Thursday, August 24, 2006

Say it Isn't So

WARNING: This is more of a rambling thought than anything coherent. I don't plan to come to any conclusions on the matter, but it is worth a thought.

I was wondering about assumptions we in society hold. Some of these assumptions have kept us from God, confused us, and led us away from true wisdom. Here is my list of things that make me go, hmmm.

  • Fossil fuel. I've been wondering about our ideas about energy. I've been doing some research, and I found out that our assumptions may not be accurate. In fact there is more debate than I thought. Is fuel really made from fossils, or are we badly mistaken? Is it a limited source or renuable source of energy? I guess it depends more on what you believe than what we actually know.
  • War. The conventional wisdom is that war is wrong and bad, and peace is right and good. But is that really true? Is peace always good? Is war always bad? When you think about it, if war is wrong, then all forms of enforcement is wrong, because war is a form of enforcement—a government's will over another government, people, or country. And this can be either good or bad, like the enforcement of discipline upon its own citizens. Also, peace can exist when someone is oppressed. That is evil, isn't it?
  • Poverty. Rick Warren wants to end poverty. Can that really be done by man? Jesus said that the poor will always be with us. Is that really true, or can we end poverty? What constitutes poverty: lack of essentials, or decisions? What are the solutions? Give people stuff, teach people stuff, change the social system, all, or none? What are we talking about?
  • Truth. Is truth subjective, objective, or both? Can we know the truth, and if so, how? How would we know if we don't know?

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