Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 exptools 1/6/84; site ihuxq.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!floyd!harpo!ihnp4!ihuxq!ken From: ken@ihuxq.UUCP (ken perlow) Newsgroups: net.religion Subject: Responsibility and obedience Message-ID: <797@ihuxq.UUCP> Date: Thu, 22-Mar-84 19:04:39 EST Article-I.D.: ihuxq.797 Posted: Thu Mar 22 19:04:39 1984 Date-Received: Fri, 23-Mar-84 21:23:43 EST Organization: AT&T Bell Labs, Naperville, IL Lines: 33 -- The original statement from Jeff Sargent was that a proper Christian attitude is: "We are not responsible for results, only for obedience." I likened this statement to the "only obeying orders" defense invoked at Nurenburg. Jeff and other devout individuals have posted or written me saying that Christian obedience is not the same thing, that God is good and doesn't ask anyone (well, Jeff anyway) to inconvenience people. And the score is Christians 1, Nazis 0, so that proves what happens when you're up to no good. Well, I'm glad you blindly obedient folks can tell the difference. I'm still scared. Why? There's plenty of very devout people out there who ARE inconveniencing people in the name of their religions (obviously not just Christians). They have no guilty conscience--they have no conscience at all--because they are simply the instrument of God's just and good work. They believe it sincerely, and they say so. Once you give up having to think about what you're doing you cannot be trusted to act responsibly. Responsible people think about what they're doing. It's interesting how Western society denigrates premeditation. Crimes of passion are hardly crimes at all. Enough of that aside. Responsible to whom? Yourself, god, whatever you wish. But if you give up thinking, you are a zombie, and as such, capable of wholesale slaughter followed by a good night's sleep. -- *** *** JE MAINTIENDRAI ***** ***** ****** ****** 22 Mar 84 [2 Germinal An CXCII] ken perlow ***** ***** (312)979-7261 ** ** ** ** ..ihnp4!ihuxq!ken *** ***