http://bit.ly/8ZBsUv
Here's an interesting piece on the bill to require a bilingual Supreme Court. As readers may recall I am in two minds about the concept (I can support it but see the concerns of those who oppose it) but the interesting spin here is that the Senate will have a serious role in deciding the fate of a Bill the Conservatives dislike. Will they decry the appointed Senate now?
In any event, the whole fuss is somewhat bogus -- if a Federal Government wants to have bilingual Supreme Court judges they don't need legislation -- they merely appoint judges who are bilingual.
Monday, April 26, 2010
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Free will and a just God
I read an interesting piece last night about free will and a just God.
The issue is how can there be a just God when there is suffering in the world.
One traditional answer, which I thought had some weight, was that, in order to have free will, God had to endow people with the ability to disobey God and to commit wicked evil acts. Otherwise, people would be mere robots and their choices meaningless.
Now this argument does not deal with, say, earthquakes, mudslides and cancer, but it is a way to deal with human caused evil; genocide or even ordinary day to day cruelty.
But here's the rub.
Most Canadians who accept there is a God who cares about free will also accept the concept of an afterlife where each of the deceased will in some way continue as an individual.
Presumably those individuals who are somehow punished can maintain their free will but what of those in Heaven? Unless people in Heaven are to be turned into robots they will continue to have free will and can, presumably, turn away from God (perhaps that would be rare but it's possible -- recall the fall of Satan).
But in Heaven there is no suffering. So the argument fails unless we eliminate Heaven, or eliminate free will in Heaven, or accept there is, or can be, suffering in Heaven.
A problem still.
The issue is how can there be a just God when there is suffering in the world.
One traditional answer, which I thought had some weight, was that, in order to have free will, God had to endow people with the ability to disobey God and to commit wicked evil acts. Otherwise, people would be mere robots and their choices meaningless.
Now this argument does not deal with, say, earthquakes, mudslides and cancer, but it is a way to deal with human caused evil; genocide or even ordinary day to day cruelty.
But here's the rub.
Most Canadians who accept there is a God who cares about free will also accept the concept of an afterlife where each of the deceased will in some way continue as an individual.
Presumably those individuals who are somehow punished can maintain their free will but what of those in Heaven? Unless people in Heaven are to be turned into robots they will continue to have free will and can, presumably, turn away from God (perhaps that would be rare but it's possible -- recall the fall of Satan).
But in Heaven there is no suffering. So the argument fails unless we eliminate Heaven, or eliminate free will in Heaven, or accept there is, or can be, suffering in Heaven.
A problem still.
Mayor Miller and the captive audience
When he starts talking on the PA System and says "thank you for choosing the TTC etc etc" all I can think is "I had a choice?"
Obama Zombies
OK, I get it -- some people don't like President Obama; but this is a little extreme...
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