An Eye For An Eye?

[stevil]

[quote name='Hasan' timestamp='1305505208' post='2242040']
I guess having the state take every single thing the man ownes, tear him away from his family, lock him in a cage for ten years with other violent men, subject him to the psychological trauma of working with burn victims, and afterwards set him up in an economic system pretty much assuring that he will spend the rest of his life in fairly harsh poverty is a much more enlightened path.

You're punishment is just as vindictive and harsh as the one he was given. It's just not as honest.
[/quote]
That's a very negative conclusion you have jumped to. If you had asked for clarity, you may have been able to understand my intent behind such punishment.

1. I feel that our justice system forgets the victims. This lady has suffered and lost a lot, she will struggle to get a job, and will struggle to do many things she used to. She may even require special treatment and equipment to get her going. This all costs money. In my view the perpetrator owes the victim as much as is possible to give.
2. He is a threat to society, and he needs to be punished. Prison is a good place for him. In prison hopefully they put some effort towards rehabilitation. I am sure given the option he would prefer 10 years of prison to losing his sight forever.
3. It would be fantastic for him to learn some humility, to learn to love and care for and have sympathy for people in the position that he has put his victim. He may even feel some self redemption in doing this activity. I wouldn't be surprised if such a person carries on this work once he gets out of prison.
4. The victim needs income for the rest of her life, but I didn't want him to have incentive for her to die so I tied it into his lifetime. If a man father's a child he is due to provide child support. I see great value in victim support

[tnavarro61]

I do not know if this was already shared: http://foreign.peacefmonline.com/news/201105/41091.php

[xSilverPhinx]

[quote name='xSilverPhinx' timestamp='1305616037' post='2242713']
Basically that god (and this is not limited to the christian god) can be anything for anyone and was and is what peoples need him to be. I'll elaborate on this further later...[/quote]

Talking about the Abrahamic god here, in the broadest sense:

I think that god is first and foremost what people expect him to be and in so doing, attach a face to the universe that mirrors their own.

Besides all the reasons such as god is one of petty emotions such as jealousy and is portrayed as being [u]the[/u] control-freak to top control-freaks (I would say maybe a corrupted and molded version which useful and for authorities), god is [i]very[/i] tribal, with each peoples during different times claiming to be the 'chosen ones' and used god to serve their purposes, whether it be to go to war and kill the "others" (not of the chosen group) or to feel more existentially secure. Not every group that claims exclusiveness can be right of course, if there is only one heaven. The emphasis on faith in order to get into heaven is suspicious. If you believe in a certain version of god, then you're vulnerable to the manipulation of those who claim to know anything about his mysterious divine nature.

It's one thing and laudable to look for a growing understanding of whatever you call god, but religion also deals in absolutes. Which absolutes do you choose to have faith in and why?

This claim to exclusiveness to an infinite reward (heaven) also looks like a cult characteristic designed to keep you in a group, but the more liberal a religion gets the more it distances itself from its cultish origins, espacially nowadays with the internet and people's almost unlimited access to information, when cults thrive on restricting what people are allowed to access in order to control how they think. Modern Christianity is not entirely cultish, but there are what seem to be vestigial organs...

Also, god is what people need or want him to be for their own reasons, whether feelings of security, belonging, wanting to feel worthy of being alive etc. and is not actually a coherent picture (hence the contradictions) varying from person to person in the particulars. Churches say that god is mysterious (and I think that if a god or gods existed, they would be) but then once you accept that you also accept what they say are god's characteristics and what they claim to be insights into god's infinite wisdom, mingled with your own expectations, wants and needs.

And so gods start to look very human, a real 'father' in the sky.

These are just some of my opinions and reasons why I can't believe in any theistic version of god.

As for other beliefs such as deism, I reject those too even though it's way more coherent.

Edited May 17, 2011 by xSilverPhinx

[Groo the Wanderer]

Eye for an eye...
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