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SCA's avatar

For me theological arguments use what is already metaphor attempting to capture, imperfectly because of the limitations of human language, what is instinctively understood: some people's brains are wired in ways that exclude them from "normal" and "healthy" human interactions.

More and more and more I'm noticing that the people causing the most destruction to our society today may be described as very high-functioning autistics. A crucial piece is missing from them.

Add to them the sociopaths, who are destructive in more overt ways. Autistics are unlikely to be serial killers; sociopaths are. Sociopaths and their sub-species go into politics. Autistics create Microsoft.

The greatest definition of evil I've ever encountered is that by the 17th cent. British theologian William Law:

"If a delicious, fragrant fruit had a power of separating itself from that rich spirit, fine taste, smell, and color which it receives from the virtue of the sun, and the spirit of the air; or if it could in the beginning of its growth, turn away from the sun, and receive no virtue from it, then it would stand in its own first birth of wrath, sourness, bitterness, and astringency, just as the devils do, who have turned back into their own dark root, and rejected the Light and Spirit of God: so that the hellish nature of a devil is nothing else, but its own first forms of life, withdrawn, or separated from the heavenly light and love; just as the sourness, astringency, and bitterness of a fruit, are nothing else but the first forms of its own vegetable life before it has reached the virtue of the sun, and the spirit of the air."

I'd say people like Gates are incapable of recognizing evil. And I'd say sociopaths find goodness boring and laughable.

The normal person finds each of these natures incomprehensible and many human beings find it necessary to create concrete realities in the attempt to explain the ungraspable. I myself believe in what for convenience in discourse with others I too call God. But I do not believe in Satan. I see only profoundly damaged human beings--but I believe the damage, though arising from many causes, remains physiological.

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Geezercowgirl81's avatar

Howdy,

Just finished The Enemy Part IV. I wish my family members and several former friends would read it, but its content is not their cup of tea -- more like a shot of hemlock to their life styles. It sure was great to find Substack a few months ago. BHerr and Berenson are what I thought my former friends were like before the blinders got blown off two years ago. What percentage of the American population still wears them? A higher percent than I ever thought possible.

My return to Jesus a few years ago has kept me sane. So has the TV series "The Chosen." If you haven't seen it, it's the first multi-season video series about Jesus ever. Available on YouTube (so far), DVD or stream it from the app on your phone. As of today over 379 million (that's right, over 379 million) views by people world wide. It will make you fall in love with Jesus all over again. And, keep you sane.

Thank you BHerr. Look forward to Part V and your other ruminations.

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