Andrew wrote:Fencer wrote:eugenics does not cure anything, in spite of what it claims to be able to do. I've already told you that the proponents of eugenics are not really after the bettering of society, but rather the control of it. And as I have told you, your answer to curing the mental issues, let alone physical ones, would have me killed and I imagine quite a few others on this forum. What about people like Stephen Hawking (whom I highly disagree with his worldview) who have superb mental abilities but no physical abilities. Do they go too? Eugenics will never solve the issue but instead give a particular group power they should not have.
Your claim is no different than me saying that all Christians are evil control freaks because of those who ran the Spanish Inquisition or the Crusades. I could even expand this larger and say that all religious people are that way. As you may know, the peace sign is a cross that is broken - why? Because the cross has caused most of the largest wars in history, as well as many other religions. Sure, some proponents of eugenics are going to do that, just as some religious proponents will do so. But not all.
There is a big difference between what I am saying about eugenics root motive and Christians who did bad things. Eugenics at its root is about control. Determining who is the weaker races, weaker peoples, and eliminating them. Christianity at its root is anything but. Christianity at its root is about serving the least in the world's views. Were the Spanish Inquisition, the Crusades, and those of the like pursuing control? Absolutely. Where they right to do so? Where they actually following the beliefs they taught? Absolutely not. Yes, Christianity is full of hypocrites, and truth be told, the most difficult life to live consistantly is that of a Christian.
As for the peace sign, yes, the cross has caused most of the largest wars in history. But not all of them were started by Christians. Jesus did say that he did not come to bring peace, but a sword that would divide people into different factions. From what you have said, it has happened in your family. There is a clear rift between your Christian parents and yourself. But truth be told, as long as Satan is around, there will always be a war involving Christians. And while Jesus did say 'love your enemies', he did not say 'let them trample over you'. You want to know a more realistic reason why the broken cross was chosen for the symbol of peace? It's because the world wants us Christians to compromise our faith, not to stand up for what we believe to be true, all under the pretense of peace.
Islam and Christianity have been at war for years, ever since Abraham, Ismael and Isaac. To simplify what the Koran teaches, there is only one way to have peace with them: surrender to them and convert to their belief. The Spanish Inquisition and Crusades unfortunately followed this line of thinking as well, but that is not what the Bible teaches. So anyone who does not convert to Islam is considered an enemy and should be treated as such. The Koran also teaches that it is alright to lie to an enemy to keep them off guard. That is why we have Muslims in the US who claim to be peaceful. It is a fasad. The Muslims in the US are also in the minority, but if you look at any country where they are the majority, to be a Christian means your life is at risk. So the peace symbol is not really in response to the atrocities that some Christians have made, but more as a symbol to fight against them.
Andrew wrote:You dislike eugenics because it excludes you (and everyone else alive at this point in time), yet you fail to realize the beauty of it - nobody would have to go through the struggles you've had to, as well as other struggles other people have gone through. It would take our entire race to a whole new level, transcending our current problems. Sure, we'll have new ones, but we will be by all accounts a greater race as a whole.
Of course I personally am not one to run around trying to implement eugenics, mainly because the effects would never be seen in my lifetime and I could care less what happens to the world after I'm gone, but you can't really deny it's mouth-watering benefits without allowing your emotions to control you.
I've made my arguments against eugenics to show you where it would go on a personal level. Now let me tell you where it has gone on a larger scale. Sadaam Hussein practiced eugenics with the Kurds in northern Iraq. He called it eugenics. We called it genocide. Also known as mass murder. It is quite clear. In order to determine which people have the right to live and don't under any type of eugenics, that person must be alive long enough to see what traits are worth keeping or not. And if not, that person must be killed which == MURDER!!!
Would it be better to not have to deal with the struggles that I or others have had to deal with? I must say no. From your comments, I assume you have never spent any quality time with anyone who has a disability. And you have said numerous times that you do not see a purpose in life. So it is easy from that standpoint to come to the conclusion that you have. But it is faulty. I present this case. Another high schooler with Asperger's Syndrome, much like mine or
stardf's .
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1fw1CcxCUgg Now I have watched baskeball quite a bit, and I don't see pro's shooting like that very often. Having Asperger's the way my muscles learned thier actions is through memorization. I struggled to learn the actions initially, but once I learned it, I could repeat it over and over again. I could be given a basketball, stand at the half-court line, shoot one, miss it bad, shoot another, make it, shoot another, make it, shoot another, make it.... I could do it over and over and over again until my body got tired, because my body knew exactly what it needed to do to make the shot. It is likely similar with this kid.
Your problem is that you see the problems with these people, but you fail to see positives. I have yet to meet a special needs person (and I've met a few) that didn't have some very special gift that 'normal' people couldn't do. I tell you what, without my Asperger's, I would not be as good as video games as I am. And I would not have had ALL the neighborhood kids staring through my window, refusing to want to play with me because of the Asperger's, but with jealousy that I could do the stuff in the games they never could. Where you have not seen the purpose in life, I do. I believe every person was created for a reason, and the ones with no physical or mental abilities have special gifts elsewhere.
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TBG: as for your comment about not seeing the difference between the soul and the spirit, I do. The soul is the function of emotions. I have yet to find a reference to the soul that wasn't with an emotional context. The spirit is the function of intuition and communication. It is the spirit that communicates with God and with each other, when language does not. It is also the spirit that alters us of things that we percieve or normally should not know. But the spirit is never referred to in an emotional context. And all three of these, body, soul, and spirit, and very intertwined and all affect the other.
Be watching for the release of my spiritual warfare novel under a new title: "Call to Arms" by OakTara Publishing. A sequel (title TBD) will shortly follow.
. It's a means of control--politically, economically, and socially--of population groups, and of favoured population groups' genetic futures.
