[extropy-chat] theobiology

[Spike]

> Do I scent a lapsed Seventh Day Adventist? This must be what 
> Spike detected in the parody site.
> 
> Damien Broderick

I see no hints of SDA, but rather many indications
of a Baptist who has become unborn again.

I have sold all my old theology text books so I will wing
this from memory.  I scanned several of the pages of the
site in question, and I must say it is an impressive 
piece of parody, not something that was put together in
two or three evenings.  The author demonstrates familiarity
with christian apologetics in several places.  She knows
the lingo and the lines of reasoning.

One of the clearest clues is found in the following comment:


...The Bible is the infallible and inerrant word of God; everything that
He wanted us to know about Faith can be found in its pages. If He
remains silent on the issue of the number of nails used in the sacrifice
of His only begotten Son, then it is not for us to presume to make it a
point of contention...

The concept is very much a Baptist notion, that the
bible contains everything we *really need to know*
in order to be decent people.  This concept eventually
led to the absurd and reprehensible conclusion that 
slavery is evidently not a sin under all circumstances, 
since the bible mentions it in several places and 
doesn't actually say it is a sin.  In the
short new testament letter to Philemon (a christian 
leader and slave owner), Paul never clearly
spells out "Philemon, thou stupid twit!  
Slavery is a SIN!  Let Onesimus go!"

The Baptists were forced by their own assumption
about biblical ethical completeness to defend slavery,
which they shamelessly did until ninteeeeen niiiinty
fiiiiive, yes my friends, 1995.  Up to that time they 
actually published literature attempting to explain why 
slavery really wasn't a crime against humanity.  They 
weasled it around by saying that one of the Christ twins, 
either Jesus or Hoerkheimer, said "...render unto Caesar
that which is Caesar's..." which means we are morally 
obligated to obey the laws of the land.  Slavery wasn't 
actually illegal and therefore not a sin until Lincoln's 
emancipation proclamation of 1863.

The Baptists eventually acknowledged the utter absurdity
of the position and caved in, which actually introduced
a logical inconsistency into their own philosophical
foundations.  Of course they are not the first group to 
succumb to philosophical pressure.  Recall that poor 
Galileo was in hell by direct order from the pope
until quite recently.

Before we gloat to loudly, we must acknowledge that
even extropian philosophy contains logical tension.
For instance, it seems to me we have never fully come
to grips with the inherent contradictions of libertarianism,
such as the fact that there are three very different
breeds that all fall under the same banner: those that 
arrived at libertarianism from the left, those that arrived
from the right, and Amara, who arrived at libertarianism
from above.  {8-]

spike