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To: SoothingDave
"That fear of a divine judgment serves as a brake on what would otherwise be selfish behavior?"

It does. I am not arguing that it doesn't. Certainly a Christian organization is going to act differently than a Satanic organization. Christians (true Christians) want to do right by their fellow man and follow the teachings of Jesus. Anyone who follows the teachings of Jesus will surely be a more compassionate person because they want to be viewed as righteous in the eyes of God.
I don't believe that God is watching me but I still choose to be viewed as righteous. Only, in the eyes of my friends, family and fellow man.
84 posted on 12/15/2005 10:50:22 AM PST by HOTTIEBOY (Long live the Lizard King)
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To: HOTTIEBOY; SoothingDave
"That fear of a divine judgment serves as a brake on what would otherwise be selfish behavior?"

It does. I am not arguing that it doesn't. Certainly a Christian organization is going to act differently than a Satanic organization. Christians (true Christians) want to do right by their fellow man and follow the teachings of Jesus.

One's belief system (whether adopted whole or eclectic) also determines how one defines virtue (for want of a better term), but in what qualities are called virtues and how those virtues are to be practiced. NARAL thinks it's compassionate to kill babies in the womb. I believe I've read that some Nazis actually talked themselves into believing that it was best for the Jews themselves that they be exterminated.

On a more humdrum level, I'm old enough to remember when "Look out for Number One" was considered a despicable philosophy of life. (Well, ok, at least you didn't admit to it in public.) But Carl Rogers, Maszlow, etc. have changed all that: now it's your primary duty to look out for number one, though they don't put it in those words.

112 posted on 12/15/2005 11:54:23 AM PST by maryz
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