

The sin against God thing is just nuts. God is clearly OCD as well as psychotic, requiring all sorts of weird rituals whenever certain essentially benign activities are engaged in. So this kind of sin I reject out of hand as absurd voodoo nonsense.

 

But the second kind of sin, sinning against other people, that seems to have some value.

 

Those that agree with my signature below might also feel as I do that the people that invented religion all had different reasons to create a different style of god and rules.

 

I get the impression that those that invented/exploited Jesus had the intention to wrestle power away from the rule based clergy. They seem to point the way toward an emotional religion based on guilt or the development of an internal morality. The Abrahemic rule based clergy seem to feel that society is stronger when people are accustomed to following orders.

 

This is why the bible is so contradictory. Yet, belivers insist that god has never changed.

 

When I was a fundy I was a New Testament fundy. Those that looked back to the Old Testament to find god's "laws" were perplexing to me.

 

Its all a big religious wrestling match!

 

Mongo