Re: [asa] Random and design

At 10:23 AM 11/29/2006, David Opderbeck wrote:

>Once stripped from its religious baggage, it comes down to an
>'inherent' drive to please, now whether this inherent drive is called the 'Holy
>Spirit' should not distract from the argument. ~ Pim
>
>The third person of the Trinity isn't "religious baggage," nor is He
>"inherent" to us as human beings. This is a point, IMHO, at which
>social evolution and the Christian story become conflicting
>narratives. The Christian story is that we are redeemed and
>transformed by something wholly external to ourselves. If the Holy
>Spirit is reduced to inherent human nature, there's no Christianity
>left in that religion. .... ~ David O

@ Sigh... David, why do professing Christians so often make exactly
the mistake St Augustine warned us against.

Augustine:

"Now, it is a disgraceful and dangerous thing for an infidel to hear
a [professing] Christian, presumably giving the meaning of Holy
Scripture, talking nonsense on these topics; and we should take all
means to prevent such an embarrassing situation, in which people show
up vast ignorance in a Christian and laugh it to scorn. The shame is
not so much that an ignorant individual is derided, but that people
outside the household of faith think our sacred writers held such
opinions, and, to the great loss of those for whose salvation we
toil, the writers of our Scripture are criticized and rejected as
unlearned men. If they find a Christian mistaken in a field which
they themselves know well and hear him maintaining his foolish
opinions about our books, how are they going to believe those books
in matters concerning the resurrection of the dead, the hope of
eternal life, and the kingdom of heaven, when they think their pages
are full of falsehoods and on facts which they themselves have learnt
from experience and the light of reason? Reckless and incompetent
expounders of Holy Scripture bring untold trouble and sorrow on their
wiser brethren when they are caught in one of their mischievous false
opinions and are taken to task by those who are not bound by the
authority of our sacred books. For then, to defend their utterly
foolish and obviously untrue statements, they will try to call upon
Holy Scripture for proof and even recite from memory many passages
which they think support their position, although they understand
neither what they say nor the things about which they make assertion.
[1 Timothy 1.7]

~ Janice :)

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Received on Wed Nov 29 10:45:53 2006