Saturday, April 6, 2024
Am I a Christian?
I follow Carnap in thinking that metaphysical statements are not even meaningful, let alone right or wrong. Yet I sometimes call myself a Christian. Why? Because I try to live a Christian life. I do get rewards when I do the Christian thing in a situation. It's rather wonderful how often and sometimes how promptly kind, forgiving and generous behavior is rewarded
I will mention just one small and rather amusing example of such an occasion.
I was working in a Real Estate office when one of the salesmen began abusing me for something I had said. In reply I said: "Mea culpa, mea maxima culpa". I accepted blame in accordance with Matthew chapter 5 but I did it in Latin.
He was however an older Catholic who remembered the Latin mass so understood what I said and was amused by it. So he instantly went from condemning to laughing. Others nearby said frantically, "What did he say? , What did he say?" They thought I had used some sort of magic spell to get such an abrupt change in him, which, in a way, I had
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The choice to will the good of the other and the choice to forgive the free and learning will of the other are important teachings of Christianity.
ReplyDeleteMy advice is to skip beliefs and instead be aplomb that the truth about Christianity, heaven and other things will be known, if not now then eventually.
Intelligence goes well with goodwill and a forgiving heart.