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Re: Karma

Jan 03, 1997 05:59 PM
by Tom Robertson


On Fri, 3 Jan 97, Titus Roth <titus@clisome9.rose.hp.com> wrote:

>Liesel wrote:

>> Sin, to me is unforgiveable. The sinner lands in hell. A person who
>> errs can sooner or later learn to do it better, and so become
>> redeemed.

>Wow. You believe there are unforgiveable deeds and people who can't
>learn to do better? 

Liesel's statement and yours can be reconciled by realizing that hell is
the natural result of evil, but that does not mean either that it is
permanent or that the sinner is beyond redemption.  Karma basically says
that sin is unforgivable, in that its consequences are inevitable. 


>I admit there are people who I wonder about (half
>serious here), but a little voice inside me whispers the question,
>"Why would God create someone who is damned?"

To draw an analogy from nature, things are created all the time which fail
in their purpose.  Individual human beings should be no exception to that
rule.


>It really boils down to how God can give us free will, but
>nevertheless keep us from using that free will to permanently get on
>the wrong track.  Though it looks ridiculously simple, the answer is:
>karma!  If wrong deeds invoke pain, given the gift of reincarnation and
>eternal time, we must eventually learn to use our will according to
>His Will.

Enough pain will eventually correct mistakes, but I am not so sure that we
have unlimited time.  The theory that there is a threshold of failure, past
which there is annihilation rather than continued attempts at correction,
makes more sense to me.  Every lesson from nature is consistent with the
ideas that only the fittest survive and that success, rather than being
guaranteed, has a deadline.



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