errors

[roker]

At work today i got two Dews for the price of one out of the coke machine. Isn't it wierd how things just screw up? How that stupid blue screen pops up on WinblowsXP for no apparent reason?

as we know, mechanical error also applies to us as humans. we physical beings and our parts can fail without warning, and sometimes we can either replace or repair them.

But there are diseases that affect people from birth like mental retardation. My life that i take for granted is suddenly grounded when i see a mentally retarded person. All of the "magic" that surrounds my life is squashed when i ponder how ruthlessly mechanical human life is.

When a man is born with literally less intelligence then an orangutang, which could've very well been any of us, i can't help but feel anything but sorrow for that person. Is the retarded person really human? Or his he just a mistake, something that should have died before birth? Why isn't life, of all things, an equal opportunity?

 

[drunkenatheist]

I've always looked at things from a Naturalist's point of view. I mean... just wrap your mind around the idea that human beings have rectums... Anal... poo holes... what kind of god designs that?...... i mean...

it's perty simple - god is an easy answer, religion is established for many reasons, suffering and other things like rectums are natural, to bring god into it messes things up (why does a benevolent god allow suffering? .... i donno...)

about mankind

it's a sad world, get over it.

 

[Buzz Dixon]

Retarded people are as fully human as anyone. They feel and have a capacity to decide right and wrong, however limited.

I would rather be retarded with emotions and a sense of right and wrong than some of the intellectual sociopaths we see too much of.

And, no, I'm not talking about serial killers but supposedly upstanding members of society...

 

[12volt_man]

Is the retarded person really human? Or his he just a mistake, something that should have died before birth?

Yes, mein Furher, they are humans.

 

[BarbB]

And interestingly enough, they have less trouble accepting Jesus Christ than a supposedly intellectual genius! Jesus said bring the children unto me! Would that we were all children!

 

[psychedelicist]

I like what you said about humans being ruthlessly mechanical. Most people are deeply offended when this is brought up, but it is indeed true. When you look at what time you spend doing what "must" be done("necessary evils" such as work), rather than what could be done, we seem very much like robots.

One cannot overcome one's robothood until one realizes how completely one has been robotized.

Completely off topic I know, just felt like commenting.

 

[wvernon]

Sometimes it would be a blessing to be a retarded person. We have a retarded man who comes into my store in his 40's whose handicap I suppose would put him with the intellect of someone between maybe 6 and 11. He's often wandering around the store for hours on the weekends singing Christmas songs with other words in them, talking to people, and in general enjoying himself all the while pushing a cart of lawn ornaments and pop cans. I rarely see him have a down day. Because of his handicap, he doesn't care if other people see him as wierd, he's always happy, he seems to enjoy the simple things in life. I think to myself when I see him, it may be a blessing to be retarded like him; to enjoy lifes simple things, to be innocent even at his age, to be seemingly unconcerned about life's worries. How many people would pay huge amounts of money to never stress over life again. Perhaps he's the one who was blessed at birth and not us who are "normal".

 

[Faithful nonbeliever]

But what of the individuals that are entirely incapable of caring for themselves? Some sit strapped to a chair drooling on themsleves all day. They show no signs of coherent thought or understanding. What is their purpose in life? Its hardly fair to be put in this world in that condition.

 

[w81minit]

But what of the individuals that are entirely incapable of caring for themselves? Some sit strapped to a chair drooling on themsleves all day. They show no signs of coherent thought or understanding. What is their purpose in life? Its hardly fair to be put in this world in that condition.

Not in direct response to you, but to the thread in general, yours was just the catalyst:
When we imagine our lives where in terms of importance do we place our ability to understand our surroundings? As a whole it seems man is compelled to look at his neighbor with pity or contempt based on his preceptions of what he believes is fair and just.
When our basis for that justice is man's law or our own understanding, we find that we fail miserably at deterministically governing ourselves. Instead when we attempt to use foundational scriptural truth as our guide, it strips us of our own authority and relies completely on a faith in a system established by a holy God.
In all cases God knows individuals we call classify as retarded as well as us. He knows our hearts. I would suspect that their hearts are less pretentious than ours; nonetheless they are just as corrupt. It is by God's grace that they too will be saved. Either way it is sort of like one pot looking at another and because the handle is misshapen wondering if they are equal. The potter created us both for his good pleasure. If we perform the function he called us to, then who are we to judge?

 

[Faithful nonbeliever]

I am here, so therefore I shall question. If I able to do so, then why not?
All we know at this moment is that this is our entire existence. We can be sure of this life alone. To think that we were all put here to live out these lives, it soon becomes quite evident how unfair it is. Those people are highly disadvantaged, the question is why. From a christian standpoint, how can they do those things that are commanded of them? Why should they be judged, when they were purposely created in that state? God aknowledged doing so, but why?

 

[w81minit]

I am here, so therefore I shall question. If I able to do so, then why not?
All we know at this moment is that this is our entire existence. We can be sure of this life alone. To think that we were all put here to live out these lives, it soon becomes quite evident how unfair it is. Those people are highly disadvantaged, the question is why. From a christian standpoint, how can they do those things that are commanded of them? Why should they be judged, when they were purposely created in that state? God aknowledged doing so, but why?

This may not be pleasant to think about, but the truth is that we must have faith (because it is true) that God is absolutely just. He would not condemn where it is not merited. Neither would he expect the impossible. (meaning he will not expect from them what they can not give) He is not some cosmic child with a magnifying glass killing us ants.
I sympathize that the situation looks unfair, but our version of fair is as skewed as our perspective on right and wrong. We rely on God's mercy and love for our existence, and indeed it is that mercy that will spare us when we commit our lives to him. When God creates, it is in his sovereign will for life to unfold in a positive way. It is because of man's sin that there is injustice. When we submit our will to him, it is then that we are able to do those things that are contrary to our nature, but in line with God's. In that way we are allowing Christ to live in and through us.
Does this answer your question?