Re: >^..^< The cats on Candlemas 2008

"David Harmon" <source@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote
> On Sun, 3 Feb 2008 21:17:26 GMT in rec.arts.sf.fandom,
> djheydt@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
 (Dorothy J Heydt) wrote,
>>In article <fo5ais$ifp$1@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>,
>>Keith F. Lynch <kfl@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>>>Why?  Why atone for a sin you didn't commit?
>>
>>Because those who committed it are not themselves atoning for it.
>
> But Harry atoning for it doesn't change that.

Thoughtworthy point.

>>Jesus told
>>his followers to imitate him, and he underwent death by torture
>>to atone for the sins of others, himself entirely sinless.
>
> According to the story I read, Jesus told his followers to imitate
> him in some matters, and said no such thing regarding other matters.
> In particular, he never told his followers to go and get themselves
> crucified.

He didn't put an exclusion clause on it, after telling people to imitate 
him. The instructions for imitation don't seem all that clear. He did 
want some to take up a cross and follow him. And what about the other 
stuff? Are people supposed to go scourge crazy in church bazaars on 
people and livestock? Run a few thousand pigs off a cliff? Curse fig 
trees? Tell people they should kill their children if they're 
disrespectful? Condemn entire cities to hell, if some of the inhabitants 
aren't impressed by miracles? Steal donkeys? Pack a sword? Tell slaves 
that they should obey their owners, even if they're abusive?

> According to the story I read, Jesus was a special case.  He had the
> ability to offer himself for others sins because and only because he
> had none of his own.  Or so some say.  Everyone else may atone for
> their own sins,

Maybe not. If you commit one sin, you're guilty of all, and one sin is 
"unforgivable".

>but atoning for others is ostentation unless you are
> the Son of God, or so it seems to me.

Even then.

Karl Johanson