Someone asked me after reading this, "Not quibbling, but isn’t there still a relationship between the two? What if I juxtapose sin and intellect? Might that not provide a more accurate understanding of how dark or minor a sin might actually be? And why we are instructed not to judge?"
My reply:
I don't think that there is. It was easy to believe it while spending my life rushing from my sins to the confessional every couple of weeks, trying to stay in a state of grace.
But I'm an apostate now. A heretic. I don't go to church. I don't follow the disciplinary laws. I'm a great heaping pile now of arbitrarily-defined mortal sins.
And yet, I believe I'm thinking more clearly than I ever did, because I'm actually thinking, not just parroting beliefs and acting out of fear. I'm considering issues more broadly, weighing what feels true or false about them, trying to come to a conclusion that makes sense instead of one that is pre-ordained.
And I know what my intellect "feels" like. I know how it changes when I'm tired or grumpy or stressed or hungry or under the influence of some intoxicating substance or other. I know how it feels for my intellect to be noticeably diminished; for my brain to simply not have all the horsepower it did before for whatever reason.
None of that is remotely perceptible.
So to my mind, just like "If God is not, everything is permissible," this is more of a thought-terminating cliché than a truism. I also thought that if I stopped believing in God I'd suddenly become wicked. I acted the part a little bit early on, until I realized I was just rebelling against a lifetime bound up by rules, and that I didn't need to be dumb about it. That morality and ethics still mattered. That they mattered because they are the only way you can live in a society with others, whether the macro society around us or the even more important micro societies in our homes. That I care about my conscience being clear enough that I can sleep at night without being overburdened with regrets.
I didn't stop believing because my sins were making me stupid, and I didn't stop believing because I ardently wanted even more sin. These are just things we tell ourselves as a means of psyching ourselves up to stay inside the lines.
I agree with this sentiment for the most part. I know lots of people in my life who are agnostic and they are some of the most moral people I have seen. That being said, I wonder if an atheist society is able to maintain the concept that every human being is inherently valuable from birth until death. It seems to me that secular societies become more utilitarian, and abortion and euthanasia are more likely to be an acceptable practice. Religion, specifically Christianity in the west, can keep this at bay. I would be interested to hear or read your thoughts on this.
I wonder if some of this is tied up in personality. We are told to have a defense of our faith, but I think Catholicism, in particular, makes it easy to slack off on that one; the culture is one that doesn't emphasize personal studying the way some Protestant denominations do, and it is easy enough to point at the Magisterium for answers. Similarly, outside of religion, there is the little 't' "tradition" that has often guided society, for both better and worse, and I imagine people grew up with the life trajectory they did because that's just how things are done. It probably both kept people away from vice without too much thought, but might have also stunted people.
Regarding this format, I'm of two minds. I don't use Twitter, but before X locked it down more, I would periodically jump over to see what you would post if you hadn't posted here in a while, and the content was interesting, so I would be glad to not miss out on it here on Subtack. On the other hand, I try not to live my life reading other people's takes on life, so I would probably get a bit overwhelmed by more posts. But I'm also not afraid to just delete based on title alone.
You were pretty arrogant and angry before. You are much more humble now, and that's crucial. Are you sure you aren't sinning less now than before?
You are an apostate from a false, angry, rule-bound, TLM churchianity. I am not convinced you are an apostate from genuine Christianity. Personally, I think you are closer now, or at least less far away, than you were before to authentic faith, and I see God working in your life. Don't give up and stay on the path to humility.
As Jesus is said to have asked Paul in his astounding, spectacular apparition to him: "Why are you persecuting me? Doesn't it smart to kick the goad?"
Judge a tree by its fruit. Sinners generally produce bad fruit. Saints generally produce good fruit. Jesus produced very good fruit (the best). If one doesn't get God, one is likely to elevate something else as the purpose of life--pursuit of power, sports, money, sex, looks, fame, popularity, drugs, alcohol, various other pleasures. Why be monogamous? If one's spouse becomes a bore or burdensome, why not leave the spouse? Why not lie, cheat and steal, abandon people? Why be "good" if there is no God? Human decency? Well, some people have natural good temperments and are "decent", but I'd say it's the exception rather than the rule. Meaning, "prone to decency" is a pretty hit or miss attribute, in my opinion. Why not harm one's fellow man if it advances the pursuit of money, fame, sex, pleasure or power?
The proper question is: What is true? Then investigate. Seek and ye shall find.
You need to read Aquinas and Augustine and take them down argument by argument. Read "Light of Faith" which summarizes Aquinas' teaching. Do you really think this entire universe just sort of happened? Einstein didn't; Tesla didn't. I'm siding with Aquinas, Augustine, Tesla and Einstein. (Einstein did not believe in a personal God, however.)
Aside: Einstein was once asked "Are you a genius?" His response (paraphrasing): "I don't know if I'm a genius. I'll tell who is a genius: Tesla."
Someone asked me after reading this, "Not quibbling, but isn’t there still a relationship between the two? What if I juxtapose sin and intellect? Might that not provide a more accurate understanding of how dark or minor a sin might actually be? And why we are instructed not to judge?"
My reply:
I don't think that there is. It was easy to believe it while spending my life rushing from my sins to the confessional every couple of weeks, trying to stay in a state of grace.
But I'm an apostate now. A heretic. I don't go to church. I don't follow the disciplinary laws. I'm a great heaping pile now of arbitrarily-defined mortal sins.
And yet, I believe I'm thinking more clearly than I ever did, because I'm actually thinking, not just parroting beliefs and acting out of fear. I'm considering issues more broadly, weighing what feels true or false about them, trying to come to a conclusion that makes sense instead of one that is pre-ordained.
And I know what my intellect "feels" like. I know how it changes when I'm tired or grumpy or stressed or hungry or under the influence of some intoxicating substance or other. I know how it feels for my intellect to be noticeably diminished; for my brain to simply not have all the horsepower it did before for whatever reason.
None of that is remotely perceptible.
So to my mind, just like "If God is not, everything is permissible," this is more of a thought-terminating cliché than a truism. I also thought that if I stopped believing in God I'd suddenly become wicked. I acted the part a little bit early on, until I realized I was just rebelling against a lifetime bound up by rules, and that I didn't need to be dumb about it. That morality and ethics still mattered. That they mattered because they are the only way you can live in a society with others, whether the macro society around us or the even more important micro societies in our homes. That I care about my conscience being clear enough that I can sleep at night without being overburdened with regrets.
I didn't stop believing because my sins were making me stupid, and I didn't stop believing because I ardently wanted even more sin. These are just things we tell ourselves as a means of psyching ourselves up to stay inside the lines.
I agree with this sentiment for the most part. I know lots of people in my life who are agnostic and they are some of the most moral people I have seen. That being said, I wonder if an atheist society is able to maintain the concept that every human being is inherently valuable from birth until death. It seems to me that secular societies become more utilitarian, and abortion and euthanasia are more likely to be an acceptable practice. Religion, specifically Christianity in the west, can keep this at bay. I would be interested to hear or read your thoughts on this.
I wonder if some of this is tied up in personality. We are told to have a defense of our faith, but I think Catholicism, in particular, makes it easy to slack off on that one; the culture is one that doesn't emphasize personal studying the way some Protestant denominations do, and it is easy enough to point at the Magisterium for answers. Similarly, outside of religion, there is the little 't' "tradition" that has often guided society, for both better and worse, and I imagine people grew up with the life trajectory they did because that's just how things are done. It probably both kept people away from vice without too much thought, but might have also stunted people.
Regarding this format, I'm of two minds. I don't use Twitter, but before X locked it down more, I would periodically jump over to see what you would post if you hadn't posted here in a while, and the content was interesting, so I would be glad to not miss out on it here on Subtack. On the other hand, I try not to live my life reading other people's takes on life, so I would probably get a bit overwhelmed by more posts. But I'm also not afraid to just delete based on title alone.
You were pretty arrogant and angry before. You are much more humble now, and that's crucial. Are you sure you aren't sinning less now than before?
You are an apostate from a false, angry, rule-bound, TLM churchianity. I am not convinced you are an apostate from genuine Christianity. Personally, I think you are closer now, or at least less far away, than you were before to authentic faith, and I see God working in your life. Don't give up and stay on the path to humility.
As Jesus is said to have asked Paul in his astounding, spectacular apparition to him: "Why are you persecuting me? Doesn't it smart to kick the goad?"
Judge a tree by its fruit. Sinners generally produce bad fruit. Saints generally produce good fruit. Jesus produced very good fruit (the best). If one doesn't get God, one is likely to elevate something else as the purpose of life--pursuit of power, sports, money, sex, looks, fame, popularity, drugs, alcohol, various other pleasures. Why be monogamous? If one's spouse becomes a bore or burdensome, why not leave the spouse? Why not lie, cheat and steal, abandon people? Why be "good" if there is no God? Human decency? Well, some people have natural good temperments and are "decent", but I'd say it's the exception rather than the rule. Meaning, "prone to decency" is a pretty hit or miss attribute, in my opinion. Why not harm one's fellow man if it advances the pursuit of money, fame, sex, pleasure or power?
The proper question is: What is true? Then investigate. Seek and ye shall find.
You need to read Aquinas and Augustine and take them down argument by argument. Read "Light of Faith" which summarizes Aquinas' teaching. Do you really think this entire universe just sort of happened? Einstein didn't; Tesla didn't. I'm siding with Aquinas, Augustine, Tesla and Einstein. (Einstein did not believe in a personal God, however.)
Aside: Einstein was once asked "Are you a genius?" His response (paraphrasing): "I don't know if I'm a genius. I'll tell who is a genius: Tesla."
Tesla on God:
http://www.pentagonmeditationclub.com/nikola-tesla-on-god-religion-the-bible-and-the-soul.html
Here's a song just for the fun of it, appropo nothing:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zhQjXvKI68
Please do cross-post. I have observed that my mood and well being appear to be inversely proportional to the amount of time spent Xing on Twitter.
I didn't realize that the "related read" on Bp. Sheen was from January. Sorry for posting that far back.