XPost: alt.books.cs-lewis   
   From: toomuchspam@spammer.org   
      
   If I don't reply to a post, please accept my apologies. It's getting a   
   bit hard to keep track of everything.   
      
   Steve Hayes wrote:   
      
   >>So all those executed as witches were in fact genuine witches, rather   
   >>than mistakenly (and sincerely) accused Christians? And witches,   
   >>mistaken or genuine, were the only ones subject to cruel and unusual   
   >>punishment?   
   >   
   > Non sequitur.   
      
   Non, sequitur.   
      
   > But it's your imaginary land, not mine, so if people there were   
   > executing witches, genuine or otherwise, it must have been because   
   > they wanted to be executed themselves, since, as you told us, they   
   > practised mere Christianity, and therefore treated others as they   
   > themselves wished to be treated.   
      
   You're misunderstanding the concept of "Do as you'd be done by." They   
   WERE treating others as they wished to be treated. Sincere non-witches   
   accepted that if they too became witches, they too should be executed.   
   IOW: "The law that applies to you also applies to me. But I haven't   
   broken the law."   
      
   >>Those are rhetorical questions, of course (and Bree makes the points   
   >>in them elsewhere). I have asked another question somewhere that   
   >>wasn't rhetorical, tho I did think I knew what the answer had to be. I   
   >>don't know if I was right yet.   
   >   
   > I think you need to make up your mind which world you are talking   
   > about.   
   >   
   > It's a bit like saying that homan beings can't live on earth because   
   > the atmosphere of Jupiter is composed largely of methane, and then if   
   > someone points out "But human beings do live on earth" you respond "So   
   > human beings can breathe methane then".   
   >   
   > In a world in which everyone practises mere Christianity, that is,   
   > loves their neighbours, loves their enemies, and they all treat others   
   > as they themselves would like to be treated, there is no room for   
   > witches, because witches, by definition, are those who wish to harm   
   > others.   
      
   Again you seem to be saying sincere MC makes humans omniscient and   
   infallible. It doesn't. MCs still make mistakes. As I pointed out: some   
   of those executed as witches were good Christians mistakenly convicted.   
   Some were herbalists or mentally ill. Some may have been genuinely   
   malicious but deluded about their alleged powers, unless you believe the   
   allegations. But if their accusers were sincere, they were still executed   
   in perfect accordance with "Do as you'd be done by."   
      
   > I know some people, like Wiccans, have argued for a different   
   > definition of "witch", but that isn't relevant here. For more on that,   
   > see:   
   >   
   > http://www.geocities.com/Athens/7734/witch1.htm   
      
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    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)