tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post6038161836809810035..comments2024-03-28T16:35:26.665+00:00Comments on Bruce Charlton's Notions: Why is there So Much evil in the world today? - Much more than ever before? Bruce Charltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09615189090601688535noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-80163253491869915132021-06-01T19:40:07.100+01:002021-06-01T19:40:07.100+01:00@Gary - All good points. Things are indeed unprece...@Gary - All good points. Things are indeed unprecedented - including what is required of us. Bruce Charltonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09615189090601688535noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-85694103447184793612021-06-01T09:48:03.036+01:002021-06-01T09:48:03.036+01:00Dr Charlton, I think there is an alternative possi...Dr Charlton, I think there is an alternative possibility regarding the question "why has God allowed the world to become so Evil".<br /><br />I think it likely that it is not that we (those of us alive today) are particularly evil, intrinsically, that is the key difference (I'm not arguing that we are not more evil, though, just that that's not the main reason, or at least, not a reason which can be universally applied).<br /><br />Perhaps it is because man is meant to become spiritually freer than ever before, and for this to happen, he must in a sense lose any "spontaneous" ability to see good and evil (i.e. as if by a force of nature)- an ability which was the norm in the past and acted as a natural buffer. Today, this "sense" must be developed through conscious choice, and this, because increased agency is a precondition for freedom.<br /><br />This means that we will see a sharpening of the wedge between men - the most thoroughly enslaved men ever to walk the earth (possibly forming, in a few generations, a most perfect slave caste ever bred, pure "property", the opposite of agency) but also the most free - i.e. most capable of living the most highly conscious life on earth. Because nothing the free men have will be theirs except by complete choice. And this draws them closer to God in a way which was impossible in the past - the "spectrum" of alignment with the divine has thus grown.<br /><br />Of course, this doesn't mean that we can choose anything we want and will get it exactly the way we desire it. Free doesn't mean untethered - it means that you choose what you submit to, what you value, what you agree to, what you consider worthy, and so on.<br /><br />Mass-enslavement is a side effect of Mass-empowerment. Or, put differently, the door has been opened to all to become freer than ever, but when exposed to the preconditions necessary to make this happen, complete capitulation to the most abject enslavement has to become a geniune possibility as well. <br /><br />Gary Bleasdalenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-20614761058405828422021-05-31T19:14:57.817+01:002021-05-31T19:14:57.817+01:00@EP - Thanks, fixed. @EP - Thanks, fixed. Bruce Charltonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09615189090601688535noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-29387254847245952522021-05-31T17:53:48.867+01:002021-05-31T17:53:48.867+01:00@Otto - No, I don't believe Revelation literal...@Otto - No, I don't believe Revelation literally - it was not intended literally; nor do I believe it is authoritative in all respects. But it has some deep insights into the kind of things that have happened, and will happen. Bruce Charltonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09615189090601688535noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-57319764918018735882021-05-31T17:34:43.226+01:002021-05-31T17:34:43.226+01:00Apparently the birdemic was prophecied by Saint Pa...Apparently the birdemic was <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4F3-zCUw8mQ" rel="nofollow">prophecied by Saint Paisios of Athos</a>. (He even appears to have predicted the laser-thermometers which I have seen used to measure people, on the head or wrist, at the entrance of shops and stores.) Do you believe the peck-passport is <i>literally</i> the mark of the beast from Revelation?Ottonoreply@blogger.com