Mike wrote: "They say men only receive such "spirits" when we enter into a
relationship with God. If that is the case, then it seems to me there is no
real difference between a mentally retarded human being and a chimpanzee."
I do not see that the second sentence flows from the first. If I assume the
first (which I do not), I still must use my observational data about
mentally retarded persons (adults, in this case). I have known a dozen or so
of these people rather intimately, as friend wife and I have taught SS
classes for them in two different churches over the past years. All I can
observe says to me that their relationship with God may not be
intellectually as sophisticated (?) as mine, but in many acses it may be
much deeper. To hear them pray -- to witness their obvious delight in
hearing the same old stories once again," to hear them struggle for answers
to "trivial" questions, and see their happieness when the "get it," to hear
them sing, loud, out of key, making a "joyful noise unto the Lord," etc.
Etc. tells me that to deny them personhood would be a sin.
Again, one may assume the first claim, but that does not lead to the second.
Cheers
Burgy
_________________________________________________________________
Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp.
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Thu Apr 18 2002 - 20:41:03 EDT