Can I take this to mean that you think parents who smack their children do not love them?
No, although I'm not sure smacking is a good idea. In the context, what I meant was that I find it difficult to see how God both claims to love people and threatens the worst possible violence against them (Hell involving more than spanking, we presume), and how Christians who claim to love God can truly do so when they believe that if they did not, God would do them violence.
You do not think when assessing actions knowing the motivation behind them is important?
Sometimes it is. However, what I think the law goes by is intention: if someone intends to kill, it's murder, if someone kills by accident, it's manslaughter. God must surely be the one person who never does anything by accident. Someone's motivation for an intentional killing may lead us to sympathise, or even to a reduced sentence, but they're no less guilty. And of course, some crimes are so bad that there is no mitigation. Choosing to eternally torture a fair proportion of everyone who ever lived seems to fall into that category to me. I don't care whether someone claims to have reasons for that, because no reasons could be good enough.
What is the unskewed view of humanity and Christianity?
There's a question that could be the subject of books :-) Briefly, on humanity, that within us lies the capability for both great good and great evil. That it is possible to do good without the assistance of supernatural beings. That some people are better than others, and that this matters and is to their credit. And on Christianity, that there entire other traditions of Christianity which do not interpret the Bible the way evangelicals do.
Re: This year's CICCU Main Event - DIRECTION
No, although I'm not sure smacking is a good idea. In the context, what I meant was that I find it difficult to see how God both claims to love people and threatens the worst possible violence against them (Hell involving more than spanking, we presume), and how Christians who claim to love God can truly do so when they believe that if they did not, God would do them violence.
You do not think when assessing actions knowing the motivation behind them is important?
Sometimes it is. However, what I think the law goes by is intention: if someone intends to kill, it's murder, if someone kills by accident, it's manslaughter. God must surely be the one person who never does anything by accident. Someone's motivation for an intentional killing may lead us to sympathise, or even to a reduced sentence, but they're no less guilty. And of course, some crimes are so bad that there is no mitigation. Choosing to eternally torture a fair proportion of everyone who ever lived seems to fall into that category to me. I don't care whether someone claims to have reasons for that, because no reasons could be good enough.
What is the unskewed view of humanity and Christianity?
There's a question that could be the subject of books :-) Briefly, on humanity, that within us lies the capability for both great good and great evil. That it is possible to do good without the assistance of supernatural beings. That some people are better than others, and that this matters and is to their credit. And on Christianity, that there entire other traditions of Christianity which do not interpret the Bible the way evangelicals do.