SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
from the when-you-DO-NOT-want-them-to-"think-of-the-children!" dept.
A couple of weeks ago this story was reported by The Daily Beast :
Members of an American-backed rebel group in Syria beheaded a young child in a grisly execution video.
The footage surfaced early Tuesday of members of Harakat Nour al-Din al-Zenki and a captured child in Handarat, near Aleppo. The young boy, who appears to be prepubescent, is then executed on the back of a pickup truck.
The gruesome videotaped murder of a child drew outrage on social media and the promise of an inquiry from the group's leadership, which has previously received U.S.-made weapons and American funding. The group no longer gets such backing. But it's also renewed questions about which rebels the American government has supported in Syria's ongoing civil war.
[...] State Department spokesperson John Kirby told The Daily Beast. "We strongly condemn this type of barbaric action, no matter what group is responsible. We encourage al-Zenki to investigate the incident and expect all parties to comply with their obligations under the law of armed conflict."
[...] the group's leadership issued a statement condemning the beheading. It said it formed a committee to investigate how such a crime could have happened.
More video from the incident has been released:
The victim is seen among a group of fighters from the US and Turkish backed militant group, in the same red pick-up truck that features in their video of his execution. In a chilling exchange the jihadist militants can be seen taunting the child, taking selfies, and threatening him with 'slaughter'.
When asked about his final wish, the child asks to be shot rather than slaughtered. Their shocking answer? "Slaughter. We are even worse than ISIS"
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 04 2016, @10:49AM
Of course. I spent the better part of ten years bashing ideas around into a shape that has thus far survived remarkably well for its assertion that USians in general are not (or not obligated) to follow government diktat unless it falls within the scope of a single "normal" person's authority as a self-owning individual. The USA is not a theocracy, establishing one would appear to violate the Romans 13-esque God-established authority (oddly enough), and since I have no authority to take half of your paychecks by force neither can I delegate such authority to a government. [soylentnews.org] Socialism (theocratic or otherwise) is as inappropriate for today's USA as is stoning rebellious children by the city gate, and this assertion nonetheless remains in harmony with the Biblical directives to obey authority (assuming that the American Revolution was also so harmonious).
Considering that time is relative [wikipedia.org], I'm very hesitant to demand literalism - from a human's perspective - from the words of a being who potentially views time as a whole [biblegateway.com], and/or who is not subject to time as we know it due to the likelihood that time itself is a part of the created universe. I might as well lump other claims to God's contradictory nature in here as well: the hardening of Pharaoh's heart [biblegateway.com] is not a situation for which I have the answer I'd like, although such a case may be addressed by God abandoning the mind of a human who continually rejects Him [biblegateway.com], or by mere omniscience knowing in advance Pharaoh's own chosen reaction to the plagues,
Now's a good a time as any to disclose that I assemble my views primarily based on the preponderance of evidence rather than trying to solve all the mysteries of the universe with my own mind. The world's smartest humans have been unable to do so, thus I doubt I have the ability (hence my nod to Godel). I do try to use reason and logic where they can obviously apply, particularly among the observables of human behavior and records of history. Nor am I trying to impose my thought process upon you, but only to communicate it.
Now, as for logic as it applies to Plantinga's Free Will Defense [utm.edu], I'll first note that you brought it up along with the "Problem of Evil" rather than respond directly to my counter-claim that the Creator does not "torture ANYONE ELSE for ANY length of time" [soylentnews.org]. There are familiar concepts in both, but I was not familiar with Plantinga nor did I present his views for a defense. Nonetheless, I read through multiple descriptions of his FWD, and even though you seem to disagree, there is an explicit case (listed as "W4" [utm.edu]) describing just such a free-will world without evil - in fact, according to the Bible, that seemed to be the intended plan for Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden. (Note that dissatisfaction with Plantinga's reasoning on a different topic, EaaN, cannot by itself invalidate different reasoning in a separate topic, FWD.)
As to the matter of free will, I can't speak to God's valuation of it, but I'll draw a parallel in human legalism with a concept I'm quite familiar with: consent. Consent is what differentiates a crime from a non-crime. If I were to give consent to someone else to remove, say, my drug-addiction problem, even at any price, then no crime could have been committed. In the same way, I am of the opinion that I would prefer to do "good" in all situations even though I regularly choose "evil"; if I could give consent to someone I trusted to be able to rid myself of the temptation to do "evil", I believe I would. This seems the essence of the situation in which one of Yahweh's followers might possibly trade some or all of their free will in exchange for finally being free of the temptations to choose "evil". Any removal of free will in such a case would itself be an act of free will.
Considering that I can't know for certain that I'm not, say, a dismbodied brain in a jar somewhere: I don't think I could. Trust is essential. If I do the best I can to judge the observable evidence and am fooled by a reality-warping superbeing, oh well - not much I see myself being able to do about that situation.
I suppose I shouldn't continue to be surprised by your repeated justification for my kidnapping/murder. I am saddened, though. Nonetheless, I recognize that evil exists, and that I have a measure of responsibility [biblegateway.com] which includes taking steps to protect my own personal safety that extends to the physical [biblegateway.com], another topic I am keen to discuss with other Christians. I don't plot or entertain thoughts of your disappearance nor execution, but merely plan for defense against criminals of any stripe.
(I hope you'll excuse me for mostly ignoring your continued insults and chest-thumping; I would have thought that you were confident enough in your other assertions that you could have done without them, but...)
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Friday August 05 2016, @03:33AM
Good grief, you're hopeless. This is like giving medicine to a corpse. Not one single thing I said got through to you did it?
Oh well...can't really say I'm surprised :/ The truth stands for itself; those who have ears to hear, as the saying goes, will hear. Those who deliberately wish not to hear...well, give it some time. You'll come around, either here or in the next world.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 05 2016, @06:03AM
You made some assertions, and I believe I found errors in them. My reply [soylentnews.org] noted the apparent errors and made counter-assertions to the primary point (using some pretty solid evidence [soylentnews.org] if I do say so myself) and the following minor points. You can of course disagree with me without further explaination. However, if you expect others to blindly accept assertions that appear faulty to even a cursory examination, I don't believe you have the audience you're expecting.
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Friday August 05 2016, @04:58PM
*siiiigh* This isn't FOR you, idiot. I know you can't be saved. You're not even capable of doing an honest analysis of your own beliefs, and it's fairly obvious why. No, this is for the benefit of anyone watching who may either attempt to use your arguments, or who may face someone who does and would like the antidote.
You made your choice a long time ago. All you're good for now is to be a negative example, a warning.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...