by jimwalton » Tue Mar 04, 2014 5:21 pm
I meant no disrespect to your intellect. I've mentioned how much I've enjoyed the conversation, and did not intend to offend.
> I don't think it's fair to say that my withholding of my belief in god is synonymous with me seeking to reject God.
To me it might be like me saying to you, "Hey, I'm heading to Sears. Ya wanna come?" When you respond, "Let me think about it," i can be patient for a while, but eventually I need to leave. Suppose 30 minutes later I say, "So, do you want to come?" and you respond, "I'm still thinking about it," I'm gonna just go without you. I wanted to pick up my stuff, and your decision to not make a decision is a decision all in itself. And if you don't quick grab your coat and come with me, you've certainly decided by your "withholding" not to come. That's what I mean. Your pondering the possibility of God is as of yet inconclusive, but that means for the time being it's not yes.
> whitewash hell
Have you seen "The Hunger Games: Catching Fire"? About a third of the way through, Katniss' boyfriend is being beaten mercilessly chained to a post. Katniss steps in to stand between him and his tormentor, only to be told, "I'll kill you if you don't get out of the way." Her persecutor is so blind to his condition and his nature that he can live comfortably in it. Everyone else (the moviegoer, and even the local spectators) can see that he's an angry, violent, bitter, blinded man, but he can't.
Have you seen "The Matrix"? I know it's getting to be a long time ago now (1999), but the Matrix is a systematic enslavement that blinds people to their true condition. They have no clue they are subjugated by a force they can neither see, nor are they even aware of it, and yet it has them under their control. They go about their "merry" lives oblivious to their true condition, and most would even choose it, given the chance or prospect of escape.
That is the Biblical image of hell. The door is locked from within, as you have mentioned, because it's not stubbornness or stupidity that bars it closed, but because all those inside will have eyes and a nature that desires that status quo.
> The true me
Ah, a theological perspective, to be sure. 1 John 3.3 (and Phil. 3.8 and others) claim that we can know God, and will one day "see him as he is." I believe God has a true essence, and that essence will one day be know. By the same token, I believe that humans have a true essence, since we are made in the image of God. Granted, it gets added onto by derivative experiences and various personality traits that emerge as experiences get piled on, and we perceive those as our "true self", since that is what, by our perceptions, we have become. Like Shrek (I guess it's a movie analogy day for me!), we're an onion of layers. The layers may make up who we are, but our true essence is that of an onion. It's my theological perspective, which I'm sure you wouldn't share since you subscribe to an atheology. Now, granted, my point is almost getting lost in the analogy (analogies are so frustrating, but frustratingly useful also), since I'm not talking about my nature as a human that is my essence, but who I am.
You're right that now we are dipping in the mind-body problem of self. As you most likely know, Christians find themselves in one of three diverging camps: monist, dualist, and tripartite. Each one claims some Scriptural "evidence" for their perspective, which tells us that is something Scripture doesn't try to teach us. As much as the Bible tells us about ourselves, that one doesn't fall within its purpose or scope.