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Its good to note that sometimes "it makes God angry" is not a TERRIBLE answer. Maybe X or Y act does on average create worse results for a person/group/society
by namelessoracle 5y ago
Its good to note that sometimes "it makes God angry" is not a TERRIBLE answer. Maybe X or Y act does on average create worse results for a person/group/society that aren't immediately apparent or obvious, but people managed to figure out via correlation or even evolutionary pressure (the groups that refused to eat pork lived longer and had more kids). Recognizing that X or Y on average causes a worse outcome for reasons you dont understand isnt a terrible thing.
Using the "sail the uncharted sea makes god angry" example.
Maybe that particular parts of the ocean has sea monsters (dangerous animals), and lots of whirlpools, and lots of poisonous fish that kill you if you eat them, and pirates.
People short hand that to "going there makes God angry" because they know people don't come back and when they do come back its in worse condition. But its never quite the same root cause. (hence why they blame god, and not the pirates for example) So there is no easy one answer unless theres concrete efforts to add together the stories of the guy who got attacked by pirates, the guy who had a run in with a giant squid, the guy who got poisoned, and the guy who almost drowned in a whirlpool.
You'd be pretty foolish to ignore the "god will get angry" warning, if you go there. You might have heard one or even two of the dangers, but not all of them that push the risk profile so high. Thats where Chestertons fence becomes useful and says you should be the person that gets all the stories together and realizes the real dangers and not dismiss the "god will get angry" warning off hand.
- rglullis 5y agoEven if we agree that it is not a terrible answer, we seem to agree that it is an insufficient one. Notice that I didn't say that the reaction to hear such an answer would be to ignore and take down the fence, but to keep investigating for the underlying truth.
- namelessoracle 5y agoYes, but plenty of people would treat religious/ideological justifications as the reason and stop their investigation there. "Make god angry" is parsed as "because these people had a religious belief i believe is false", and they assume they understand the Fence in question and mow it down.
- rglullis 5y agoIf the issue is that someone in a position of power wants to make the change and all they are given is "religious/ideological justifications", then I'd say that an incomplete answer is indeed bad. It's easier to dismiss 20 different people saying the exact same, meaningless "God will be angry" answer than to dismiss 20 different tales of "someone two/three/six generations ago got attacked/drowned/never was seen again after going to the ocean".