Once in a while, you will find out a quote on a blog's comment thread that is simply priceless. My nomination for the atheist zinger of the year (at least thus far) goes to Còmhradh responding to a suggestion by Makarios that it will be an individual's own choice if they end up in hell:
God: "I've cleverly set a thousand land mines in this field and placed a toddler in the middle. I've very carefully instructed him that if he walks in one particular direction, he'll be fine. I've then set the biggest shiniest toy in existence in the middle of the largest concentration of land mines."
Toddler: [blows up]
God: "I warned him. It was his choice. I am still just and loving!"
This litle story sums up Christidiocy perfectly .... I just invented a word and I love it.
[bows]
ReplyDeleteGod: [blows up]
Hmmm. One quible right off the bat. This does not work well in summing
ReplyDeleteup Christianity--maybe you generally meant religions who believe in moral
accountability. Christianity includes the element of a
savior who comes in and saves from the consequences.
Not that I'm validating the metaphor. IMO, a secualr materialist focuses on the idea of death being the end of the story, which I think misses a big part of the point. IF we must deal in a battlefield metaphor: everyday we take lots of hits, but in Christianity, it's Jesus that takes the bullet.
This analogy has several problems:
ReplyDelete1) A toddler has no idea he is surrounded my land mines. Every human is aware that their moral decisions have consequences.
2) Even granting the basic thrust of this analogy, how many mines must we remove from the field before you think God is just and loving? If the answer is "all of them" then you've conceded that a loving and just God wouldn't create an evil. But then, you've conceded that God wouldn't create morally free creatures either. So, where do you stand? How many mines must God take away? Surely this isn't arbitrary.
3) The Christian view is that we often get about 70 years or crawling over landmines (with God warning us) before we blow up. Do you still think this is as compelling once you consider how many landmines that baby crawled over, after being repeatedly warning, during that time?
4) Atheidiocy...I made up a new word too.