When I'm not trying to convince people to abstain from breeding, I tend to start fights on fundamentalist Christian websites. I don't go in with that intention, but that seems to be the way the conversations always end up. One commenter had this to say to me, after reading some of my posts on this blog:
"Congratulations, Jim, you have reached a new benchmark in arrogance. Not content to just shake your fist at God like most atheists, now you ARE god, deciding what is best for ALL of mankind. No more live and let live, now it’s die and let die.
We have gone from: children are a blessing from the Lord, to: they’re my little tax deductions, to: get rid of your baby if it’s just not convenient, to: forced abortions in China (and elsewhere), to: people cooking and eating babies in China. Now, it’s everybody just stop having babies! I, Jim, declare that that is what is best for everybody. Listen to the mighty Jim!
How “civilized” we are!! But, guess what? All those things are in the Bible! Except maybe for the tax deductions. And the abortions in the Bible didn’t let the mother live, they just cut the mother open to kill the baby.
This is a perfect example of Satan taking control of the heart and mind of man in order to steal, kill, and destroy. The story never changes, just the characters names’ change.
Yay, Jim! You have given me and others more evidence of the truth of scripture than I could have ever hoped to."
In my original introduction to this blog, I posited what I perceive to be the three major taboos of humankind which should not be questioned. God. Free will. Life is good. I invite you to follow the descending hierarchy into substantive evil as outlined by the commenter-
1. No more live and let live.
2. Utilitarian attitudes towards children (I agree with that little irony).
3. Legal abortion
4. Forced abortions in China.
5. People cooking and eating children in China (I'll betcha in Japan they'd be served raw!).
6. Persuade people to stop having children.
So, antinatalism (which is merely a call for voluntary cessation of breeding; at least, my kind) is worse than forced abortion, female mutilation, murder and cannibalism.
Sigh...why do I bother?
NOTE: Rum and Dr. Pepper tastes an awful lot like cough medicine.
If anyone's interested, I started another blog here.
6 comments:
For what it's worth, people were eating babies in China (and central Europe, and the Ukraine) way before the one-child policy seemed to call for forced abortions.
What kind of God allows babies to be born only to be eaten by their parents? A loving, just, all-powerful God, I'm sure.
Hi Jim,
I like your new Reason vs. Apologetics blog.
I discovered your antinatalism blog right around the time you took a break from posting, and I've been looking forward to reading more of your writing. I'm glad to see you're posting here again.
Have you read 'God's Defenders: What They Believe and Why They Are Wrong' by S.T. Joshi? I recommend it. You can read the introduction at S.T. Joshi's website.
You might also like this interview with Thomas Ligotti. He talks about David Benatar's book 'Better Never to Have Been' in that interview.
Thanks, Jeff! I HAVE read the Ligotti thing, though maybe I'll give it another read, now that you've mentioned it. Glad you found the place.
Coincidentally, I had just posted a new one over at RvA when I got your mail. Check it out!
You know, I don't see how some Christian person can take you task for antinatalist thought. I find nothing offensive in the philosophy at all, and would say it's a very reasonable, defendable position. I've wrestled long hours about whether I want to reproduce or not. Even the Bible advises that marriage just ain't for some folk, right? OTOH, there's a part of me that really wants to see my kid grow up, to see how they approach the world and what sort of conclusions they might come to about these sorts of things. I mean, I get psyched off having cats because they're so interesting, a kid how much more so? Then again, cats don't wig out in their teens, they won't get hooked on crank or prostitute themselves out, etc. I can't see my cats coming up to me one day and being like, "You know what Dad, you're just a fat lamer who eats too many Fritos and I'm running away!"
And for what it's worth, I don't think you're arrogant, either. Then again, we only have our little blog tit-for-tats to go off, but I find you to be real, perhaps with a dash of cynicism, and I've got no problem at all with either of those.
Keep doing you!
Thanks, cl! I always enjoy our little back and forths over at your blog.
What kind of God allows babies to be born only to be eaten by their parents?
Not the mighty and merciful God Jim. Unborn babies are never on the menu.
The irony is that creating life is a most God-like act.
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