"But I'm wasting my time here. These people are so taken up in their ideology they can't do the elementary human operation of asking 'If I do this to others, what if they do the same thing to me?'. If they tell lies about others it's right. If others tell lies about them it's wrong. The idea that it is lying itself that is wrong doesn't occur to them."
I have a Dr. in ministry, Biblical Counseling specialty. There are certain mental illnesses or personality disorders that promote a need for the perception of control. This causes, in some, a very rigid mental state similar to what you might see as someone approaches senility.
When it is difficult for a self-appointed Christian to apply the Golden Rule, we might look to organic systemic problems to explain that. It could just be an IQ under 90, for that matter. ;-)
ANOTHER doctor on FreeRepublic! Thank God for all these authority figures!! We'd be in big trouble but for you guys helpfully pointing out our underlying mental illnesses. Hey, I'm game .... what 'certain mental illness' do I need to look up which describes the cause of my 'rigid' mentat state?
I didn't have an any idea I had such a need for 'perception for control' as you describe, good doctor. Your degree is from, lemme guess, the Unitarian Universalist University?
But, I'm unafraid ... let's see your links which describe the illnesses to which you so boldly and with degreed authority refer to ....