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Originally Posted by Aaron W.
The phrases are difficult because they are assuming things to exist that I do not understand how they can exist.
Suppose you had a "compelling reason" and that you "genuinely believe" that 1+1=3. What does this say about 2+2?
2 + 2 = 6, I'd imagine. Though I think it's absurd to compare that question to 'Should I obey the will of god?'
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Putting an emphasis on "belief" as if it is somehow automatically disjoint from the processes that lead one to believe something is basically an absurd situation.
There's nothing said about belief being 'automatically disjoint from the processes that lead one to believe something'. It's just that both the process that led you to believe it (direct instruction from god) and the belief (god wants me to kill my family) are both stipulated.
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As far as I can see, it's the same difficulty. Assuming that by "a works theology" you literally mean that works are that which save and not grace (as opposed to works being a natural outflow of being saved), then to accept that would require me to reject my current understanding of God.
You say this like it hasn't been obvious from the start that that's what it would require.
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I do not know what the consequences of such a rejection are theologically (and intellectually, and emotionally), so I do not have a good way to answer the question of how I would respond.
Yeah, we did this before. The question is
should you obey, and wouldn't you be sinning by failing to obey?
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Again, the terms of the hypothetical are for me to reject the theology I currently hold and replace it with a theology that I don't hold.
YES.
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Depending on precisely how I have come to find my current theology in error,
Reminder: It is by direct instruction from god.
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and how that error is ultimately resolved, I may respond in a number of different ways. It's possible that I can become a religious fanatic and find my way to Palestine with bombs tied around me, or I might become an atheist and reject all things spiritual. Both are ways to resolve the question, but neither answer is more or less meaningful with respect to my actual beliefs.
Dude, I already explained that I'm not interested in your beliefs.