Welcome to the Spring 2008 Quotes Blog~
Instructions for Quotes Blog
Choose a quote with a KNOWN author.
*Compose a short essay on why this quote has meaning in your life. Include an intresting fact about the quote author.
*Complete draft, and in class revising, and editing sessions.
Your quote should be set up in the following manner:
*Create a title for your post.
*"Put your chosen quote in quotation marks."
*List the author of your quote underneath.
*Leave a space.
*Somewhere in the body of your quote include a picture that enhances your quote post.
*Key in your short quote essay AFTER it has been through the draft, revision, editing procss.
*Please have all quotes posted by the end of week 5.
When all quotes have been posted, I will instruct you to make comments (minimum of two).
*Please do not post comments until all quotes have been posted!
*Pick two or more quotes by fellow classmates and add a comment to their post. You may comment on their quote or on their author or on the information they shared.
*Comments should be posted by the end of week 8.
*Inappropriate quote posts or comments will not be tolerated and will result in a failing IRP grade. Build each other up, not tear each other down.
Blind Faith
"The gods can either take away evil from the world and will not, or being willing to do so cannot; or they neither can nor will, or lastly, they are both able and willing. If they have the will to remove evil and cannot, then they are not omnipotent. If they can, but will not, then they are not benevolent. If they are neither able nor willing, then they are neither omnipotent nor benevolent. Lastly, if they are both willing and able to annihilate evil, how does it exist?"
-Epicurus, 300 B.C.
For so many people of religious faith their religion becomes an absolute certainty; that their belief system, their bible, their way of thinking, their gods, their church is THE right one and yet they rarely question their teachings, or what their religion stands for, it's origins, the contradictions or sometimes lack of logic. For example Epicurus's philosophy was "aponia" which translates to the absence of pain and fear, and living a self-sufficient life surrounded by friends. It sounds a lot like atheism and a life lived in the moment but empty and without any purpose. Granted for me this also sounds like my religion's concept of heaven but that is just my perspective.
What I find so blackly amusing is that people are so rigid in their thinking when it comes to religion and I'm sure this comes from the extreme lack of factual evidence of any faith being more correct than any other. I find many faults with my own religion stemming from their origins, the bible, and my perception of the logical construction of my religion. Epicurus believed that good and bad were determined by pleasure or pain and that death meant the death of the body and soul, and that gods did not reward or punish but we were all subjected to the forces interacting with each other in our universe. So if a serial killer finds pleasure in killing does that mean he is good? I think this would qualify as a flaw in Epicurus's philosphyHowever, I do not wish to change any one's mind; for another nice quote is:
"Even if they change my mind; they won't change my mind." What I want is for people
to question what they believe and accept other faiths without prejudice.
1 comment:
I feel that your blog was good and informative, but I do not feel that people's predjuices will ever change. I guess we can only hope that one day all people will look outside the box.
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