thread: 2006-09-08 : Salvation, damnation, justification, a la Sydney
On 2006-09-12, joshua m. neff wrote:
Sydney, maybe I'm "setting the bar low," but my basic point (which maybe I failed to get across) is this: yes, humans make mistakes, they do stupid things, they act out of fear and anger and loneliness and anxiety and jealousy, but I don't see this as a sign that humans are intrinsically "bad" or "flawed." Both of my parents did some pretty crappy things to my brother and me while we were growing up. This doesn't make my parents bad people, it makes them good people who weren't always sure what the right answers were and sometimes acted out of fear and sadness. That's called being human. I don't set humans up against some ideal and find them lacking. I set humans up against themselves and find that they sometimes act crappy and sometimes act wonderfully. I don't think humans are inherently "sinful" or "bad" or "flawed" anymore than I think monkeys or cats or mushrooms or snakes are. Yes, we sometimes do stupid and hurtful things. I don't think it's a big deal in the grand scheme of things. I certainly don't think it points to any great statement about humans being good or bad overall. We simply are what we are.
Which is, I suppose, why I've never felt the need for God or Christ or any other external religious or spiritual force to give me strength to be a better person. I don't want to be a better person. If I do something hurtful, I'll try to change my behavior. And, yes, I sometimes feel like I might be a "bad" person. But I feel that kind of thinking is just more psychological stupidity and an awful waste of time. Worrying about whether I'm a "good" person or a "bad" person is exactly the kind of hurtful behavior I want to stop doing.
