06 OCT 2021 by ideonexus
"The primitive Christians condemn pleasure and luxury"
The acquisition of knowledge, the exercise of our reason or fancy, and the cheerful flow of unguarded conversation, may employ the leisure of a liberal mind. Such amusements, however, were rejected with abhorrence, or admitted with the utmost caution, by the severity of the fathers, who despised all knowledge that was not useful to salvation, and who considered all levity of discourse as a criminal abuse of the gift of speech. In our present state of existence the body is so inseparably conne...Folksonomies: history christianity
Folksonomies: history christianity
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notes
notesAmong the reasons for the rise of Christianity in Rome.
24 JAN 2015 by ideonexus
How Science Changes Virtues to Offense
The scientific worker is brought up with the moral values of his neighbours. He is perhaps fortunate if he does not realize that it is his destiny to turn good into evil. An alteration in the scale of human power will render actions bad which were formerly good. Our increased knowledge of hygiene has transformed resignation and inaction in face of epidemic disease from a religious virtue to a justly punishable offence. We have improved our armaments, and patriotism, which was once a flame upo... 1 notes
notes14 OCT 2013 by ideonexus
Evangelism is Hard of Introverts
“The evangelical culture ties together faithfulness with extroversion,” McHugh explained. “The emphasis is on community, on participating in more and more programs and events, on meeting more and more people. It’s a constant tension for many introverts that they’re not living that out. And in a religious world, there’s more at stake when you feel that tension. It doesn’t feel like ‘I’m not doing as well as I’d like.’ It feels like ‘God isn’t pleased with me.’ ”
...Folksonomies: evangelism introversion
Folksonomies: evangelism introversion
1 notes
notesBecause there is so much at stake in the need for religious members to evangelize (the salvation of others), introverts feel they are failing their religious duties.
03 AUG 2011 by ideonexus
There Can Be No Goodness Without Clear-Sightedness
The evil that is in the world always comes of ignorance, and good intentions may do as much harm as malevolence, if they lack understanding. On the whole, men are more good than bad; that, however, isn’t the real point. But, they are more or less ignorant, and it is this that we call vice or virtue; the most incorrigible vice being that of an ignorance which fancies it knows everything and therefore claims for itself the right to kill. There can be no true goodness, nor true love, withou... 1 notes
notesAn insightful quote from Camus.
23 JUL 2011 by ideonexus
The Difference Between Society and Government
Some writers have so confounded society with government, as to leave little or no distinction between them; whereas they are not only different, but have different origins. Society is produced by our wants, and government by our wickedness; the former promotes our POSITIVELY by uniting our affections, the latter NEGATIVELY by restraining our vices. The one encourages intercourse, the other creates distinctions. The first a patron, the last a punisher.
Society in every state is a blessing, bu... 1 notes
notes"Society is produced by our wants, and government by our wickedness..." Paine argues that government is put in place to protect us from our baser selves.
17 JUN 2011 by ideonexus
Break Nature's Locks to Reveal Truth
When human life lay groveling in all men's sight, crushed to the earth under the dead weight of superstition whose grim features loured menacingly upon mortals from the four quarters of the sky, a man of Greece was first to raise mortal eyes in defiance, first to stand erect and brave the challenge. Fables of the gods did not crush him, nor the lightning flash and the growling menace of the sky. Rather, they quickened his manhood, so that he, first of all men, longed to smash the const... 1 notes
notesGive up superstitious fears, Lucretius tells us, which oppress us and prompt us to do vile things.
