Hi Mark, On Mon, 13 Dec 2004 12:25:36 -0600, Mark A. Foster <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Hi, Gilberto, > > At 12:00 PM 12/13/2004, you wrote: Gilberto: > >>I'm not sure why you are assuming "He doesth whatsoever He willeth" would > >>preclude God's will from being constant. If we really do believe that God > >>can do what He wants then why wouldn't that include the possibility of > >>having a constant will?<<
Mark: > I am not making a prior judgement about whether God's Will is constant in any > particular situation. I am assuming that God *can* change His mind. Gilberto: Okay, but what I'm saying is that one can say God "*can* change His mind, but chose not to, at least not in an ultimate sense, hence the perennial philosophy. The Perennial philosophy doesn't imply putting presumtuous limits on God. The disagreement isn't about what God can do but over what God does do. Gilberto: > >>Or a Perennial Philosophy or a Last Prophet or whatever. He doeth whatsover > >>he willeth.<< Mark: > One of the problems with the philosophia perennis is its assumption of > *essential* constancy. Gilberto: I'm not sure why this is problematic. Gilberto: > >>But does that really mean the definition of murder is really flexible?<< Mark: > Of course. You don't think so? Gilberto: I agree within some limits the definition of murder changes from culture to culture, but the flexibility is not absolute. But I'm not yet convinced that plea bargaining is a good example of that. Gilberto: > >>I've always thought that on some level people still realize that > >>plea-bargaining is cynical and dishonest in some respects. It involves a > >>loss of integrity in exchange for convenience, efficiency on the government > >>side and managing risk on the accused person's side.<< Mark: > I think it is more complex than that. (I used to teach criminology.) In many > cases, prosecutors will intentionally charge a person with a higher offense > in order to pressure the defendant, and her or his attorney, to agree to a > plea. Gilberto: Right. I think that being actually guilty of murder in some moral sense is a very very different question from whether one is convicted guilty of murder in a court of law. Innocent people are convicted all the time. Guilty people are let off on technicalities. That's why I don't think that plea bargaining or other such behavior is a good argument for the flexibilitiy of the definition of murder. Gilberto: > >>I'm not sure what you mean. Do you mean that christo-logy or in general > >>theo-logy is not a matter of ontology but more a matter of what the tongue > >>chooses to say or not say, so it is more a matter of practice?<< Mark: > Not general theology. I was referring specifically to christology and > prophetology. > >>No. There is the famous (So I thought) fable of the blind men ....<< > Yes, that is what I had in mind. The story is found in the literatures of > Jainism, Buddhism, and Sufism. Gilberto: Ok. But my question is why you would say there is more than one elephant. The way I would normally see it is that the different religions are like the different blind men, which each focus in on some aspects of the elephant. Different religions are looking at the one God in different ways. Gilberto: How do you see the analogy working? Gilberto: > >>And what I would suggest is that the apparent disagreements among different > >>religions might be resolved in a similar way and at the end of things we > >>might be allowed to "see" and everything will make sense.<< Mark: > IMO, seeing truth is another way of referring to the study of the revealed > Word (the words of the Prophets). Gilberto: What you are saying doesn't make sense to me. Although I'm not sure how to pinpoint where the disagreement is. Peace gilberto __________________________________________________ You are subscribed to Baha'i Studies as: mailto:archive@mail-archive.com To unsubscribe, send a blank email to mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] To subscribe, use subscribe bahai-st in the message body to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Baha'i Studies is available through the following: Mail - mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Web - http://list.jccc.edu/read/?forum=bahai-st News - news://list.jccc.edu/bahai-st Public - http://www.escribe.com/religion/bahaist Old Public - http://www.mail-archive.com/bahai-st@list.jccc.net New Public - http://www.mail-archive.com/bahai-st@list.jccc.edu
