Well, the people over at PETA are forever at it again. Seems they are celebratory of the fact that a possible 140 year old lobster has been let free of his torturous tank and released back into the ocean http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090110/ap_on_fe_st/odd_liberated_lobster . The people at PETA believe that "man" has some kind of moral duty to extend rights, one may call them "human" rights to every life form on planet earth http://www.peta.org/about/. Now I assume this is limited to just earth, though maybe they mean the entire universe. Lets not go there for now, for the first segment of the previous statement is enough to work. If I assume that there is no God or "higher being" in the universe, then please PETA, tell me why animal, let alone any other life form, is entitled to any right what-so-ever? Now, now, please do not resort to ad hominem, name-calling, tactic, just answer the question. What is the basis for your moral position? What other animal on the face of planet earth behaves in a moral fashion? Why does man, sometime that is, behave in a moral fashion? Wait, wait, wait, what on earth do we mean by "moral"? 5 lines up I said lets assume there is not a higher being. With no higher being, how do we have a higher moral law? Again, how do we define, "moral" now? I should not hurt you, why? If my ancestor is a primate, then it is reasonable to ask: Do primates have a moral law? If they do, it is unknown to us. Where do our moral positions come from today? Do they come from my emotions or my reason? Are either one something to build a universal position from? Now I am not just asking: Can animals be eaten? I am asking, why they would not be eaten for moral reasons. I can tell you why they can be eaten for tasty reasons. Warm, melted butter dripping over "George", is a good enough reason to eat him for me. OK, was that an emotional, or a logical answer why I should eat George?
I have seen secular humanists try to justify a moral law apart from a "moral law giver". Not one have I seen compels me to agree with them. Honestly, put the emotions aside for just a moment. If there is no higher being, what constrains my behavior other than the law that has been placed over me by the government? If I get the government on my side, then PETA has no right to tell me not to eat George. Ahhh, so this is just a battle to convince people to believe one side or another, there is no real absolute rule to govern our choices. But why do we chose the sides we are on? This seems to be the question we keep asking.
In a secular humanist world (shw), morality, or right and wrong, boil down to mere preference. If our existence is due to a long line of accidental changes on an accidental world in an accidental universal, then what gives morality any weight other than the might to enforce a particular moral position? In a shw, morality is not weighted by right and wrong, it is weighted by preference. Peta prefers that I not boil, crack, dip, and eat George. I prefer that George adds to the nutritional diversity of my diet. No right or wrong, just preference. As we wake up to this notion in our "secular" society, expect to see (as we already are) very large changes in what our society "prefers". Celebrating the release of a flavorful crustacean back to the ocean is merely silly, other changes that we are seeing are stupefying and scary.
I feel sorry for George in some ways. If he is really 140 years old, how will he take care of himself back in the ocean? Surely he is entitled to medicare and social security. Why not? Why should we limit rights to animals? If he waits around long enough, maybe he will get some sort of bail out.
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Monday, November 17, 2008
Ha ha, well at last I believe that I have caught the blog bug. I won't say why, but possible anyone reading my blog will figure it out. I want to jump right in and start with my motivating factor. I am not going to though. I will take a minute to explain the title of this blog.
Jephthah was a figure of a story told in the Old Testament of the Bible. It can be found in the book of Judges, chapter 11. I will summarize the story as you can read the account yourself. This man named Jephthah had a very bad upbringing. His father frequented a prostitute and she gave birth to Jephthah. Jephthah's father then married another woman who gave birth to many children to Jephthah's father. As the children grew, they decided to kick Jephthah out of the family. He then fled to another area where bad men collected around him and he became a bandit. After awhile, the land of his father came under attack from a people called the "Ammorites". The leaders of his father's land called for Jephthah to come and be their "judge". A judge in the Bible was a person who rose up to save the people of God. Jephthah was a servant of God. He was not very knowledgeable about what God had already told his people, but at some level he must have known and feared God. Just before Jephthah went into battle with the Ammorites, he made a vow to God. His vow was to sacrifice the first person who came out of his house when he arrived after the battle. This was not a Biblical practice. Most likely he picked this up running with the bandits. Never the less, Jephthah was victorious against the Ammorites, came home, and found his daughter the first one out of the door to greet him. Scholars debate whether he really sacrificed his daughter or not. Either way, Jephthah did a dumb thing. And what is even dumber in what he did is that if he had known God and his word better; a. He would not have made the vow. b. Even after making the vow, he would have know that God made a provision in His law to undue a mistake like this. See Lev 5:15.
A couple of points can be learned about the nature of the God of the Bible from this story.
1. God took a man with a corrupt birth, corrupt upbringing, and a corrupt start into adulthood, and used him to accomplish God's will. I once heard a pastor say that in order for God to use you, you must be walking in his will. This story kinda refutes this idea. I do think that if you are not walking in God's will, you miss out on the glory and joy of his work. But it is clear that God can use anyone, whether he is in his will or not.
2. The second point I would make is that the God of the Old Testament is a God of grace. He showed Jephthah that no matter his past, God would still be with him. Also, even when Jephthah made a really dumb mistake, God provided a way to redeem that mistake. And even though Jephthah didn't know God's word very well, God still used him and gave him victory in battle. *
More could be said about this story but I have made at least my points. So why does this story make me a friend of Jephthah? I too did not have a great upbringing. I too was ignorant of God's word for a large part of my life. But I too have been shown grace and mercy by God. So I count Jephthah as a friend of mine, thankful that God has not only shown mercy to me, but has helped me to understand him better so that I can avoid the kind of mistakes that Jephthah made. This story also shows me that no one is beyond redemption, only those who do not want it.
So this is my big intro into blogging. I didn't intend it to be funny, only informative. If it was not even that, then I apologize. Mark it down to my novice position on blogging. I will endeavor to improve. I will end with this, one of my favorite quotes from Virgil, an ancient Roman poet:
"Fortune favors the bold". Or at least it doesn't reward chickens (no offense intended to the animal chicken, PETA)
Jephthah was a figure of a story told in the Old Testament of the Bible. It can be found in the book of Judges, chapter 11. I will summarize the story as you can read the account yourself. This man named Jephthah had a very bad upbringing. His father frequented a prostitute and she gave birth to Jephthah. Jephthah's father then married another woman who gave birth to many children to Jephthah's father. As the children grew, they decided to kick Jephthah out of the family. He then fled to another area where bad men collected around him and he became a bandit. After awhile, the land of his father came under attack from a people called the "Ammorites". The leaders of his father's land called for Jephthah to come and be their "judge". A judge in the Bible was a person who rose up to save the people of God. Jephthah was a servant of God. He was not very knowledgeable about what God had already told his people, but at some level he must have known and feared God. Just before Jephthah went into battle with the Ammorites, he made a vow to God. His vow was to sacrifice the first person who came out of his house when he arrived after the battle. This was not a Biblical practice. Most likely he picked this up running with the bandits. Never the less, Jephthah was victorious against the Ammorites, came home, and found his daughter the first one out of the door to greet him. Scholars debate whether he really sacrificed his daughter or not. Either way, Jephthah did a dumb thing. And what is even dumber in what he did is that if he had known God and his word better; a. He would not have made the vow. b. Even after making the vow, he would have know that God made a provision in His law to undue a mistake like this. See Lev 5:15.
A couple of points can be learned about the nature of the God of the Bible from this story.
1. God took a man with a corrupt birth, corrupt upbringing, and a corrupt start into adulthood, and used him to accomplish God's will. I once heard a pastor say that in order for God to use you, you must be walking in his will. This story kinda refutes this idea. I do think that if you are not walking in God's will, you miss out on the glory and joy of his work. But it is clear that God can use anyone, whether he is in his will or not.
2. The second point I would make is that the God of the Old Testament is a God of grace. He showed Jephthah that no matter his past, God would still be with him. Also, even when Jephthah made a really dumb mistake, God provided a way to redeem that mistake. And even though Jephthah didn't know God's word very well, God still used him and gave him victory in battle. *
More could be said about this story but I have made at least my points. So why does this story make me a friend of Jephthah? I too did not have a great upbringing. I too was ignorant of God's word for a large part of my life. But I too have been shown grace and mercy by God. So I count Jephthah as a friend of mine, thankful that God has not only shown mercy to me, but has helped me to understand him better so that I can avoid the kind of mistakes that Jephthah made. This story also shows me that no one is beyond redemption, only those who do not want it.
So this is my big intro into blogging. I didn't intend it to be funny, only informative. If it was not even that, then I apologize. Mark it down to my novice position on blogging. I will endeavor to improve. I will end with this, one of my favorite quotes from Virgil, an ancient Roman poet:
"Fortune favors the bold". Or at least it doesn't reward chickens (no offense intended to the animal chicken, PETA)
*There are many views on this story, I only meant to give ya mine. Please do not be offended if you have a different view, I would love to hear it.
Saturday, October 13, 2007
Greetings
Welcome to my blog. I have hesitated to start one as typing is not my favorite thing. Yet the things we must talk about must override my poor typing skills. I wish to engage you in the dieing discussion of what is called, "The Great Conversation". Many of you probable do not even know this conversation has been going on. I want to help you into it. Only the future is at stake. So please, join me on this blog and ask such questions as, "What is Beauty", "Why is this true", "How should we live", and "What is Truth". Come, let us argue together.
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