The Humanities Trump Absolutists (Part 2)

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...debate with Christian converter continued...

"If goodness doesn't from God, then where does it come from?"

I don't think some higher being appropriates goodness, like from moral Federal Reserve.

I'm not sure if you believe in the science of heredity, but the scientific reason for altruism derives for the need to pass genetic information.  So your siblings have half your DNA, cousins 1/4, etc.  There's the argument that it saves genetic information.

Mencius believes in 性本善, our nature was originally good.  Here cites the example of a the baby and the well.  Wells in ancient China weren't surrounded by a high barrier, it was literally a deep pit in the ground.  When one sees a baby crawl very close towards the hole, regardless of whether the observer desires to save the baby, we all have the gut reaction to fear the death of the child.  He argues that this gut reaction alone justifies the innate good nature of human beings.

"Yes, there are people who can reach a certain level of morality, but recognizing God brings you to His level of moral salvation."

Ah!  Here's what I find most disturbing:  non-believers are sent straight to Hell, regardless of their actions on Earth.  Confucius and Mencius didn't have Christ to die for their sins, do you expect me to believe that they're going Hell?  God sounds clingy and passive-aggressive.

Let's assume Mencius and Confucius was allowed to pass the pearly gates of Saint Peter.  I still don't believe in heaven and hell.  Let's assume there was some grouchy person who harbored extremely evil and violent thoughts, but never outwardly acted on them.  He goes to heaven, and his version of heaven is acting on those violent thoughts. Through your bible, it's not okay to commit for a finite lifetime, but God will provide an eternity of sinful acts if you're patient for your living life?  That doesn't add up to me.

I believe true moral salvation comes from processing one's experience and thinking critically about how to act with morals and compassion.  Everything else is trivia and propaganda.

"Mind I can get your phone number?  My church plans to have a bible study session."

Sorry, I don't give my personal information to strangers.

I finished my nachos.

Why I Don't Believe in Heaven

So the random number generator landed on.... wait for it...

Buddhism!

Most people imagine the morbidly obese version. or the one that snorts cocaine on South Park, but I like the more traditional one with the depiction of enlightenment:



(Although, maybe he was morbidly obese if he still wasn't skin and bones after fasting for 49 days.)

Buddhism was one of the last major religions of China.  It was sort of like the free love movement in the US during the 1960's.  Conservatives thought it would be the end of society, while liberals were fighting "the system."

Theodore and Bloom in "Sources of Chinese Tradition" pointed out that when Buddhism entered China, China was the first foreign civilization that had a writing system, so initial Chinese texts on Buddhism record the transition from skepticism to eventual *acceptance.

When I was sitting on the grass of my campus quad, a Christian came up to me and asked if I believed in Jesus and internal salvation.

Don't get me wrong, Jesus is a pretty chill and awesome guy, but to me heaven doesn't make any sense.  Let's say you spend your life living "to the bible," but your ideal of heaven is murdering people and watching them writhe in pain, didn't that defeat the purpose of living a good life?  This version of heaven is someone else's hell!   I don't think God would spend His time actualizing "300" for one's pleasure.

Or what if a grumpy person who lived out in the woods hated all of humanity, but didn't act on his immorality.  Does he get a fast pass to heaven too?

I don't believe in heaven because salvation comes from understanding and acting good, not acting good for the sake of heaven.  It takes more than good behavior to reach this higher state of being, whether you call it heaven or I call it nirvana.  It takes having full faith and acting  on our goodness an compassion that makes us good people.

Or I could be dead wrong, and the Flying Spaghetti Monster rules all.  All hail His carbohydrate complexity!



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*The Chinese are still struggling with the Dalai Lama.  It's official, my blog will be banned from mainland China!