Why can't we do more or less whatever we want?

[J_B_]

Why can't we do more or less whatever we want as long as we don't hurt anyone?

Why add that last bit about not hurting anyone? Shouldn't the question just be, "Why can't we do what we want?" What makes you capable of determining what would or wouldn't hurt people? That's a rhetorical question, the point being that if you're going to insist you can take on making all decisions about what you can and can't do - you might as well just have at it.

And the people who don't like what you're doing will buy an AK47 and attack you ... or a random FBI office.

 

[Hammster]

A label isn't an argument. Saying that a label is established isn't an argument.

Good thing I didn’t say that.

 

[Hammster]

Yes I think thats generally correct. Its what the Bible seems to say about God and His relation to creation.

And open theism is historically been seen to be heresy.

 

[Tinker Grey]

And open theism is historically been seen to be heresy.

So?

 

[durangodawood]

Exactly. It's in the text; what is the argument that we should read it differently.

Usually the argument is that somewhere else in the text it reads differently. Then they bend over backwards to try and harmonize the two different readings, typically privileging the one they prefer.

 

[durangodawood]

And open theism is historically been seen to be heresy.

Interesting. I will have to find out why. If the argument is compelling, then I'll agree open theism is a wrong conclusion to draw from the Bible.

For now tho, I have Genesis showing God trying things out, testing things to see what happens, correcting things that go haywire.

 

[J_B_]

Usually the argument is that somewhere else in the text it reads differently. Then they bend over backwards to try and harmonize the two different readings, typically privileging the one they prefer.

I'm glad you qualified it with "usually".

 

[Tinker Grey]

Usually the argument is that somewhere else in the text it reads differently. Then they bend over backwards to try and harmonize the two different readings, typically privileging the one they prefer.

Oh, I know. I'm just against slapping a label on something as if because a label fits something that should end the discussion.

 

[Enilorac]

I do whatever I want. What I want to do includes love God, my family and my friends. I am dedicated to my students (I'm now a STEM teacher). In my life I do what I want to do. I teach, I love people, I care for my cats, I pay my bills, I worship on Sabbath. There is no one MAKING me do anything (well, besides the cats). This is utterly a non-issue if one has enough self-awareness to understand that actions have consequences. I do what I want and reap the consequences. Others do the same. Only difference is that some consequences are beneficial and others are not. Pick one for yourself.

 

[Astrid]

.

 

[Astrid]

I do whatever I want. What I want to do includes love God, my family and my friends. I am dedicated to my students (I'm now a STEM teacher). In my life I do what I want to do. I teach, I love people, I care for my cats, I pay my bills, I worship on Sabbath. There is no one MAKING me do anything (well, besides the cats). This is utterly a non-issue if one has enough self-awareness to understand that actions have consequences. I do what I want and reap the consequences. Others do the same. Only difference is that some consequences are beneficial and others are not. Pick one for yourself.

You learned for yourself what my Mom taught, that there is no freedom
without responsibility.

 

[LankyLee]

You do have a freedom as a Christian to do things and not have a judgment of them.
What you eat. What you drink. BUT let's say if a weaker Christian or a non believer saw you drinking and it caused them to fall? ....it was their stumbling block that you placed in front of them, even though you were acting in your freedom.

 

[Astrid]

You do have a freedom as a Christian to do things and not have a judgment of them.
What you eat. What you drink. BUT let's say if a weaker Christian or a non believer saw you drinking and it caused them to fall? ....it was their stumbling block that you placed in front of them, even though you were acting in your freedom.

Far fetched

 

[jayem]

Why can't we do more or less whatever we want as long as we don't hurt anyone?

By not hurting “anyone” do you only mean H. sapiens? I hope you don’t think that anyone can be cruel to animals if he wants. Or that hunters can trap and kill any, and as much wildlife as they want. Polluting the environment may not hurt anyone immediately, but it shouldn’t be allowed. There’s also the legal concept of reckless endangerment. Even if you don’t crash, shouldn’t there be consequences for driving 120 mph, weaving in an out of traffic on the interstate just because you want to experience speed? Or shooting wildly at birds and squirrels in your back yard with a fully automatic AR-15, only because you want to. A modern, humane, civilized society has not just the authority, but the obligation to regulate—if not prohibit—potentially dangerous activities that some people want to do.

 

[Ignatius the Kiwi]

Absolute freedom is not the goal of the Christian life. The Christian seeks liberty and not libertinism. Moreover the Christian also seeks order and a purpose to be guided to. If life were run purely on the no-harm principle as the only moral principle then what could only result is a decadent population that satisfied immediate material and biological impulses. Kind of like the Western world now.

 

[jayem]

what is this?

An AR-15 can be converted to fully automatic operation. It’s illegal to do so. And that’s the point. Should anyone be allowed to own and shoot an automatic weapon in his/her back yard just because s/he wants to?

 

[Enilorac]

I’d like to know how this modification is possible. If it were simple I think more people would be doing it.

See the 1 October massacre in Las Vegas.

 

[coffee4u]

Why can't we do more or less whatever we want as long as we don't hurt anyone? .

You will be hurting someone, yourself. The principles God laid down were to protect us from hurting ourselves and others, physically, mentally and spiritually. The first one is easy to see, if we run over someone we have harmed them physically, but we can't see inside someone to see if we have hurt them mentally or spiritually.

 

[coffee4u]

It reads like a choice.

Genesis 22:12

God didnt know which one Abe would choose. Could have gone one way. Could have gone the other. Not even God knew.

God knows everything. Every person born, every sin they commit, their thoughts, how their life will impact others and when and how they will die.
From Psalm 139
1O LORD, You have searched me and known me.
2You know when I sit and when I rise;
You understand my thoughts from afar.
3You search out my path and my lying down;
You are aware of all my ways.
4Even before a word is on my tongue,

15My frame was not hidden from You
when I was made in secret,
when I was woven together
in the depths of the earth.
16Your eyes saw my unformed body;
all my days were written in Your book
and ordained for me
before one of them came to be.

God knew exactly what Abram would choose. If he had chosen differently God would not have used that situation. When you know the ending you do things differently along the way. This and many other things mentioned in scripture were not for God's benefit but for the person's benefit, for their growth.

 

[Enilorac]

1) That is a bump stock.
2) Bump Stock is not full auto.
3) A bump stock is not a permanent modification.
4) You need to stop spreading toxic misinformation about things that you have no experience in.

and no, “I don’t need background to say that lives matter” is not an excuse.

This is a cop out, based on zero information and your fleeting emotions…you are wrong, and you know it.

Oh yes Oh ammosexual who doesn't care that 58 people lost their lives in that shooting. Let us not trample on your right to keep a weapon that has no real use other than killing people on that off chance you may be threatened. Or are you so threatened you need some weapon to go grocery shopping?