ChristianKl comments on Rationality Quotes Thread September 2015 - Less Wrong

3 Post author: elharo 02 September 2015 09:25AM

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Comment author: CCC 05 October 2015 09:31:29AM *  1 point [-]

Does that mean the bible which assumes that God wiped out most of humanity with the flood is definitely wrong

No.

a) The existence of an afterlife would mean that those people were not destroyed. They had a really bad day and then woke up someplace else.

b) The story of the flood, in itself, may be a parable (by which I mean, a story intended to teach a lesson, usually of a moral or ethical nature, without necessarily being true) like the parable of the Good Samaritan, or the story of the Garden of Eden.

c) There may have been reason for the flood.

Any one of these alternatives could answer your question; personally, I think (b) is the most likely, though (a) and (c) are also possible.

Comment author: ChristianKl 05 October 2015 07:13:49PM *  0 points [-]

b) The story of the flood, in itself, may be a parable (by which I mean, a story intended to teach a lesson, usually of a moral or ethical nature,

If it's a parable, isn't the parable about the fact that certain actions like gay sex are bad enough that they warrant a God engaging in genocide? Even if the God didn't actually commit the genocide but merely wanted to make the point that doing so is justified, that still seems bad to me.

Comment author: CCC 06 October 2015 09:30:39AM 0 points [-]

I think there are multiple morals.

  • If you do something that you know you shouldn't, there will almost certainly be bad consequences.
  • Not knowing what those consequences are will not prevent them from happening.
  • If you act in the correct way and take competent instruction, you can save yourself even while everyone around you dies.
  • In such circumstances, it may not actually be possible to save those around you without dooming yourself.
  • When going out into a dangerous situation, find some way to check how safe it is first.
  • Look after your animals. (This would be more relevant in a more agricultural society)
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