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Are Modern People Morally Advanced?
American Thinker ^ | 03/23/2013 | Bruce W. Davidson

Posted on 03/23/2014 8:06:26 AM PDT by SeekAndFind

In regard to widespread disdain for the Middle Ages, C. S. Lewis felt that many modern people suffer from a kind of “chronological snobbery” and that “the modern conception of Progress ... is simply a myth, supported by no evidence whatever.” Certainly many minds smugly assume our world’s moral superiority to that of people in the past. That assumption merits some close critical scrutiny.

This claim probably does not rest on an improvement in the numbers of deaths in war and genocide. Many millions died in past atrocities such as the Mongol invasions of Asia and Europe and the Muslim conquests of India; similar shocking numbers fell victim to communism and fascism in the twentieth century. If most modern abortions are equivalent to infanticides and abortion figures are also factored in, Wiker concludes in Moral Darwinism that we have still more “massive murder on a scale unheard of.”

Probably believers in modern moral superiority base their outlook mainly on the abolition of slavery and overt discrimination against people because of things like race in economically developed societies. This overlooks some important historical facts about these accomplishments: slavery and discrimination have been universal phenomena throughout most of human history. For example, in Japan until the middle of the twentieth century, poor families often sold their own daughters into lifelong prostitution to pay off debts. In many instances such practices have been eliminated largely thanks to the influence of Christianity – a legacy of the past. Moreover, slavery continues to thrive in some Muslim states like Sudan to this day.

We can mention other prominent ethical failings of modernity:

(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...


TOPICS: Current Events; History; Moral Issues; Religion & Culture
KEYWORDS: brucewdavidson; davidson; modernity; morality
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1 posted on 03/23/2014 8:06:26 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
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To: SeekAndFind

Ummmmm... No.

2 posted on 03/23/2014 8:07:12 AM PDT by 69ConvertibleFirebird (I now shriek in horror when I drive by my local **Target** store. Liberals: Word burners)
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To: SeekAndFind

We have more technology, that’s about it. The farther we get from our creation, the worse we get.


3 posted on 03/23/2014 8:08:10 AM PDT by vpintheak (I will not comply!)
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To: SeekAndFind

Make the most “moral” person in the world hungry or give him pain and he will turn into a beast even he wouldn’t recognize. We’re “moral” because we don’t want for anything we really need.

If you remember people fighting at gas stations in 1973 you realize we’re separated from the animals by the thinnest veneer.


4 posted on 03/23/2014 8:09:01 AM PDT by Gen.Blather
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To: SeekAndFind

No.


5 posted on 03/23/2014 8:09:40 AM PDT by Zionist Conspirator (The Left: speaking power to truth since Shevirat HaKelim.)
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To: 69ConvertibleFirebird

yeah huh looks like we all are part of the D generation


6 posted on 03/23/2014 8:10:46 AM PDT by bigheadfred
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To: SeekAndFind
Once upon a time, most people in the West knew the Bible, believed that God was watching them and that God would judge the quick and the dead. This didn't make people perfect (nothing can do that) but to some extent it made people think about their choices. They believed that doing the right thing was probably in their best interest, even if they didn't act that way all the time.

Today? It's all about me. I make the rules. I'm not answerable to anyone. Don't judge me.

The modern approach does not lead to moral behavior. At all.

7 posted on 03/23/2014 8:10:50 AM PDT by ClearCase_guy
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To: ClearCase_guy
It's all about me. I make the rules. I'm not answerable to anyone. Don't judge me.

Enough about YOU. It is all about ME!

8 posted on 03/23/2014 8:12:22 AM PDT by bigheadfred
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To: SeekAndFind

If we are morally advanced there would be no abortions or killing the elderly through euthanasia.


9 posted on 03/23/2014 8:13:42 AM PDT by Salvation ("With God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26)
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To: SeekAndFind

Modern people are too modern to think that timeless principles apply to them. Indeed, that they can make up the rules as they go along. For example, that conceiving a child is so trivial that a man and woman can just “hook up” (so to speak) and that is just fine. If a child is conceived that neither really has any obligation to provide a proper home or provisions for raising and educating the child to the end goal of becoming a fully-capable adult. No, that would place an “undue burden” on the couple who just want a little fun and then to go their separate ways.

Even more serious is the complete lack of concern for how they will answer in the Judgement. Well of course, because there is no God, so of course there is no Judgement Day either.


10 posted on 03/23/2014 8:18:10 AM PDT by theBuckwheat
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To: SeekAndFind

There is a moral inversion going on in America that will be the death of this Republic if not corrected....


11 posted on 03/23/2014 8:19:26 AM PDT by Vaquero (Don't pick a fight with an old guy. If he is too old to fight, he'll just kill you.)
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To: SeekAndFind

in the late 370’s before St. Augustine converted he fell in with the Manicheaen’s and subscribed to their heresy.

Augustine believed that in Manichaeism he had found what he was looking for: wisdom without faith, morality without guilt, and Christian life without mediocrity and weakness.


12 posted on 03/23/2014 8:24:40 AM PDT by G Larry (There's the Beef!)
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To: SeekAndFind
From the deep thinkers out there, I ponder this:
The neutron bomb is a reality. An aggressor can now eliminate all of their enemies and leave the infrastructure intact. Would Genghis Khan, Hitler, or any of our historical villains have used it? Is the only reason it has not been used today because those that could do it are afraid they would be retaliated against and destroyed? Would IRAN use it against Israel?
13 posted on 03/23/2014 8:25:10 AM PDT by Gadsden1st
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To: SeekAndFind

Not in the slightest


14 posted on 03/23/2014 8:26:23 AM PDT by Viennacon
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To: SeekAndFind

Dog Cult Prays For Pit Bull That Mauled A Child
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/3136375/posts


15 posted on 03/23/2014 8:27:16 AM PDT by Jack Hydrazine (Pubbies = national collectivists; Dems = international collectivists; We need a second party!)
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To: SeekAndFind

If we had to get by today like we did even 60 years ago, which was mostly just look out for our selves with out Government hand outs i think we would see just how low we have gotten.

Never mind going back hundreds of years.


16 posted on 03/23/2014 8:30:01 AM PDT by ravenwolf (ost void of pend)
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To: SeekAndFind

Absolutely not.


17 posted on 03/23/2014 8:31:02 AM PDT by who knows what evil? (Yehovah saved more animals than people on the ark...www.siameserescue.org.)
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To: Gen.Blather

Quark: Let me tell you something about Hew-mons, Nephew. They’re a wonderful, friendly people, as long as their bellies are full and their holosuites are working. But take away their creature comforts, deprive them of food, sleep, sonic showers, put their lives in jeopardy over an extended period of time and those same friendly, intelligent, wonderful people... will become as nasty and as violent as the most bloodthirsty Klingon. You don’t believe me? Look at those faces. Look in their eyes.


18 posted on 03/23/2014 8:32:31 AM PDT by NativeSon ( Grease the floor with Crisco when I dance the Disco)
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To: SeekAndFind

-— In regard to widespread disdain for the Middle Ages, C. S. Lewis felt that many modern people suffer from a kind of “chronological snobbery.”-—

Lewis was SO right. This is one of my favorite insights of his, and one of the most pervasive logical fallacies.

The Modernists have it exactly backwards. Unfortunately, they seem to have command of the history books, deriving their understanding of the Middle Ages from Monty Python sketches. And they confuse scientific progress and moral progress.


19 posted on 03/23/2014 8:37:25 AM PDT by St_Thomas_Aquinas ( Isaiah 22:22, Matthew 16:19, Revelation 3:7)
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To: Gadsden1st

Everyone knows it is more moral to do the rape pillage destroy theme rather than just kill people.


20 posted on 03/23/2014 8:38:39 AM PDT by bigheadfred
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