We're awake, but we're very puzzled
May. 10th, 2010 07:11 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
valarltdThings that are causing cognitive dissonance:
1) Christian Science Fiction. Christians KNOW what's coming. Postulating a shiny future based on human effort is not just wrong, but actual sacrilege. Humans can accomplish nothing without God, and suggesting they can improve the world is just humanism, which is the Lie of the Serpent: "they shall be like gods." Also, aliens are nothing more than demons. (Yes, this is a hold over from what I was taught)
1a) Christian fantasy/horror. First, magic is bad. That eradicates a wide swath of fantasy, but lets allegory sorta slip through. Second, all horror monsters are either demonic (vampires, werewolves, ghosts, zombies) or the product of the sin of pride (robots, man made monsters). Also the Christian fantasist runs the risk of making the demons sympathetic. Knowing too much about them can lead to possession and generational curses. (ditto)
2) Conservative Science Fiction. This one makes my brain hurt even more. Humanity leans to progress and reality has a liberal bias. The idea that a militaristic or libertarian dog-eat-dog state could be seen as a positive outcome and something to work for, rather than a dystopia, just makes my eyes ache.
3) God-given rights. Errr. Did these people sleep through the whole of medieval history class? Divine Right of Kings. Magna Carta. Rights were won at swordpoint and pried out of the beaten King John. They became entrenched under his son who took trhe throne at age 11.
When through our ranks the Barons came,
With little thought of praise or blame,
But resolute to play the game,
They lumbered up to Runnymede;
And there they launched in solid line
The first attack on Right Divine,
The curt uncompromising "Sign!'
They settled John at Runnymede.
At Runnymede, at Runnymede,
Your rights were won at Runnymede!
No freeman shall be fined or bound,
Or dispossessed of freehold ground,
Except by lawful judgment found
And passed upon him by his peers.
Forget not, after all these years,
The Charter signed at Runnymede.'
--Kipling
4) Sarah Palin: Stupid? Evil? Opportunist? Can we make her and Ann Coulter live in the world they desire to make? It's the best punishment I can think of for that pair of Serena Joys.
5) Swearing. I have noticed an odd thing. I was raised to believe a Christian could NOT take God's name (any of them) in vain. If someone could do so, they were not truly Christian. I still don't swear by any named deities. They get tetchy if you summon them for no reason. Yet, my Christian friends don't have this hangup... Odd. They wouldn't use the name of their human lover as a swear word, but think nothing of doing it with the name of their divine lover.
1) Christian Science Fiction. Christians KNOW what's coming. Postulating a shiny future based on human effort is not just wrong, but actual sacrilege. Humans can accomplish nothing without God, and suggesting they can improve the world is just humanism, which is the Lie of the Serpent: "they shall be like gods." Also, aliens are nothing more than demons. (Yes, this is a hold over from what I was taught)
1a) Christian fantasy/horror. First, magic is bad. That eradicates a wide swath of fantasy, but lets allegory sorta slip through. Second, all horror monsters are either demonic (vampires, werewolves, ghosts, zombies) or the product of the sin of pride (robots, man made monsters). Also the Christian fantasist runs the risk of making the demons sympathetic. Knowing too much about them can lead to possession and generational curses. (ditto)
2) Conservative Science Fiction. This one makes my brain hurt even more. Humanity leans to progress and reality has a liberal bias. The idea that a militaristic or libertarian dog-eat-dog state could be seen as a positive outcome and something to work for, rather than a dystopia, just makes my eyes ache.
3) God-given rights. Errr. Did these people sleep through the whole of medieval history class? Divine Right of Kings. Magna Carta. Rights were won at swordpoint and pried out of the beaten King John. They became entrenched under his son who took trhe throne at age 11.
When through our ranks the Barons came,
With little thought of praise or blame,
But resolute to play the game,
They lumbered up to Runnymede;
And there they launched in solid line
The first attack on Right Divine,
The curt uncompromising "Sign!'
They settled John at Runnymede.
At Runnymede, at Runnymede,
Your rights were won at Runnymede!
No freeman shall be fined or bound,
Or dispossessed of freehold ground,
Except by lawful judgment found
And passed upon him by his peers.
Forget not, after all these years,
The Charter signed at Runnymede.'
--Kipling
4) Sarah Palin: Stupid? Evil? Opportunist? Can we make her and Ann Coulter live in the world they desire to make? It's the best punishment I can think of for that pair of Serena Joys.
5) Swearing. I have noticed an odd thing. I was raised to believe a Christian could NOT take God's name (any of them) in vain. If someone could do so, they were not truly Christian. I still don't swear by any named deities. They get tetchy if you summon them for no reason. Yet, my Christian friends don't have this hangup... Odd. They wouldn't use the name of their human lover as a swear word, but think nothing of doing it with the name of their divine lover.
