Hypothetical for discussion

[geocajun]

Just a hypothetical - but I think the answers to it could make for fun discussion. I'll be playing the role of antagonist

Here is the situation:

My kids are going to kill each other.

One of my kids vowed they would kill the other. I know about it and I told them that my will was for them to not do it. I expect them to follow my rule.
I've placed them in a large room with various objects in it such as rocks, golf clubs, brass rings, etc .. I consider these things to be wonderful creations. They may use them as weapons, but if they didn't use those things then they would just use something else... I can't just put them in padded rooms for goodness sake.

I sure hope they don't do anything bad. I'd hate to lose one of my kids. They sure are mad at each other. I'm positive at least one will attempt to take the others life. I can't be sure though - it's not like I'm God.

I feel like a bad father for some reason, but I can't put my finger on it. If one does kill the other, no one can say that I caused it. I allowed it sure, but does that mean I'm guilty? I think I'll feel guilty. If I don't even feel guilty is that bad?

 

[D'Ann]

nvmind

 

[geocajun]

did you chicken out?

 

[SpiritualAntiseptic]

did you chicken out?

Maybe you should say what you are really wanting to say. I mean, whatever makes you feel better about voting the way you plan on.

 

[Rhamiel]

rocks, golf clubs and brass rings are great for the fung shui of a room

 

[Rhamiel]

I have no clue what this hypothetical is even about!!! totaly over my head

 

[geocajun]

Maybe you should say what you are really wanting to say. I mean, whatever makes you feel better about voting the way you plan on.

huh?

This has nothing whatsoever to do with politics. Don't bring that in here. This is a theology thread - you may learn something so stick around.

 

[SpiritualAntiseptic]

huh?

This has nothing whatsoever to do with politics. Don't bring that in here. This is a theology thread - you may learn something so stick around.

Really- and what theology might that be?

 

[eastcoast_bsc]

I suppose God is the Hypothetical father in this little Ditty ?

 

[SpiritualAntiseptic]

I suppose God is the Hypothetical father in this little Ditty ?

The way he portrayed the father would be nonsensical- as those aren't attributes of God. It would be like saying "Pretend God is cruel and unjust" and then go on about a hypothetical about God in that. There really is no point in such an exercise, except in the minds of the irrational.

I'm supposing that geo isn't going to bother with such a thing. What sense I make from it is a hypothetical about the culpability of allowing something, while being opposed to it.

The culpability is very similar to what people are asking in regards to legalizing abortion while at the same time acting like they oppose it.

 

[Sphinx777]

rocks, golf clubs and brass rings are great for the fung shui of a room

Did you mean feng shui?

 

[Fish and Bread]

Just a hypothetical - but I think the answers to it could make for fun discussion. I'll be playing the role of antagonist

Here is the situation:

My kids are going to kill each other.

One of my kids vowed they would kill the other. I know about it and I told them that my will was for them to not do it. I expect them to follow my rule.
I've placed them in a large room with various objects in it such as rocks, golf clubs, brass rings, etc .. I consider these things to be wonderful creations. They may use them as weapons, but if they didn't use those things then they would just use something else... I can't just put them in padded rooms for goodness sake.

I sure hope they don't do anything bad. I'd hate to lose one of my kids. They sure are mad at each other. I'm positive at least one will attempt to take the others life. I can't be sure though - it's not like I'm God.

I feel like a bad father for some reason, but I can't put my finger on it. If one does kill the other, no one can say that I caused it. I allowed it sure, but does that mean I'm guilty? I think I'll feel guilty. If I don't even feel guilty is that bad?

I believe that God is ultimately at least partially responsible for everything that happens on earth. I believe logic dictates that he almost has to be. That's part of why my religious affiliation tends to go back and forth and be vague at times, and why I was an atheist from the ages of 9 to 19 (yes, I thought a lot of deep thoughts for a nine year old ). Granted, I was generally an atheist because at the time because I didn't believe God existed, but I also felt that if he did exist, he wouldn't be someone I'd be interested in following, which made it easier not to worry if I was wrong discounting his existence (Since, after all, if he did exist, it wouldn't have changed my lack of communion with God).

I used to use a similar analogy to the one you're using. I started with the hypothetical of a man drowning in the middle of the lake. He's obviously going under, he can't swim, and you're at the edge of the lake with a rope. Don't you have a moral obligation to toss the drowning man a rope and try to reel him in?

Now, we can say that God wants to give humankind free will, and that's why he declines to interfere. But that argument only goes so far. I mean, I don't have free will to sprout wings and fly, because physics prohibit it, and physics are created by God. God could have created non-murder physics, or any number of different restrictions in the laws of nature. He didn't have to make suffering possible. He could have made it so Somalians have food and I have a wife. Ultimately, things are as they are in part because God created a system that allowed for it. Then things happen and people do stuff, sure, but the system was there first.

It's a lot like hell -- people say there *has* to be a hell for people who can't or shouldn't be in heaven for whatever reason. No there doesn't. God could have created a limbo where people are outside his presence but physically happy, like what St. Augustine envisioned for unbaptized infants. I am sure God is capable of creating more states than just heaven and hell. So, ultimately, God has to be considered at least partially culpable for the eternal torment people are undergoing.

I don't say this as bashing God by any means, it's just part of why faith is so tough for me sometimes. I'm asked to follow a being who is greater than a human being, but acts in ways I'd never accept from even a lesser being like an average human as being morally licit.

 

[Rhamiel]

Fish and Bread we are not talking about God
we are talking about a father, two kids with death oaths, and a room full of clubs and big rocks
try to stay on topic lol

 

[Sphinx777]

Fish and Bread we are not talking about God
we are talking about a father, two kids with death oaths, and a room full of clubs and big rocks
try to stay on topic lol

​

 

[Fish and Bread]

Fish and Bread we are not talking about God
we are talking about a father, two kids with death oaths, and a room full of clubs and big rocks
try to stay on topic lol

LOL. Somehow I got the impression that the original post was all just a thinly veiled analogy. It's amazing what weird connections my mind comes up with.

I mean, on another thread, I actually thought that a campaign by political groups that was starting it's 40 days today so that it was set to end right on election day might have something to do with politics. Fortunately, some set me straight on that one. I'm obviously just imagining things left and right tonight.

 

[April Angel]

Just a hypothetical - but I think the answers to it could make for fun discussion. I'll be playing the role of antagonist

Here is the situation:

My kids are going to kill each other.

One of my kids vowed they would kill the other. I know about it and I told them that my will was for them to not do it. I expect them to follow my rule.
I've placed them in a large room with various objects in it such as rocks, golf clubs, brass rings, etc .. I consider these things to be wonderful creations. They may use them as weapons, but if they didn't use those things then they would just use something else... I can't just put them in padded rooms for goodness sake.

I sure hope they don't do anything bad. I'd hate to lose one of my kids. They sure are mad at each other. I'm positive at least one will attempt to take the others life. I can't be sure though - it's not like I'm God.

I feel like a bad father for some reason, but I can't put my finger on it. If one does kill the other, no one can say that I caused it. I allowed it sure, but does that mean I'm guilty? I think I'll feel guilty. If I don't even feel guilty is that bad?

Well, as long as you are not God..... you did say that didn't you? Then, yes, you should feel guilty if something happens. It was your responsibility as their father (an adult) to take them out of that situation where you knew they would kill each other. There were always options.

Let's suppose, for example, that all you had was one room. Then, if I were you, I would have given one of the boys away to a good home (social services, relatives, charitable organisations, etc). It would have been better to give one of them away than for him to end up dead.

However, if you are trying to pin this analogy on God then I would not bother, if I were you. That is a completely different situation, in my opinion. The world is not a nursery. Adult humans are not children.

 

[Annolennar]

God must be getting tired of that box we keep trying to put Him in...

Since the OP explicitly states that the father isn't allegorical to God, is it safe to assume that God's role in this hypothetical is that of putting the father there to take care of his children, and the father is simply making the wrong choice (and therefore should feel guilty)?

Or is that overanalyzing it, and all relevant actors are explicitly stated in the account?

I tend to agree with HyacinthBouquet, a responsible father would have done otherwise, and the father should feel guilty.

 

[Rebekka]

subscribing. I don't have kids so I can't comment on the guilt.

 

[JoabAnias]

​

Probably more money was on Goliath too.

 

[JacktheCatholic]

LOL. Somehow I got the impression that the original post was all just a thinly veiled analogy. It's amazing what weird connections my mind comes up with.

I mean, on another thread, I actually thought that a campaign by political groups that was starting it's 40 days today so that it was set to end right on election day might have something to do with politics. Fortunately, some set me straight on that one. I'm obviously just imagining things left and right tonight.

Left and Right... LOL

I get it.