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Many choices in life are risky. Tom Send a noteboard - 09/09/2011 03:15:49 PM
A lot of times we can't properly assess the risk of something ahead of time. Even when we can, we often take risks that are deemed acceptable. There is risk in, say, getting into a car or an airplane, but the benefits outweigh the risk. On the other hand, people who bought tickets for the 9/11 flights died horrible deaths as the result of making a decision that had no way of knowing would lead to their deaths. The same thing applies to people who bought bad meat and died of E. coli, or people who were on a beach in Thailand at the wrong time and got swept out to sea in the tsunami.

The risk of suicide (in addition to the horrendous pain that it causes to the family of the person committing suicide, pain that really never goes away) is that it will not achieve the desired results (i.e., ending some form of present pain). If there is no God, the suicide may accomplish what he or she wants to by ending existence. However, if there is a God, the suicide could just be inviting more pain, like jumping into a pile of salt to extinguish being on fire.

As for the little children, even in India there are Christian groups. One of my best friends growing up was a Christian whose parents were from India and had converted because they came to the US for medical school and were preached at. The Christian response would be that anything is possible with free will and God's grace, and of course the little children don't need to confess before a certain age regardless of whether they grow up to be heathens or God-fearing Christians. ;)
Political correctness is the pettiest form of casuistry.

ἡ δὲ κἀκ τριῶν τρυπημάτων ἐργαζομένη ἐνεκάλει τῇ φύσει, δυσφορουμένη, ὅτι δὴ μὴ καὶ τοὺς τιτθοὺς αὐτῇ εὐρύτερον ἢ νῦν εἰσι τρυπώη, ὅπως καὶ ἄλλην ἐνταῦθα μίξιν ἐπιτεχνᾶσθαι δυνατὴ εἴη. – Procopius

Ummaka qinnassa nīk!

*MySmiley*
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I figured I'd put RAFO's top religiologists on the case - 08/09/2011 02:03:55 PM 779 Views
The real answer is there is no effect because God is not real. - 08/09/2011 02:23:00 PM 409 Views
Right, I was working from that presumption - 08/09/2011 03:32:31 PM 396 Views
Re: Talking puppies! And kittens! I want! *NM* - 08/09/2011 03:34:49 PM 177 Views
well I am not religious but that seems a bit of a strawman argument - 08/09/2011 05:01:57 PM 421 Views
I don't know that I'm a "top religiologist", but here goes: - 08/09/2011 05:35:26 PM 515 Views
Re: I don't know that I'm a "top religiologist", but here goes: - 08/09/2011 05:53:36 PM 375 Views
Re: I don't know that I'm a "top religiologist", but here goes: - 08/09/2011 06:35:55 PM 463 Views
Oooh, can I be a top religiologist? - 08/09/2011 06:52:18 PM 519 Views
I can totally do this. - 08/09/2011 06:57:19 PM 416 Views
Believe it or not, this is a thought I had when I was little and christian. - 08/09/2011 07:39:24 PM 416 Views
Predestination is something only strict Calvinists believe. - 08/09/2011 08:53:59 PM 401 Views
Didn't mean to bring up predestination. - 08/09/2011 09:17:19 PM 411 Views
Sorry. That's how I read it... - 09/09/2011 12:48:07 AM 462 Views
It's not a risk you can refuse... - 09/09/2011 06:04:44 AM 392 Views
Many choices in life are risky. - 09/09/2011 03:15:49 PM 368 Views
It's a very silly argument that the T Rex is making. - 08/09/2011 07:22:23 PM 392 Views
I think that looking for an absolute answer re: religion is pretty silly. - 08/09/2011 08:22:16 PM 379 Views
wrong place *NM* - 09/09/2011 05:00:52 AM 157 Views
Prayer is not a request line. - 09/09/2011 05:03:10 AM 505 Views
That's a tough one... - 09/09/2011 01:27:25 PM 371 Views
That's part of the charm. - 09/09/2011 08:50:05 PM 359 Views
Re: That's part of the charm. - 13/09/2011 12:08:45 AM 456 Views

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