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If you believe that people are basically good ?
WorldNetDaily.com ^
| Tuesday, December 31, 2002
| Dennis Prager
Posted on 12/30/2002 11:02:27 PM PST by JohnHuang2
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To: Free the USA
:
:
121
posted on
01/01/2003 10:07:07 AM PST
by
ppaul
To: ppaul
bump
To: supercat; JohnHuang2
supercat; JohnHuang2
Humans are, by nature, selfish. Capitalism creates a system were individuals promoting their own selfish interests inherently, if indirectly, benefit others. Socialism, by contrast, requires people to be unselfish in a system which rewards selfish behavior that does not benefit others.
4 posted on 12/31/2002 0:22 AM MST by supercatWhen you us the word "Capitalism" you have allowed the Marxists to deconstruct our language.
I believe what you meant by it's use is "Free Enterprise" or "Freedom" or "Free Markets" or Liberty.
The word "Capitalism" was created by Karl Marx as a diminution of Liberty of individuals.
Marx defines all people into two classes: workers and owners of Capital or better yet: serfs and royalty.
I would highly recommend the reading of Marxism : Philosophy and Economics by Thomas Sowell.
Barukh haba b'Shem Adonai
Blessed is He who comes in the Name of the Lord
Y'shua haMashiach
chuck <truth@YeshuaHaMashiach>
To: pram
124
posted on
01/01/2003 12:06:07 PM PST
by
onedoug
To: onedoug
I am not at all clear where you're going with your posts to me. As to my experience, it's paramount and I trust it. I do not trust "experts" of any stripe on any subject whatever. And note well that feelings drive all of life, not "rationality", whatever the "intellectuals" might say to the contrary. But where in my posts do you find that I believe morality to be relative in the sense that there is no truth? You seem to be reading a great deal into my posts that isn't there.
Comment #126 Removed by Moderator
To: JohnHuang2
GREAT POST, JOHNHUANG2. I just read a portion of scripture this morning that said our heart is deceitful, who can know it? And Jesus Himself said that no man is good but God. We have to be on our guard continually to be sure our heart is not hardened toward God and others, to be sure we're under the Spirit's control. We are all capable of great evil ourselves and we need to continually put ourselves into God's hands and cry out for His help. I sure wouldn't want to be making this journey alone.
To: RLK
Most people will screw themselves up and screw you up in the process. Doesn't mean they are evil. Stupid, perhaps.
To: nathanbedford
I had to laugh because one of my favorite lines is that the marxists (liberals) love the masses, it's people they hate. I discovered that working in a liberal arts college in the peace studies program. Ask anyone to donate toward the homeless mission or anything else outside of themselves was a joke.
To: veronica
The bible says we are NOT basically good, Veronica. "Our heart is deceitful and wicked, who can know it?" We have to learn and practice goodness. Children need to be taught NOT to steal, swear, disobey. It does not come naturally to them. We are capable of great goodness but also capable of the greatest of evil (Hitler and the Nazis come to mind). God bless. M
To: fporretto; RnMomof7
I must disagree. Christian doctrine deems us fallen, which is quite different from evil. The fallen can get up and right themselves. If we were evil, we would have no chance at redemption.The Bible deems us 'desperately wicked,' not just 'fallen'--which does not imply, by any stretch, that we can right ourselves.
Care to weigh in, Mom?
To: Phaedrus; Humidston
Your belief in the 'inherent spark of divinity' in man is Pelagian at the least, and downright pagan (New Age pagan, perhaps) at the worst.
To: Phaedrus
Judging principally from your,
"...people are inherently good."with
"I also think that either/or black-and-white thinking gets us into a lot of trouble. Or at least it has historically. The world doesn't divide neatly into up or down"....
I believe you're wrong.
Goodness can only be earned, and the inability simply to recognize, no less name, confront and fight evil is what's already gotten "us into a lot of trouble."
133
posted on
01/01/2003 1:59:46 PM PST
by
onedoug
To: The Grammarian
If we could "right ourselves we would not need a savior..:>)Happy New year gram
To: RnMomof7
Third, if you believe that people are basically good, God and religion are morally unnecessary, even harmful. Why would basically good people need a God or religion to provide moral standards? Therefore, the crowd that believes in innate human goodness tends to either be secular or to reduce God and religion to social workers, providers of compassion rather than of moral standards and moral judgments.
I not only believe we are not born "basically good", I believe we are born as selfish savages. Fortunately, we wouldn't survive without nurturing and support.
It is only after we gain a certain amount of maturity, enough that is, to be responsible for our actions, that we must be held accountable for our beliefs and actions.
IMO Baptism is meaningless with infants. On the other hand, I don't believe an infant who dies is damned.
Fortunately, I have a "Unitarian" philosophy which makes allowances for those who are "invincibly ignorant". He he.
To: BibChr; RnMomof7
Prager is a "secular Arminianist." He believes in "free will" and that people are born with tendencies to good and evil, and
choose between these inclinations.
Classic Arminianism, filtered through a secularist lens.
To: JohnHuang2
Good article. Most of the people I know believe that at birth everyone is morally neutral. Then, by their own acts, over which they have complete control, they either do good or evil.
Sadly, most protestant chruches reinforce this view among their congregants. How many times have we all heard, in church, "The devil votes against you, God votes for you, then you cast the deciding vote."?
137
posted on
01/01/2003 6:04:21 PM PST
by
good1
To: Precisian
Prager is a Jew, whose doctrine far predates Arminianism.
138
posted on
01/01/2003 6:06:22 PM PST
by
onedoug
To: RnMomof7
Well we can't right ourselves without Christ, but we do have free will to make the choice to follow Christ or not. And we are made in the image of God. Just unable to honor that gift without divine assistance.
And you know we lean toward pelagianism, but geeze, we are perhaps the most conservative branch of Christianity too. We would never, ever, consider that evil was not real, or think that raising children without discipline was ok.
We require our kids to stand attentively for hours at worship and prostrate themselves on a regular basis.
139
posted on
01/01/2003 6:07:04 PM PST
by
MarMema
To: RnMomof7
As Lord Acton said long ago, "Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely."And, ahem, there is perhaps no church which accepts this concept about power with as much dedication as ours.
140
posted on
01/01/2003 6:09:41 PM PST
by
MarMema
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