yguy

If you are determined NOT to see what I'm getting at, kindly refrain from corrupting the analogy to suit your own agenda, at least.

The Nazi government was not a higher authority, but a lower one. OTOH, if a man had killed camp guards to free prisoners from Buchenwald, he'd have done so by a higher authority, though it was illegal.

Many who have been born into good families have turned into much worse than welfare bums. You gonna blame God for that too?

I'm sure He welcomes all comments and suggestions.

yguy

If he doesn't feel the pain of conscience, then he's good. Nothing need be codified.

An obvious perception, but how is it relevant?

Only if you use human law as a benchmark. That's the mistake the pharisees made.

As comforting as it may be to ascribe human frailties to the Creator, there are no logical grounds for doing so. If He "thinks" he's right, the implication is that He could be wrong. What is the objective standard against which one measures His moral character?

Jinto

Just pointing out that it's not the fact that they're the parent which is the deciding factor. Might does not make right (although, since the historians are all in the employ of the one with the might, it might seem that way at times.)

The nazi government was a higher authority for any German during WWII. Yet, as you so clearly point out, the fact that they had the authority to order murder and imprisonment did NOT make it right for them to do so, nor did it make it right for people to follow their orders. Similarly, God himself could order me to kill a thousand people for no good reason and I would still be no more justified in doing so than if I were to kill just to satisfy my own sadistic fantasies.

Why not? After all, according to you he SHOULD be a better judge of the potential future of any being than mere humans.

Really? In that case, I would suggest that God make a public statement about which, if any, of the myriad religons on Earth are accurate, and what flaws have accumulated in the holy books (if any) of the aforementioned religion(s). It would be very helpful to the rest of us.

lpetrich

That's a bullshit argument, because one can make that argument against any other kind of education.

Thus, the idea that schools ought to teach reading, writing, and arithmetic (the traditional three R's) implies that parents are incompetent to handle the job themselves.

And those who pay for a private-school education for their children are buying their way out of having to be competent in doing that job themselves.

lpetrich

Isn't it strange that we never hear a voice coming out of the sky that tries to set the record straight on what is and is not legitimate killing?

Is it legitimate to kill
Animals?
Including bugs and worms and shellfish and so forth.
Plants?
Algae?
Fungi?
Protists?
Bacteria?
Viruses?

There was a team that recently assembled a polio virus from scratch. I noticed that they did not get struck by lightning.

lpetrich

Consider it like mathematics. Can God make 2 + 2 = 5?

yguy

Not from the POV of the child. He knows when the parent is being hypocritical regardless of power structures effectively beyond his ken.

Only because they forgot which way is up.

If He did that, He would not be God.

And remember, the two most prominent patriarchs, Abraham and Moses, questioned God's sense of justice and were not punished for it.

If you think dreation would be better without freewill, yours is a mindset I would have a difficult time communicating with.

yguy

Indeed. A wise parent, knowing that they are weak in that area, would delegate that job to someone competent, so that the authority remained with them. The public school system has arrogantly usurped that authority, though not without acquiescence by foolish parents.

yguy

I would have thought it obvious that I meant human life.

Link?

yguy

Sure. Remember the loaves and fishes?