Love me or else (Part Two) (Where is it now?)

by Balance_Maintained , U.S.A., Friday, December 21, 2012, 23:47 (4356 days ago) @ David Turell

dhw:The relevance of this to our discussion is that no matter what kind of punishment is threatened, I find no comfort in a religion that orders me to love God (my understanding of love, not yours) or an almighty power will punish me. 
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> David: Be good, there is reward; be bad there is punishment. This is the level of handling young children, and attests to the mental level of the population when all of this was written. We have grown up since then. we are not sacrificing our kids to Baal. The bible's admonitions must be taken with that in mind. The current Rabbis and Talmudists have commentaries that correct for the ancient bias in the writings. We should all work from that approach, not the bold statements that were meant for 2,000 years ago.-If we are oh so much more mature, then why do we have laws, rules, and courts? If you break a law, you are punished, no? I would be willing to bet your insurance company offers you some kind of compensation or reward for driving safely as well as a punishment for reckless driving. I would even be willing to bet that you very own body will punish or reward you based on your actions towards it. If you eat garbage food you will get fat and die young, if you take care of it, you will live a long life(supposing it isn't cut short by some other thing). -We may not burn kids alive any more, but that didn't stop a gun man from killing 27 in an elementary school, the genocides in Africa and SW Asia, or the concentration camps in both the U.S. and Europe. It doesn't stop us from sending our young men and women off to die in fruitless wars over some shitty bit of real-estate or mineral rights under false pretenses. It doesn't stop us from poisoning them with food that is unfit for worms and leaves the dieing of obesity, diabetes, or heart problems. It doesn't stop people from giving them mind altering drugs, both doctors and street pharmacists alike. No, you are absolutely correct. We do not burn our children anymore. What we do is so much worse. When they burned their children they only suffered for a few moments, what we do to our children messes them up for a lifetime. Yet somehow, we are so much better than they were.....-(Rereading that, it sounds a lot more emotionally charged than it really is. )

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What is the purpose of living? How about, 'to reduce needless suffering. It seems to me to be a worthy purpose.