Go to Seeking Limits of Mankind, and Limits of God
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- Go to The Perishables: Good, Evil, and the Folly of Balance- Part 1
Corbin
Thanks for the surprise kudos... funny, I think the same thing about your posts as well (direct and on target). I need to mosey over to your blogs and take a peek. I have been away for a while, and catching up slowly.
You should check out Part 2 of this posting, especially if you like Star Wars movies at all.
If Naut keeps reading about how we are missing him, I hope he will come back in some limited capacity. There is no way I could keep up the pace he was going here, with all the detailed posts he was doing so often, in multiple categories. So Naut, if you do come back, take it easy, and don't burn yourself out again!! Cheers, good buddy!! 
posted by
GoldenMean
on January 13, 2018 at 8:41 AM
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I have to tell you....you are one of Blogit's best members.....Your posts are so direct and right on target. I texted back and forth wirh Naut after his departure, he's been in Europe for a well deserved break. I think Naut felt all of his work was for "naught". I agree that he would be an extraordinary commenter.
posted by
Corbin_Dallas
on January 13, 2018 at 4:06 AM
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BC-A
Thanks for your comment. For me too, the Bible describes a de-facto balance between good and evil. The Old Testament gave us the Law, in a harsh balance with evil. The Gospel (New Testament) ends the period of the Law, with a bright hope of tipping the balance to Good, and the concept of un-earned Grace replacing the Law is doing even more in its modern form, with dynamic preachers such as Joseph Prince leading the way. We are offered a way out of the "balance" nightmare, but few seem to take it.
posted by
GoldenMean
on January 12, 2018 at 7:05 PM
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For myself, the balance is the Law and Gospel as it is written in the Bible.
posted by
BC-A
on January 11, 2018 at 9:05 AM
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Re: Anib
Dear GM, you do get my vote of should on this issue. My whole idea was based on ... one not existing without the other. What is Good without Evil? Nothing. If all evil is wiped out, what is it then we may call good? Just as there can be no right if there were to be no left. These are the two wings on which man is destined to (fly) life. But that does not mean I'm in any way, as I said, a votary of evil. In the heavens there is no evil, only good ... nor in hell is there any good, only evil. They exist in isolation of one or the other. On Earth, whis is our karmabhoomi, place of work or duty, both have to exist. Our goal as humans is to minimise or try to mitigate, nip evil in the bud, to the extent possible. These are, according to my understanding, conjoint facts, and therefore, cannot be wished away. The predators in the jungle have nothing like morality or amorality nor even immorality, their sole instinct being so for the sake of survival. Ony when goaded by hunger do they kill. The range of man, on the other hand, is immense; he can be less than an animal, or equivalent to god - he is a compound of animality, humanity and divinity. It is his mission to raise the brute man to the level of man, and man to the level of God. And in this unfolding process he must constantly and consciously strive to make his latent potential patent. It is this godward progress of man that we should call religion, nothing else. Cheers .
posted by
anib
on January 8, 2018 at 8:30 PM
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Anib
Alas, my good friend, I think you may have quaffed the kool-aid of indestructible Evil, LOL, and fallen for its propaganda, despite my warning at the end of the post. I do realize that as long as Existence itself lives, as long as life exists with free will, that evil cannot be rooted out. But..... it could certainly be trimmed down lower to the ground (or nipped in the bud), and much more often. The choice for evil will always exist, but the consequences could be much more effective than the pathetic consequences we currently see enforced.
You are referring to this passage about Jesus in my post: "Jesus himself respected some sort of balance with the ultimate predator, Satan, who he met in the desert and rebuked, but then allowed Satan to go on his merry way, to find other victims to tempt and torment. There is something horribly wrong with this type of 'balance' between good and evil people, where the predators are tongue-lashed, but allowed to continue their destruction."
We are tempted to think that Jesus dealt with Satan in the perfect way, in accordance with the divine plan, with all omniscience and omnipotence. But I think that Jesus had limitations, and dealt with Satan the best way he could at the time. For one thing, Jesus was physically weak, after fasting in the desert for a long time, wasn't it 40 days. Other constraints may have been in play, but I will not speculate further here.
So I am not faulting Jesus, I am faulting the entire set-up, the entire cosmic scenario that required Jesus to come to the Earth and be a targeted victim of Evil for his entire life.
I will say that if the general story of Satan is true, of a rebellious angel who incited a third of the angels of heaven to rebel against God, then Satan should have been promptly punished and/or restrained, if God had the power to do so, instead of letting Satan prey upon the rest of the universe for ages. Can I get your vote of a should on that issue?
It is such moral insanity that I rebel against, of giving Evil unrestrained power to do all the horrible destructive things that it does. I am not talking about petty minor acts of evil, but the major league stuff; tyrannies destroying communities, cities, countries, and civilizations. If we were protected from that, we could handle the rest much more efficiently.
I realize and agree also that good and evil exist within us on a moral spectrum, of degree, of lesser and greater. I agree that we progress by doing wrong, and then learning from our mistakes. But those who do not learn, from horrific mistakes, and go on to commit even more horrific evil, should be kicked out of class quickly and turned back to learn their lessons again. I am talking here of the Hitler class of evil, that ends up destroying millions of innocent people. Can I get your vote of a should on this issue?
posted by
GoldenMean
on January 8, 2018 at 8:02 AM
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Bro GM,
I thoroughly enjoyed the write-up. Many things you say are logical and thought-provoking, until I came to Jesus himself coming to respect and make peace with evil. Let us explore as to why he did so which, in our opinion, he shouldnt have, but then, who are we to judge?
If, you leave a villain undestroyed after a good dressing down, we always and invariably see him come back to seek revenge. According to me, it was because Jesus realized that evil cannot be rooted out as long as Existence itself lives. And then evil too, is not utterly pure as evil; it has some (who knows) good mixed in it. Likewise, good has some bad mixed. And if you were to separate good and evil, again the same difficulty ... presiding over good is God and over Evil, the Devil. That renders God not all-powerful. Can we imagine a lame God? NO! It's a tautology, you can neither say yes, nor say no. That is the problem. There are so many things in life we think good turning out to be bad, and vice versa. Happiness and sorrow are cyclic; one follows the other. Darkness is simply less light; evil is less good. Impurity is less purity. Every desire is fraught with evil, whether the desire itself be good or evil. Every reaction in the form of hatred is evil, though there can be no shirking the fact that evil exists. Good and evil both, mould our characters, we progress by eschewing the bad and fuelling the good. Each are rungs of the ladder to reach to the goal. And supposing if I have transcended evil, then I will have transcended good too. If I have banished hatred I have banished revenge. But all this, I do agree and am not talking from the standpoint of a votary of evil. Evil must be killed at any cost and to stand firm and united in the face of evil, is man's first goal in courage. Just my two cents on the subject. Yours, of course, being well-articulated. Cheers.
posted by
anib
on January 8, 2018 at 12:28 AM
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Hi GM
Sounds interesting, will read and comment soon.
posted by
anib
on January 7, 2018 at 10:07 PM
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RP
It is good to be back after a while. I need to check out your latest.
posted by
GoldenMean
on January 7, 2018 at 5:49 PM
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FSI
I am glad you enjoyed!
posted by
GoldenMean
on January 7, 2018 at 5:48 PM
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I just stopped by to say hello. What a great idea about Naut coming back as you suggested. I shall read your post more thoroughly when time permits. 
posted by
Sea_Gypsy
on January 5, 2018 at 8:40 PM
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Kabu
I am puzzled by your comment. I generally agree that "all we humans are so sure that we know and others have got it all wrong." All the more reason, I say, to discuss what we think we know, discuss why we think what we think, so that we can try to correct our mistakes. I am quite sure that some of my thinking is wrong, based upon faulty logic or because of missing information, or because of deliberate deception by those who are supposedly teaching us.
That is why we need to talk to each other about it. Give me counterpoints to consider, instead of just throwing up your hands and walking away. I know that you and I have some points of agreement, already, and we could perhaps find more.
I think Nautikos had valid and vital points about the threat of Islam (in which I was his greatest ally), and other issues. He was very gracious to those who disagreed with him. He devoted a lot more time and research to his posts that most of us, and I think he reached a point where it just wasn't worth the time anymore. I hope he will come back to us, in a limited capacity, such as commenting on our posts, without investing the enormous effort and time that he was spending here before. Cheers
posted by
GoldenMean
on January 5, 2018 at 6:43 PM
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I always enjoy reading your takes on different things.
posted by
FormerStudentIntern
on January 5, 2018 at 12:26 PM
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I read part of this, all we humans are so sure that we know and others have got it all wrong. Pity really, for it is basically because why our Nautikos gave up Blogit I believe.
posted by
Kabu
on January 5, 2018 at 9:11 AM
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