XPost: alt.books.cs-lewis
From: bree@bree.com
On 5 Oct 2005 07:20:15 GMT, Siwel Naph wrote:
>Bree wrote:
>
>> What is your cultural background?
>
>Agnostic/Protestant-ish. I nearly had a Catholic upbringing and am kinda
>glad I didn't (tho it doesn't seem to have done Paul McCartney much harm,
>I spose).
From Erewhon, I presume.
/snip/
>> Lewis said something about having been very reluctant to accept the
>> doctrine of Hell because it was very "dangerous".
>
>Yes. I'd guess every Christian who has behaved "badly" (in our opinion)
>has had a sincere belief in Hell.
I think there might be an undistributed middle in there somewhere.
>> Iirc in HISTORY OF
>> ENGLISH LITERATURE IN THE 17TH CENTURY he connected it with the
>> Christian persecutions of heretics etc: such things could be justified
>> by a sincere belief that heresy was a contagion that could send many
>> innocent people to hell for eternity if not stamped out quickly. So
>> there's a point of doctrine that encourages persecution.
>>
>> The Vedic religions (Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism) have a doctrine of
>> 'universal salvation'. Eventually, after enough rebirths, everyone
>> will get to the right state (or non-state, as the case may be :). So
>> there's not so much motive to persecute. Any damage heresy can do,
>> will be temporary.
>
>And any damage earthly injustice can do will also be temporary. The caste
>system can be justified by reference to reincarnation.
Yes. Everyone gets their turn. No point in trying to improve things for
one's caste (or one's sex or race), as you may be born in a different one
next time anyway. Rather than improve things for the freshmen, get good
karma and become a sophomore. :) Tho the way to get good karma for
oneself, is to try to improve things for the freshmen as a kindness to
them.
Bree
--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)
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