[Westbrook]

> Isn’t wishing the status of “mindless automaton” on anyone
> rather dehumanizing?

I see that nobody understands hyperbole anymore.

[Shimmer1]

I do (pat pat pat)

[OneWingedShark]

Hyperbole is great exaggeration to make a point, Matthew 18:9 is an excellent example where Jesus says: “And if your eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell.”

The point being made isn't that you should go gouge out your eyes and cut off your limbs; rather it is that (a) you need to avoid sin as if it were a snare to your very soul, and (b) [delving a little deeper] that the heart is where the change needs to happen. Simply gouging out your eyes and lobbing off your limbs won't alter your heart, but God can and will, if you let him.