After winning a fierce battle a king had a difficult problem on his hands. The kingdom had lost most of its young men in war. There were lots of young widows. These widows could not remarry because to the men of those days the idea of marrying a woman who had slept with someone else was repulsive. In any case there were not enough men. Widows could not be expected to spend the rest of their lives without getting married since they depended on men for financial and physical security.
The obvious solution was to let every married man marry a widow or two. But the religion did not permit that.
The king came up with a bright idea. He made up a story telling his subjects that he saw God in his dream who told him that it is okay for a man to have multiple wives. Also that God would be pleased with any man who married a widow. The king was respected by the subjects and no one suspected that he was telling a lie. The lie worked. So much misery was avoided.
The king was a politicians and in politics lying is a necessary evil and in this case I do not even see where the evil is. Even if people found out later that the king was lying, no one would care since the end justifies the means.
But what if this story had been told by Jesus and someone found out from his diary that he made it up. Would Jesus be Jesus then?
Sunday, April 3, 2011
Saturday, April 2, 2011
What is not true is not a lie
A perfect lie is one that everyone believes is true except the person who is telling the lie. The lier knows whether it is a lie or not.
Many people believe that Obama is lying when he says he is a Christian. The right thinks he is a Muslim and the left thinks he is an atheist.
Obama's mother was agnostic and his father an atheist. Most people simply adopt the religion of their parents. Even scientists, including Noble laureates, who are theists only end up adopting the religion of their parents only. Which simply means that we do not use our minds in this matter. I have three PHD friends, a Sikh, a Hindu and a Jain. All three strongly argue for their own religion. It is extremely rare that an intelligent person would adopt any religion other than the one he was born in. Simply because people find every other religion silly except their own.
Only Obama knows if he is lying, but I would be disappointed if he is not.
Many people believe that Obama is lying when he says he is a Christian. The right thinks he is a Muslim and the left thinks he is an atheist.
Obama's mother was agnostic and his father an atheist. Most people simply adopt the religion of their parents. Even scientists, including Noble laureates, who are theists only end up adopting the religion of their parents only. Which simply means that we do not use our minds in this matter. I have three PHD friends, a Sikh, a Hindu and a Jain. All three strongly argue for their own religion. It is extremely rare that an intelligent person would adopt any religion other than the one he was born in. Simply because people find every other religion silly except their own.
Only Obama knows if he is lying, but I would be disappointed if he is not.
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