[ExI] Darwin the Deist

spike spike66 at att.net
Tue Jun 9 13:37:44 UTC 2009


 
> ...On Behalf Of John K Clark
> Subject: Re: [ExI] Darwin the Deist
> 
> This is what Darwin had to say on the subject in his 
> autobiography that he insisted was not to be published until 
> after his death:
> 
> "Disbelief crept over me at very slow rate, but was at last 
> complete. The rate was so slow that I felt no distress, and 
> have never since doubted even for a single second that my 
> conclusion was correct. I can indeed hardly see how anyone 
> ought to wish Christianity to be true; for if so the plain 
> language of the text seems to show that the men who do not 
> believe, and this would include my Father, Brother and almost 
> all of my friends, will be everlasting punished.
> 
> And this is a damnable doctrine."...   John K Clark


Thanks, I never knew he said that.  It reminds me a little of my own journey
in faith.  I knew of the damnable doctrine but my brand of belief at the
time had the wicked just die and be just dead forever, not alive and
suffering.  My journey into disbelief was from examination specifically the
notion of evolution, and trying to disprove it with every available brain
cell.  But with even half-careful observation and reasoning, it is
inescapable that life on this world evolved.  

The road to disbelief is one I travelled kicking and screaming, alone.  That
must have been an odd sight.

spike





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