Why me Lord

Ryk said...

Warrior's response:


Ryk said: "now he surely knows nothing at all"

That is a rather bold assertion seeing how you have never been where Epicurus now is. However, I could use the bible to back you up: Ecclesiastes 9:5

"For the living know they will die; but the dead do not know anything, nor have they any longer a reward, for their memory is forgotten."

It seems the memory of Epicurus is not forgotten though like your's and mine will surely be on this earth especially when we find ourselves dead for as long a time as Epicurus. Now we could filter out the gnats while swallowing a camel discussing this point, but life is short and I hold my view that you made a rather bold assertion seeing how you have no firsthand knowledge.

"Epicurous[sic] knew nothing of the Christian mythos so it would seem wierd[sic] for your myth figure to judge him based on a system he never knew,"

You make a good point. However, I believe the God of the Bible is ultimately fair and just based on my reading of scripture: Take Romans 2:12-16 for instance. But, what will those like you and I who have no excuse like Epicurus does do?

You say, "Historically he is presumed real" So, is Jesus only a myth and a fairytale like many atheists attest? Or, is He also historically presumed real?

Regards,

1%er

p.s. see part 2 for a brief discussion on the philosophy of Epicurus.

Let's take a brief peek at the philosophy of Epicurus.

He taught that pleasure and pain are the measures of what is good and evil.

Fornication, adultery, homosexuality, and drunkenness are all obviously sources of pleasure indicated by the high incidence of their occurrence in society. Yet 1 Corinthians 6:9 claims they are unrighteous. Why might that be? Could it be because all four also have GREAT potential to cause pain?

A fornicator may contract an STD, possibly incurable, that can be a deal breaker for a marriage to possibly the love of his/her life. An unwanted pregnancy may also be a consequence of fornication with all of its implications and consequenses. Fornication can lesson the quality of the bond between lifelong mates. Fornication may hurt one of the participants that expects more out of the arrangement which inevitably does not materialize. Statistics show that those who live in a fornicating relationship to each other prior to getting married have a higher incidence of divorce. So much for the proverbial "test drive", etc. ad nauseam. But perhaps, we can be consenting and responsible adults allowing us to avoid any harmful and painful consequences as DormantDragon implies.

Adultery has destroyed untold marriages throughout the ages both harming the betrayed spouse and any children involved. The adulterer may also bring a harmful and painful STD to the marriage bed, besides lessoning the quality of the mating bond. Once again DormantDragon implies conversely that adultery is good when it is not coupled with deceit and disrespect. He should get back with us and give us a report after these relationships of his friends have run their course as to how they ultimately ended. The couple I know who had the "happy arrangement" did not have their relationship end well. Adultery is a violation of trust with painful and harmful consequences regardless of it being agreed upon or not.

Homosexuality. . . tell it to the two mothers I know who buried their sons at an early age due to the consequences of their homosexual lifestyle. While we're at it, lets keep our heads buried in the sand regarding the real medical facts of this lifestyle and teach our young that it is an acceptable and good choice equal to heterosexual marriage. At least it will help alleviate the world's over population problem more rapidly while allowing our muslim brothers to out populate us and overtake us finally ending such debates as this on the topic. Please note my sarcasm on this subject.

Drunkenness. . . Let me tell a short joke to lighten the mood. A man woke up with his head resting on an adult establishment's bar. As he looked around to get his bearing, he noticed his buddy siting on the next bar stool sipping a beer. He then looked at his watch and realized that they had to be at work in thirty minutes. He asked his buddy where they were. It was a city 500 miles from home and work. He then began fussing irately at his buddy, "What the expletive are we doing here! We have to be at work in thirty minutes!" His buddy looked at him and calmly took another sip of his beer as he replied, "Expletive I don't know, you drove!" Oh how I enjoyed my days of being a drunkard. Please pass the Bombay Sapphire. If only the pain didn't follow the pleasure. Are you familiar with the song "Why me Lord" by Kris Kristofferson? You should YouTube it and give it a listen.

So Ryk, we can easily trash Epicurus's teaching that pleasure and pain are the measures of what is good and evil seeing how somethings that can bring so much pleasure can also cause untold pain. However, you as someone that respects Epicurus the philosopher the most among the philosophers knows that a deeper study of Epicurus would show my above complaint against the Epicurus pleasure vs pain teaching as intellectually dishonest since Epicurus himself would not sanction anything that produced pleasure on the surface yet resulted in pain as an ultimate consequence.

Even if there is no God, there is great benefit in a personal relationship with the Man of the Bible named Jesus because such a relationship can cause the peace and tranquility in a believer's life that Epicurus valued. I am personally amazed at the power my personal relationship with Jesus has displayed in my life. If it is all just a bunch of bunk, it is very, very good bunk without the deleterious effects of opiates.

The short time while I have been here at Atheist Central I have noticed that atheists don't dig deep beneath the surface of biblical things preferring to only pick at what they think are warts. "the Christian mythos ~~~ your myth figure" Really?

Kind regards Ryk,

1%er