Hello Lucy,
----Original Message-----
From: Lucy Masters [mailto:masters@cox-internet.com]
Sent: Monday, February 25, 2002 11:21 AM
To: asa@calvin.edu
Subject: [Fwd: RE: [Fwd: RE: [Fwd: RE: [Fwd: RE: Darwinism/Compassion]]]]
Adrian:
See my earlier post to Jan regarding the basis for moral decisions.
Inasmuch as the NT disputes the OT, I don't think one must accept the Bible
as the only moral authority. I think I **do** use it as a guidebook - but
not as a book of laws. So how does that work in daily life?
[AT] [example provided by Lucy deleted for the purpose of clarity.]
So I would say that the "Christian in me" says we should help people to
survive *for a while* and we should help them to become *fit* for a while.
But they must also participate. The only reason I can think of for not
"cutting off the aid" is if the person is so sick or disabled that they
cannot care for themselves.
[AT] In your earlier post, you wrote that the bible is not the only guide,
but that you take the way the natural world works as a guide also (I hope I
am reading you correctly). You seem to imply that the bible does not give
enough to make daily moral choices, and I assume, correspondingly, that
nature does. Then in the above, you seem to impose limits on our
intervention, even for life and death issues. All in all, I think these
raises even more questions, and I still don't see any coherence at all. Why
is it that what is in nature assumed to be the moral norm? What exactly do
you take from the bible, since you agree that it may be a moral authority?
Why should there be limits on intervention in life and death issues, and how
do we know when we've reached them? What is/are your guiding moral
principles?
BTW - it may or may not interest you to know that I am married to a person
who was born totally and permanently disabled. If everything had been
handed to him, I'm quite certain he would be a bloated slug today parked in
front of a television set in a day room. Instead, his mother and I both
pushed and prodded him all the way through his Ph.D. in clinical psychology.
He has maintained his own private practice for over 20 years, drives a
little, red Mustang GT, and is extremely independent. I don't think he
regrets it. (Although I did tell him last night that some members of this
list think I'm a demon, and he did laugh and say, "Gee! And just from
reading your little emails? If they ever met you in person, they'd run
screaming into the night!").
Lucy (Lucifer?)
[AT] I commend you for your commitment and love to your husband. This is
something that even many of us on this list would probably have a hard time
living up to. I appreciate you sharing this piece of personal information
with me, and no, I don't think you are an agent of the devil.
Blessings,
Adrian.
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