tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24761391.post3216253916710919076..comments2023-10-26T22:06:11.166+11:00Comments on Metamagician3000: John Gray on Darwinism and deathRussell Blackfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12431324430596809958noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24761391.post-85495258786404043602011-04-05T03:02:44.916+10:002011-04-05T03:02:44.916+10:00All dogs go to Heaven - except the one from The Li...All dogs go to Heaven - except the one from The Littlest Hobo who murdered that hooker.Shatterfacehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18390120752123732543noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24761391.post-82103470799855846192011-04-03T15:59:55.296+10:002011-04-03T15:59:55.296+10:00Isaiah 11: " 'See, I will create new heav...Isaiah 11: " 'See, I will create new heavens and a new earth... The wolf and the lamb will feed together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox and dust will be the serpent's food.' " On a Literalist interpretation, there are animals in Heaven. No problem, it's open and shut.<br /><br />"None of these questions can be answered, and in truth Darwinism cannot be reconciled with any idea of a post-mortem world."<br /><br />I think this sort of statement just shows a lack of imagination. I suppose we can't answer them in any <i>definitive</i> way, but then we don't really understand how gravity works, either. I personally suppose, if animals pass over (as above), then they get whatever we get. There isn't any need to cite human exceptionalism, except to soothe the human ego. Is eternal life in Heaven given to the souls of Precambrian blue-green algae? Why not? It's above my pay grade. If you don't like that theory, I can suggest others.<br /><br />Evolution does appear to favor increasing complexity in the most general purposeless sort of way. So maybe our eschatological situation is a question of making the tools to make the tools (etc.) to successfully pass over. Maybe the process of passing over involves some construct of symbolic logic which humans are capable of training themselves to. And beings sentient or otherwise that don't attain the construct wind up on the compost pile, that fire that is never quenched. Where yesterday's grapefruit rind may suffer, but not for long.<br /><br />Actually <i>we</i> believe that when Jesus said "Seek First the Kingdom", he meant we should live rightly, with charity towards all here and now, after which judgement will be what it is. Save or delete?Marshallhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10215784276660875929noreply@blogger.com