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To: Persevero

Jesus was the Son of God. We are talking about human beings here. Fact is humans are NOT altruistic and altruism is a fantasy concept with no basis in reality.


12 posted on 07/22/2010 12:17:05 AM PDT by citizenredstater9271
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To: citizenredstater9271

Human beings are capable of altruism, but it occurs rarely and you can’t legislate it like the social engineers seem to think they can.


14 posted on 07/22/2010 2:55:33 AM PDT by pieceofthepuzzle
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To: citizenredstater9271

Yes, Jesus was the son of God, but also the son of Man. He was 100% human, 100% God. It is the mystery of the dual nature of Christ.

You have started a thread about altruism, which is a moral quality, and good and evil. So you are going to get some religious thoughts in response.

As I consider whether altruism exists or is just some ideal, I can’t help but think of Jesus. If I denied altruism exists, I’d be denying, I think, an essential part of Him.

Then, my thoughts develop to, what about those who follow Him? Can they not, do they not, in same way, develop altruistic tendencies as well?

Example: My baby is teething and cries all dang night. Every time I get her to sleep, she wakes back up again. I am a stressed, hurting mess. Up I get, again and again, to walk her around, to soothe her.

Why do I do that? Is it altruism, a selfless desire to help someone who needs my help, despite the fact that my back hurts, my feet hurt, and I am getting delusional with lack of sleep?

Or because, somehow, it makes me feel good to know that I don’t just sleep through my child’s misery?

Even if it makes me feel good to know that I don’t just sleep through my child’s misery, does that good feeling outweigh the bad feeling of the sleeplessness, and the pain?

I suspect that those who deny altruism are trying to justify selfish behavior as an ok or even positive thing to do.

Certainly there are benefits to altruistic behavior. Turning in someone’s wallet instead of keeping it helps make the world be what I want it to be - a place where, if you lose your wallet, someone returns it.

But that is as it should be. The possible benefits to me are incidental.

I think we are on the edge of absolute truth here: absolute good, absolute evil - what is good? what is evil? And that demands a spiritual type response.


16 posted on 07/22/2010 10:41:46 AM PDT by Persevero (Homeschooling for Excellence since 1992)
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